In my life, the mentor's I've had have always been people I've recognized after the fact. I think it's rarer when we find ourselves in intentional mentoring. In either direction — to have the confidence to believe you could be a mentor to someone or conversely the...
Blog
The Beloveds – by Christina Antonick
This following image was chosen by the Obama campaign to be the image that came up when they declared their victory in November. It went on to become one of the most liked photographs of all time (it was an image actually taken last August). Someone commented that it...
Systemic Violence and the Death of Amanda Todd – by Lynda Laushway
The recent tragic suicide of Amanda Todd is front-page news in Canada. Cyber-bullying and other forms of bullying are the topic of many conversations. What seems to be missing from the conversations is the desire to look at the systemic violence, attitudes and...
Social and Emotional Learning and Why it Matters to Our Children – by Lynda Laushway
Social and emotional learning are as important to our children as learning to read and write. They are skills for life that will support our children to become successful and caring adults. They are the skills that build community and our relationships with each...
A Walk Across the Sun, by Lynda Laushway
I literally read this book over 48 hours. “A Walk Across the Sun”, by Corban Addison, is a compelling novel following two young South Asian girls who are betrayed by people that they trusted and sold into slavery, after losing their family in the 2000 Tsunami. ...
Safety Means Everyone: Building a Nurturing GBLTQ Community – by Juli MacDonnell
The last few days, I’ve been having conversations about how to nurture a rural queer community - when Gay, Lesbian, Trans, Bi, Queer (GBLTQ) people feel safe in our community and when they don’t. I talked to someone at a Youth Drop-In Centre. He told me of a...
Dating Violence is on the Rise – by Lynda Laushway
Dating violence is up across Canada according to a recent Statistics Canada report. The numbers, which encompass a wide range of relationships (boyfriends and girlfriends, exes and many permutations of intimate entanglements), were compiled from police reports from...
Training With All the Comforts of Home – By Chris Gay
SWOVA has always prided itself on the training it provides facilitators interested in delivering the Respectful Relationships (R+R) curriculum. Respectful Relationships (R+R) is a National and Provincial award winning schools-based primary violence prevention program...
So what’s in it for me? – by Chris Gay
As a contractor for SWOVA, I have very specific tasks laid out that involve project coordination. As the project coordinator for the Respectful Relationships (R+R) program, the Pass It On Program, and for the Online R+R Facilitator’s Training, I need to ensure all the...
The Best Part of Pass It On – by Chris Gay
The Pass It On female teen mentorship program has now completed its second year. This year there were 16 mentors and 16 buddies. The mentors met weekly with their mentor supervisor, Kate Maurice, for support and guidance. In addition, they met monthly as a group with...
SparkFest: A night of celebration – by Chris Gay
Kate Maurice, the Mentor Supervisor for the Pass It On female teen mentorship program, held us intimately and passionately in a circle of gratitude during an evening of entertainment on Sunday April 29th at the Harbour House Hotel. The event was a fundraiser for the...
Sparkfest: Creating and Celebrating Community – by Kate Maurice
On April 24th, Pass It On is coming to the end of this year’s program which means, in the words of female student mentor, Paige Penny, ‘We now throw Sparkfest as a way to celebrate the past year and to build momentum for the next year.” April 29th marks the 2nd...