Every day, more than 3 million Ontarians provide support to loved ones facing illnesses, mental health issues, disabilities or challenges associated with aging. On April 3, CMHA Kenora Branch joins organizations and communities across the province for Family Caregiver Day, an annual event to recognize and celebrate the value of caregivers to Ontario’s families, health care system, and economy.

As students prepare for exams, CMHA Ontario is reminding them to keep mental health in mind with some quick stress-management tips. Those struggling with low mood or anxiety can turn to CMHA Ontario’s free skill-building program BounceBack^®: Reclaim your health to learn how to deal with stress, being overwhelmed, and more. Through BounceBack, adults and youth 15+ learn skills to help manage worry and anxiety, combat unhelpful thinking and become more active and assertive.

We want to hear from you about how we can make the health care system in our region better for people using opioids e.g. oxycontins, percocets, codeine, morphine, fentanyl as well as the street drug heroin.

From March 4-10, CMHA kenora Branch will recognize the transformational work done every day by Ontario social workers. Social Work Week annually celebrates the profession and the valuable work of approximately 17,000 registered Ontario social workers. This week, we will celebrate alongside the Ontario Association of Social Workers (OASW) and our very own branch staff.

On February 27, individuals and organizations across the country will come together to celebrate Pink Shirt Day, an annual anti-bullying campaign.

HOW WILL A FAMILY ADVISORY SUPPORT THE HUB?

A Family Advisory will play an important role in ensuring that the voices of family members are present in the design, governance and implementation processes of the Kenora hub. Families are seen as experts in the needs and capacity to support their youth, and members of this workgroup will be engaged in:

• Co-creating a workplan to ensure the Kenora youth hub is a youth-driven and family supported initiative
• Supporting the recruitment of family members into hub activities and initiatives
• Becoming a group of family and community engagement champions to amplify voices of youth, whose voices will reflect the context and needs of youth
• Communicating workgroup activity with network partners and interested stakeholders