DRYDEN – The Northwestern Ontario Métis Child and Family Services aims to foster healthy emotional and social development in youth and adults across northwestern Ontario through two specific programs: YouPower and Nobody’s Perfect.
The YouPower program is aimed at empowering youths through workshops that build confidence in the self, anti-bullying techniques, and mental health and wellness.
Deanna Parker, a prevention worker for the Northwestern Ontario Métis Child and Family Services, said the one-hour program is run through the public school system and offers gender-specific programming geared toward youth at age 10.
“We’ve seen an amazing boost in the confidence of the youth that has taken it already. The program got so big here in Dryden, so quickly that we are waitlisted into the fall already for additional school in the fall to participate,” said Parker.
A part of the organization's goals for the YouPower program is to present these strategies through the lens of Métis culture.
“The one thing we find here, at our office, is a lot of people come in for services, they don’t know their culture. They don’t know a lot about the Métis culture because here in this specific area, we were shoved underground for so long. So, a lot of people know that they are Métis. They have heard some things from their grandparents and that’s about it,” said Parker.
Although the program is not specifically geared toward Métis students, the point of the program is to initiate an inclusive environment that incorporates the Métis culture in some way.
“So today, they are going to do rock art, but it’s going to be Métis dot art style rock art. It’s just those little things and getting it out in the community,” said Parker. “It is so important for those students who are Métis in the school around here to say “that’s my artwork. That’s what my culture does.”
Parker noted that fellow prevention worker Amanda Lupien has done an amazing job facilitating the programs through the public schools, as well as the Catholic schools in the spring. Every week she introduces a topic every week that is focused on mental health and well-being for youth to work on during their lunch break.
Parker uses the topic of kindness as an example of one of their topics for discussion. Lupien would talk about the different strategies of being ‘kind’ and follow these discussions by having the kids perform an act of kindness in their community. One such way was that the kids decorated cupcakes for the seniors living at Patricia Gardens, a local senior living facility.
Another example Parker addresses are facilitating strategies to prevent bullying from two perspectives, the bully and the person being bullied.
“So, they kind of understand why did the bully act the way act, so that it tells them all sides of the story. It’s just giving the kids those strategies to sit there and say, “Okay, maybe he is having a rough day, maybe she is having a rough day, maybe it’s because of all of this. It may not be me. It may be bigger than me,” said Parker.
The ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ program which is aimed at parents who are mandated by Child and Family Services to take a parenting course.
“Basically, what it’s saying is “I’m not perfect. You’re not perfect. You’re parenting is not going to be perfect. But let’s come up with strategies to help you cope with the difficult situation you may encounter as a parent while realizing we are not perfect and we are all going to make mistakes,” said Parker.
The strategies program utilizes strategies specifically aimed to minimize the emotional well-being of the child by having parents acknowledge their parental imperfection and commit to strengthening the family unit.
"You think about people who may be socially isolated. Maybe they are lower income and they can’t afford all the stuff that they see their peer’s kids have," Parker said. "It’s a place where you can say you made a mistake, your kids aren’t going to hate you down the line. Provided the mistakes are minimal. It’s okay to not be a perfect parent.”
Parker describes the programs as taking a personal judgment of themselves and looking at it through a different lens.
“You are always your worst critic,” said Parker.
At the moment, both the ‘YouPower’ and ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ programs are being facilitated in Dryden. But a $25,000 grant from Hydro One’s Energizing Life Community Fund will allow the organization to branch their programs to Fort Frances, Atikokan, and Kenora this spring.
