The Central Okanagan Child and Youth Mental Health and Substance Use Collaborative will host an informative event for the general public at the Mary Irwin Theatre in the Rotary Center for the Arts from 6:15 to 8:15 p.m.
Nan Henderson, a leading expert on fostering human resiliency in children, youth, families and communities, will give a presentation about building resiliency in our community and strengthening mental health.
Henderson is a co-founder of Resiliency In Action, Inc., a pioneering publishing and training company founded in 1996. The mission of the organization— developed before the word “resiliency” was commonly used—is to share the growing body of social science research that documents how people of all ages bounce back from life challenges of all kinds.
In addition, the founders wanted to make the strategies recommended by this research accessible to everyone. They stated their goal in the first book published by Resiliency In Action: “Our goal is a simple one: Share the results of numerous scientific studies that have emerged in the past…decades showing specifically how people of all ages, families, and even organizations and communities overcome risk, trauma, and adversity to go on to life success, and to do this in a practical, reader-friendly format.”
This important community event and initiative was born out of the desire of two school district leaders, Cindy Rhodes, a counselor with Rutland Senior Secondary School, and Dale Popp, a student support teacher with School District 23, and supported by Traci Cooke, from the FORCE Society for Kids Mental Health, to address the growing need to increase mental health awareness and education in schools and improve the overall resiliency factor for the youth and families within our community.
As well as the public event, this initiative will be hosting a 2.5 day “Train the Trainers” workshop, presented by Henderson, to 60 selected school district and community professionals who will be charged with the sharing of their gained knowledge to further train up more leaders, increasing our capacity to build resiliency in our youth, community and beyond.
The public event is open to anyone registering who is interested in increasing their awareness and knowledge related to supporting our mental health and building resiliency when faced with life’s challenges.
Resiliency has been defined by Henderson as “…the capacity to spring back, rebound, successfully adapt in the face of adversity, and develop social and academic competence despite exposure to severe stress…Or simply the stress of today’s world.”
This initiative is made possible with the support of the Central Okanagan Child and Youth Mental Health and Substance Use Collaborative (CYMHSU). This collaborative is committed to increasing the number of children, youth, and their families receiving timely access to integrated mental health and substance use services in British Columbia.
The Central Okanagan Local Action Team is one of the many teams across the province working as part of the CYMHSU Collaborative toward this goal. Funding for the Collaborative comes from the Shared Care Committee, with contributions from the Specialist Services Committee and General Practice Services Committee.
To register please visit goo.gl/mUQwhK
For more information, check out the website orcesociety.com
