Children’s Mental Health Week is definitely a time to highlight the incredible work that goes on in the children’s mental health sector. Agencies such as Kinark have steadily moved toward consistent practice of evidenced-based treatments. They have an expanded and more meaningful role for parents and youth in improving agency work. There is focused work in engaging and serving marginalized communities. Read more »

Hope: 1: to desire with expectation of obtainment; 2: to expect with confidence (Merriam Webster Dictionary)
 
I think most of us could safely say that hope is woven through all that we feel and do when we become parents. We hope for our baby to be whole and well. We hope that they will remain safe. We hope they will grow up to be successful. We hope that we will do right by them.
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“Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers.” – Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC)
 
I love this quote. To me it sums up how we have seen children and youth since we started having the little critters! That’s why I find it amusing when I listen to the verbal handwringing about young people and their use of social media.
 
“They’re becoming hermits!”
 
“They’ll never hold a proper job!”
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I wanted to wish everyone who cares about child and youth mental health a happy new year – but then I wondered what that meant. When we start the new calendar year, we have images of a fresh start, a new chance, the slate wiped clean and ready to be filled with ideas of promise and success. But is that really where we are? Read more »

It’s funny…I often think the struggles we have as adults during the holiday season have as much to do with unfulfilled childlike expectations as anything else. We look to our children and our extended family and fret over things that go wrong or behavior that unnerves us and think “if only.” You can fill in the blank. If only they would stop fussing, or if only they would settle down, or if only they wouldn’t be so extreme. Read more »

My son was born on November 20, 1989 and he is 21 this year. The first National Child Day established to mark the passing of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was on his birthday 21 years ago. I note this because in my work as an advocate and then as the Director, Parent and Youth Engagement, I find I have used his life and the lives of his peers as the story by which I measure our success at improving the lives of young people in Ontario. Read more »

I wanted to write about how to talk about mental health and mental illness to young people. And then I realized that there are many people more qualified to do that than me. Those people are the youth out there that deal with mental illness every day. Read more »

I know we teach our children to look after their body through good dental hygiene, cleanliness (washing hands, taking baths/showers, etc.), exercise and regular check ups at the doctor. We want them to care for themselves and avoid illness and generally stay in good health.
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If I had to use one word to describe the way we work at Kinark, it would be partnerships. And that’s the way it should be when we are looking to find more effective ways to serve children and youth! Whether we are trying to support children and youth living in foster care or delivering parenting programs or trying to figure out how we coordinate services with other agencies, partnership is essential.
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