Rise Resilient

Episode 5: Every Child Matters with Dr. Cindy Blackstock

Agnes is honoured to be able to have a conversation with Dr. Cindy Blackstock who is the executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada which stands with First Nations children, youth and families so they have equitable opportunities to grow up safely at home, be healthy, get a good education and be proud of who they are. In this episode we discuss Cindy's work as a relentless advocate as she speaks of Canada's racist fiscal policy and how together, we can be a part of the solution. 

In this episode we talk about:

The Caring Society

Indigenous Knowledge Portal

7 Free Ways to Make a Difference

(Dis)placed Indigenous Youth and the Child Welfare System TEACHING GUIDE – Grades 9 to 12

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On May 27, 2021, the sacred bodies of 215 children were found buried at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. We want to honour these children's lives and pay respect to the many families who continue to grieve for their murdered and lost children. 

Donate to First Nations Caring Society

Read the Truth and Reconciliation Report

Helping young people find their way through challenging life circumstances and sometimes poor choices that can hold them back from reaching their full potential-Calgary Youth Justice Society

In episode 4 of season 2, Agnes chats with Courtney Russell, a passionate employee, who shares the incredible work of the Calgary Youth Justice Society and the commitment of the organizations in supporting our youth.

Courtney Russell (she/her) is a former Correctional Service Worker at the Calgary Young Offenders Centre and is now the Community Engagement Coordinator for the Calgary Youth Justice Committee Program run through the Calgary Youth Justice Society. Courtney has been in the community educating those around us on how we can all support youth who live in our own communities and who may be involved in the Justice System. In addition, she helps to educate the youth, their parents, and family who may be struggling with lack of resources and misunderstandings of how the Justice System works in Canada and how to provide a positive support system for the Youth we serve. She believes that every single youth has great abilities and amazing potential ahead, they may just need support in seeing that.

Youth Justice Committee Program- Section 18 of the Youth Criminal Justice Act provides an opportunity for community members to become directly involved in the administration of youth justice by forming Youth Justice Committees (YJCs). A YJC is an alternative to the court system for young people aged 12 up to 18 who are facing a minor charge. Community volunteers work with young people as well as their families, victims, the legal system, and the community to help young people move through and past a minor offence by holding them accountable without holding them back. With support, young people from all walks of life turn their mistakes into opportunities to grow and give back to their communities.

https://calgaryyouthjustice.ca/programs-services/cyjc/

https://www.facebook.com/cyjsyyc

https://www.instagram.com/calgaryyouthjusticecommittees/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/calgaryyouthjusticesociety/

In this conversation of The Rise Resilient Podcast, host Agnes chats with Samantha Wettje of the 16 Strong Project, an organization in New York, USA, whose mission is to "Empower Resilience to Adverse Childhood Experiences".

16 Strong is dedicated to empowering resilience to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) through educational workshops, school partnerships, and community outreach, and was created by Samantha in response to what she experienced as a young person growing up with familial mental illness and addiction. 16 Strong strives to continue conversations that help young people recognize and navigate the challenges they are facing as a result of ACEs, as they believe that with strong support systems, healthy coping mechanisms, and a positive mindset, the negative impacts of ACEs can be mitigated.  

Samantha is the founder of 16 Strong Project, an adolescent mental well-being advocate, and holds a Master's of Education in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University where she works with the EASEL lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education on the "Navigating SEL from the Inside Out" guide. 

In this conversation, we talk about about her experiences with parental addiction and mental illness, as well as how today, she is using her resilience to empower and support youth who may be living with similar experiences.

Learn more about the 16Strong Project.

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Agnes Chen is the host of the Rise Resilient Podcast, as well as the Founder of Starling's Community, whose mission is to co-create a community that can support the mental wellness, resilience, and healing of children and families impacted by parental addiction, and other ACEs.

"Inclusion is not an opportunity, it’s a necessity"-The Colour Factor

Growing up watching Oprah on television, Priscilla Cherry, was inspired to see women of colour in positions of power, with the hopes that she may also one day join them on stage. She pursued her passion for storytelling and has worked with ET Canada, LIVE with Kelly, and Breakfast Television, aspired to create that same feeling of connectedness for others.

After experiencing several back to back losses, Priscilla took some time off to find the root of her storytelling message; mental health advocacy and making others feel a little less alone. She started working for Canada’s largest mental health organization where she facilitated wellness workshops, wrote, hosted and produced #RecoveryIsPossible: A Mental Health Podcast. Today, Priscilla is the co-founder and Director of Operations at, The Colour Factor, a Non-Profit organization aimed at decolonizing and reclaiming mental health and wellness for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour.

Priscilla believes that no one is exempt from dealing with mental health concerns and no matter what your story is, you too can transform your pain into purpose.

Find the Colour Factor at: 

https://thecolourfactor.com/

"The Brain Story is a story about how experiences shape our brains. As such, it is also a story about human relationships, because we depend on those around us for the experiences that build our brain architecture."-Alberta Family Wellness Initiative

In this episode of The Rise Resilient Podcast, Nancy Mannix, the Chair and Patron of the Palix Foundation, shares how the Brain Story Certification came to be 10 years ago, and how today, it is changing lives and whole communities. 

The Palix Foundation is a private foundation in Alberta, Canada, whose philanthropy aims to ultimately support improved health and wellness outcomes for all children and families. The Foundation, through the Alberta Family Wellness Initiative focuses on creating alignment between science, policy and practice in the areas of brain development and its implications for child development, mental health and addiction, ultimately generating changes at an individual, organizational and systems level.

"The scientific information we have about the effect of early childhood experiences on brain development and subsequently on adult health must be translated into a form that makes sense to a non-expert audience. Through the translation process, scientific concepts are explained in a consistent, accessible narrative framework known as the Brain Story. 

 The Brain Story is an interdisciplinary body of knowledge about early childhood experiences, brain development, epigenetics, intergenerational factors, and outcomes.

The online course, Brain Story Certification, is a course that utilizes the science from the Brain Story, now being used throughout the world. The course is free and consists of 19 self-paced modules, that includes 39 of North America's and Europe’s leading experts in neurobiological development and its connection to physical and mental health, including addiction. Their video lectures are excerpts from Symposia hosted in Alberta between 2010 and 2014 and includes topics on children's mental health, the impact of adverse childhood experiences, toxic stress, addiction and resilience. 

Register for the FREE Brain Story Course here:

https://www.albertafamilywellness.org/training

Learn more:

AFWI DEVELOPMENTAL EVALUATION REPORT

FROM KNOWLEDGE TO ACTION: USING BRAIN STORY SCIENCE TO IMPROVE OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN ALBERTA

THE BRAIN STORY IN BLACKPOOL