Today, March 6, is Black Balloon Day, a day to honour our relatives lost to overdoses and support those struggling with harmful substance use. Remember relatives, it's never too late to start healing or to reach out and ask for help

“Write it down” - this practice has also allowed me to be a better public communicator including speaking, media interviews and blog writing. I am able to take time to formulate my thoughts and decide which words are just for myself, what are the private conversations I need to have with others and what can be shared in the public realm.

Shout out to Andrew and the whole Joyful Project crew! I was recently invited to be their sixth guest, on their first adventure into podcasting and it was a blast! have a listen on your favourite platform, follow these folks on the socials and lets increase the joy in the world!

To the educators who go the extra mile, who honour relationships with their students, who provide increased access to resources with no shame and provide safe spaces for connection that are increasingly valuable to the mental health of students: thank you for being so extra! We see you and appreciate you!

Whether it’s going to the store, going to appointments in person and now during covid it’s figuring out which video/meeting platform, on which device, I have a tendency to “skim over” important details. Maybe it’s because I tend to do many things at one time, thinking I can multi task, because I am excited about many things I think I can extend the hours in a day but I can’t.

It’s National Volunteer Week! Justice, time, energy are just 3 of the reasons I volunteer my time in the community to help address mental health, child welfare and systems change! Check out the full article to see all the reasons why I volunteer.

Christine M’Lot is a Anishinabe educator who has developed a fantastic series of 3 videos around goal setting and the medicine wheel. After checking them out myself, I can tell you that you would benefit, especially as we look to 2021, from making sure you are setting goals in a good way. This tool allows us to do just that.

I made a couple long Facebook statuses about healing and grief recently. I hope they provide a little bit of comfort to those of us, and let’s be honest, there are many, who have lost relatives this year and are coping with that grief. Take care of yourselves, and take care of each other!

How can we improve peoples wellness so that suicide never has to become an option? And as usual, the talking is only the beginning and much more important are the actions we take to move systems to be better.

Not touching things, not coughing/sneezing in public and keeping space from people who may be sick kind of sounds like a good way to be to me. Not because of a virus, but because of respect for other people, because of safety, because of health. Let's include those precautions in whatever the new normal becomes.