AIDS Coalition of Cape Breton: LGBT Youth Suicide Prevention (Cape Breton)
Lesbian Gay Bi-Sexual and Transgender (LGBT) people of all ages are at a higher than average risk of suicide, especially LGBT youth. Research done in both the US and Canada reports LGBT youth report suicidal ideations/attempts in greater numbers than their heterosexual counterparts. This project will give people working with LGBT youth the tools to increase protective factors including assessing risk of suicide and better providing support to LGBT youth at risk of suicide. Evaluation will be carried out by surveying participants inquiring as to their comfort levels in providing support for LGBT youth before and after the project and a focus group with LGBT youth to see if the project is meeting their needs.
Canadian Mental Health Association - NS Division, Connect: Suicide Post-vention Program
Connect: Suicide Post-vention Program will enable the CMHA us to develop a sustainable network of trainers to work with professionals across Nova Scotia, responding to suicide in safe ways that encourage healing and empowers survivors of suicide loss. The CMHA believes the Program will help to reduce the stigma surrounding suicide, creating awareness and understanding of suicide and mental health, and encouraging a dialogue that will ultimately save lives. Evaluated by process (the number of trainers and training that takes place) as well as by the quality of those trainings, the program will focus heavily on outcome evaluation. Namely a professional’s preparedness to respond to crises, limiting of post traumatic stress and other mental health difficulties after suicides as well as the effect of the program on suicide rates in our province.
Canadian Mental Health Association, Colchester/East Hants, Mental Health Youth Outreach
Since February 2011, CMHA, Colchester East Hants Branch has, in response to the school's request, delivered 'Stress Management' presentations to high school students at the Cobequid Education Centre. This has been followed up with a ten-week workshop aimed at helping the most vulnerable students. The objective of the project is to provide mental health and mental illness education to youth, providing a greater understanding of mental illness signs and symptoms and improving skills related to stress, coping mechanisms, relationships and loss. The CMHA has received numerous requests for similar programs at East Hants and Parrsboro high schools, providing a unique mental health and stress management education for students not currently available.
Canadian Mental Health Association, Halifax, Mental Health for All Coffee House
The pilot project "Mental Health for All Coffee House" is a new initiative the CMHA Halifax/Dartmouth branch is hoping to establish Saturday afternoons in the Bloomfield Centre, 2786 Agricola St. The Mental Health for All Coffee House will be offered as a drop in and registration will not be required. It will provide information about local mental health services and raise awareness about the need for increased resources for mental health services and individuals living with serious mental illness. It is anticipated that participation in the coffee house activities will not only promote a sense of belonging for individuals living with mental illness but will increase dialogue between mental health consumers and members of the general public. This pilot project will run from Sept-November 2011 and then again from Jan-March 2012.
Family Service of Eastern NS: Anger Management/ A Road to Wellness
It has been clearly documented anger is often one of the underlying causes of mental health issues, including anxiety and depression. A critical aspect of mental health service provision, each year, members of the Family Service of Eastern NS Leadership Team participate in a number of community partner meetings in New Glasgow, Antigonish, Port Hawksbury, Sydney and Glace Bay. These include Mental Health Services, Correctional Services, Department of Community Services, and Addiction Services. The purpose of these meetings has been to share knowledge regarding resources and to identify gaps in service. In all of these locations there is consensus that there continues to be a defined need for structured anger management programming that is both preventative and treatment oriented. Anger Management: A Road to Wellness" is a seven week, psycho-educational program with the goal of increasing participants awareness of personal anger triggers, the emotional and physical reactions to anger and effective strategies for dealing with anger.
Creative Arts at Laing House
Mental illness has been called "youth's greatest disabler"; it is often invisible, and there is stigma, isolation, and discrimination associated with the illness. Youth with symptoms often delay seeking help and are left struggling alone, and with a sense of hopelessness. The severity of youth mental illness is astounding. The issues they face on a daily, and long term basis, place them in a marginalized and at risk group. Creative Arts at Laing House acknowledges the role of creativity in recovery, and offers a variety of creative pursuit for members, including includes the Drop-In Art Program, Drama Program, and Writers' Circle. Through exploration of art forms members find new ways to express themselves, gain self-esteem, learn to work collaboratively and independently, and develop new coping skills, all in a safe, nonjudgmental environment.
