Wood's Homes Blog
Best Field Trip Ever!
At the start of the school year, there was a pretty negative vibe in our classroom. The students, grades 3-6, who all have social and emotional challenges that make it hard for them to be successful in a regular classroom, had some pretty toxic relational patterns. There was a lot of swearing, bickering, insulting, gossiping, “tattling,” and even the odd fistfight.
Psychology Month at Wood’s Homes
Each February the Canadian Psychological Association celebrates Psychology Month focusing on a theme that highlights the contributions of Canadian psychologists.
Let the job tour begin!
The Inglewood Opportunity Hub (the Hub) provides a variety of mental health and wellness, employment, and housing services for multi-barriered youth. One of the core programs at the Hub is the Linking Employment Abilities and Development Program (LEAD), which is a specialized employment training program that provides youth (15-29) with the opportunity to gain valuable skills that will assist them in their journey to find and maintain meaningful employment.
Let’s Talk
Since 2011, #BellLetsTalk has been used and promoted over 1 billion times to raise awareness and reduce the stigma around mental health. Every last Wednesday of January, you may have noticed your social media platforms filled with messages of support for those who struggle with their mental health.
Blue Monday
Do you know what Blue Monday is? I didn’t, then I looked it up. It’s a day that falls on the third Monday of January each year. The gloomiest day of the year where our mental health will apparently take a dip.
Addictions Awareness Week: A Community of Caring
Being in an active addiction can be lonely and isolating. Many people feel shame and guilt about their addiction, and do not feel comfortable or safe to reach out for help. By creating professional and personal support in a holistic way, it is possible for those who struggle with addictions to feel safe enough to be unapologetically honest and open about what they need and how they feel.
A Child’s Voice: The Right to Participate
Every year on November 20th, Canada celebrates the rights of children on what is called National Child Day. Canada chose this day to celebrate as it aligns with when the United Nations adopted the United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child (UNRC) on November 20, 1989, as well as when the United Nations General Assembly put into place the Declaration of the Rights of the Child.
Reframing Bullying Prevention
When discussing bullying, our minds often jump to Pink Shirt Day and “zero-tolerance policies” that have continued to develop over the last few decades. Bullying is often labelled as negative behaviour, encompassing “malicious” or “mean” characteristics.
A Season of Change in Mental Health
Although the experience of the pandemic increased rates of mental health significantly, it also made mental health a household word. It slowly became socially acceptable to talk about stress, mental health, zoom fatigue and impairments of functioning because it seemed that no one was immune and there was both a sense of shared suffering and perhaps even the development of both compassion for self as well as others.
My journey with mental illness: Mental health support is life-changing
Mental health is a lifelong journey. Our mental health can change throughout our lives, and we may find ourselves with unexpected symptoms of mental illness. Living with mental illness can be isolating and make it hard to find help to manage the symptoms. There are many resources for mental health help but finding the right type of support or treatment can also be difficult.
Emotions in the Workplace
Did you flinch when you read the title of this blog post? I often get the sense from others that the emotional expression of professionals in the workplace is taboo. This intrigues me. When I ask around, the most common thoughts about this is that there are limitations to staff emotions in the workplace. Wherever, whenever and however emotions are expressed, we have ideas about levels of appropriateness. Pairing labels of ‘limiting’ and ‘appropriateness’ with emotions raises further questions for me.
Mental Illness Awareness Week
When ‘mental illness’ is mentioned there are many reactions in society as to what this means. Invariably the conversation that ensues, if at all, can be often characterized as awkward, unsure, confusing and many other words that place mental illness in a category that continues to be not well understood.