For a plain text version, please scroll down to the bottom.
PLAIN TEXT VERSION
This volume includes information on YMHC events and activities, a November self-care calendar, a new recipe, a workout of the month, mental health resources and more!
Trans Days of Significance
TRANSGENDER AWARENESS WEEK
When: 2nd Week of November
Dates: Nov 6 - Nov 11
International
Dedicated to increasing visibility and awareness of the transgender community.
TRANSGENDER DAY OF REMEMBRANCE
Date: November 20, 2023
International
The Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) was set aside to memorialize those who have been lost due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The first candlelight vigil occurred in 1999.
TDOR provides us all an opportunity to publicly mourn and honor the trans lives lost in our community over the past year, in addition to helping raise awareness about hate crimes that the trans community experience daily.
Every Child Matters Every Day
YMHC has produced Every Child Matters T-shirts, lawn signs, posters, and bundle packages with a design from a local Indigenous artist, Kyle Joedicke. All proceeds go to support Indigenous young people.
To find out more, go to https://ymhc.ngo/ecm
Self-Care Tip
Cook a Nourishing Meal
Research has found that cooking and baking can be therapeutic with a range of mental health benefits. According to counselors, cooking can help "soothe stress, build self-esteem and curb negative thinking by focusing the mind on following a recipe." In addition, cooking allows us to express our creativity. If you are up for trying a new recipe - there is always a new recipe of the month in this newsletter.
SCHOOL PHOBIA TRAINING COURSE
School phobia, avoidance, and absence are some of the most pressing issues in youth mental health and suicide prevention. With the YMHC School Phobia Training Course, you can gain the knowledge and skills needed to support students who are struggling with school-induced mental health disabilities. Register now and become a part of the solution.
Date: November 8 to December 13
Time: Wednesdays, 7 to 9 p.m. ET
Registration:
Indigenous Professionals: https://ymhc.ngo/isat
Non-Indigenous Professionals: https://ymhc.ngo/sptc
National Child Day
Canada has declared November 20th as National Child Day to celebrate the rights of children. November 20th was chosen as the day to celebrate National Child Day because the United Nations adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) on November 20, 1989.
By signing onto the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, Canada made a commitment to ensure that all children are treated with dignity and respect and have every opportunity to reach their full potential.
This commitment includes:
Providing children opportunities to have a voice (speak out and be heard)
Protecting children from harm
Ensuring children's basic needs are met
How to celebrate National Child Day
Celebrating National Child Day is about celebrating children as:
Active participants in their own lives and in their communities
Active citizens who can and should meaningfully contribute to decisions that affect their lives
Right: the things that allow children to live to their fullest potential
Need: the things that are absolutely necessary for all children to have or be able to do to live a happy and healthy life
Want: the things that are nice to have but are not necessary for a full life
Workout of the Month
A no-weight workout to try! All you need is about 20m of space. Do 3 rounds of this cycle with 1 min rest between cycles.
Jump Rope (1-2 min)
Alternating Lunges (15 per side)
Leg lifts (20 reps per side)
Ab Crunches (3 sets of 20)
Balance in Tree Pose (30 seconds)
Opposite Toe Touches (3 sets of 10 reps per side)
Supporting Students with School Phobia
School phobia is a complex mental health disability. There are many challenges for the student, family and school. The more time a student is away from school, the more difficult it is for them to resume normal school life. YMHC has developed resources and tools to support students, families, schools, and mental health professionals. Our 20 years of experience working on school-induced mental health challenges and disabilities provides the much-needed authenticity, expertise, and leadership to the field of child and youth mental health and suicide prevention.
Vegan Pistachio Schortbread Cookies
Honestly, shortbread is pretty easy to make vegan, and pretty easy to make overall - give this recipe a try! If you prefer something other than pistachios - feel free to sub it out and mix in whatever you like.
Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup powdered sugar
½ tsp salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped pistachios, roasted and lightly salted
Directions
Add butter, powdered sugar, and salt to the bowl of a large food processor. Process until smooth. Add flour and pulse until mixture looks crumbly and chunky. Add pistachios and quickly pulse until the pistachios are incorporated but not further chopped.
Divide the dough in half and distribute each portion onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Form the dough into two, ~8-inch long logs. Tightly wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for 30 minutes, or refrigerate overnight/until needed.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove one log of dough from the freezer/fridge. Cut dough into ¼-inch thick slices. Arrange cookies on lined baking sheet. Bake until cookies just barely turn a light golden color around the edges, between 12-15 minutes. Allow to cool on baking sheets.
Repeat steps with the second log of dough. Once cookies are completely cool, store in an airtight container (if there are any left!).
Makes 30 cookies
Indigenous Disability Awareness Month (IDAM)
Indigenous peoples of Canada experience a disability rate significantly higher than that of the general population. Indigenous Disability Awareness Month (IDAM) brings awareness of these barriers and the issues that Indigenous peoples living with disabilities and their families face every day. More importantly though, in spite of these barriers, IDAM celebrates the achievements of Indigenous peoples living with disabilities and recognizes the significant and valuable contributions they make to our communities socially, economically, and culturally every day.
Indigenous Disability Awareness Month (IDAM) was created by BCANDS in 2015, and 2023 is its 9th anniversary! Since then, IDAM is now annually declared and recognized by the Provinces of British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, the Assembly of First Nations, BC First Nations Summit, Métis Nation of BC, Council of Yukon First Nations, the Town of Inuvik, and hundreds of other organizations and communities across Canada. IDAM is the only Indigenous disability specific awareness initiative of its kind in the world. In 2017 the United Nations International Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recommended to Canada to officially declare November as IDAM annually.
Supporting Youth Mental Health Change in Canada
YMHC is a community-based, youth-led charitable non-profit organization focused on youth, family, and community engagement for mental health education, support, advocacy, hope, and change.
We advocate for needs-based, culturally sensitive, trauma-informed mental health support, services and educational accommodations for students and direct funding to families to support young people with chronic mental health disabilities.