Leave Out ViolencE (LOVE) Leadership Training
Leave Out ViolencE (LOVE) is a long-term violence intervention and prevention program for youth (aged 12 - 19 at intake) who are victims, witnesses and perpetrators of violence. Doctors, social workers, teachers, parents, student support workers, and other professionals who work with youth refer youth to LOVE. Leadership Training is an ongoing, long-term, three-stage program that culminates in an intensive Leadership Training Camp. The goal of LOVE's Leadership Training 2010-2011 is to help youth who have experienced violence to develop the skills, knowledge, confidence, and experience they need to educate their peers and community members about violence prevention, while continuing to develop their own capacities to make safe, non-violent, healthy choices. This program will help youth to develop the positive sense of purpose, life-skills, and critical thinking that will enable them to analyze causes of, and alternatives to, violence. Upon completion of this program, youth will have developed skills that will prepare them to become Youth Leaders in our Outreach Project, a program that educates thousands of other youth, adults, and groups throughout our communities.
One Day at a Time Occupational Therapy & Organizational Solutions
Live the Life - One Day at a Time
The pilot project will assist individuals to better function in their everyday lives. A 6 week workshop (put on 3 times) will allow 45 individuals to learn how to establish and work on personal goals with the support of a registered occupational therapist. The overall goal of the program is to improve individual's performance and satisfaction in their daily living skills. Individuals will gain skills they can use again in the future that they have established in the program. With no other workshops offering this kind of service available in the community, the pilot is aimed at any individual struggling day to day in the community where people live and away from "clinical" settings, helping them re-connect to their community.
St. Timothy's Church Mental Health Training & Programs
Our objective is to offer a variety of support services to assist those struggling with mental illness and emotional turmoil. One of the most important needs of people going through stress and challenging times is having a competent and compassionate support network. Our main goal is to provide a caring, listening environment for which people may explore their healing journey. We know that community is substantially beneficial for people to find acceptance, understanding and personal wholeness. The program offers practical programs and sound support groups with screened, trained facilitators, as well as offer encouraging visits to people who require mental health care assistance. Our goal is to help individuals return to healthier relations with those they love, and to restore them as engaged citizens in the community (socially).
Schizophrenia Society of NS -- Strengthening Families Together
Strengthening Families Together grew out of the strong belief that Canadian families have a right to reliable educational information on serious mental illnesses, regardless of where they reside. Developed by the Schizophrenia Society of Canada, Strengthening Families Together is a ten-session, two-hour per session, national education program for family members & friends of individuals with serious and persistent mental illnesses which aims to increase accessibility to Canadian-based information on the topics associated with living daily with a mental illness. The objectives of this proposal are to provide education and awareness, support, and tools to help families and friends better cope with the realities of everyday involvement with an individual living with a serious mental illness. Delivered by family members who have direct experience with the psychiatric illness of a loved one, and enhanced by invited speakers with topical expertise, Strengthening Families Together focuses on the signs and symptoms of mental illness, causes and treatment options, developing coping skills, navigating the local mental health care system, and applying effective advocacy strategies.
S.O.A.R. (Survivors of Abuse Recovering), Peer Counselling Training
This grant will fund the training of 10-15 peer councillors, who are survivors of childhood sexual abuse. These peer councillors would, in turn, provide one-to-one peer counselling to survivors in Annapolis, Kings and Hants Counties. The target group is adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse with Peer Councillors ranging in age from 18 to 65 years of age. Each peer councillor in training will have the opportunity, not only to learn a new skill set as they train, but their own personal healing journey will also deepen. In turn they will be able to give back to our community a gift that has proven to benefit adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Thus the benefits of this investment will be felt in the community for years to come. An increase in the number of peer counselors will enable us to expand the range of S.O.A.R. services S.O.A.R. is a volunteer-driven, community-based peer counselling service for survivors of childhood sexual abuse in the Valley Region. We have no paid staff and only seek funds for paying staff when we are offering programs that require experts to deliver the programs.