Dance the night away on May 20th!

Thanks to Nelson Cares for passing this along!

Queer Dance Party at the Royal

Kootenay Pride is hosting their first event of the year on Friday, May 20th from 8pm ‘til midnight at the Royal. This will be a fun evening to celebrate inclusion and equality for everyone, with awesome music from Mraki and our friend DJ Unalive. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at https://www.theroyalnelson.com/events. All proceeds will go to the Christopher Moore Legacy Fund to help trans community members access gender-affirming care.

Mental health: Empathy & listening

Hey everyone, we’re raising awareness about mental health this month and today we’re asking you to consider how you listen!

Do you listen to others to understand, or do you listen to others to judge? Check out the difference here!

Listening is the communication skill that links up with EMPATHY – which is what CMHA has featured in their mental health week campaign this year. The great news is that they’ve also published an article with a checklist that goes through steps to effective listening! Check it out here and brush up on your listening skills.

Re-connect on May 19th!

Thanks to Nelson Cares for passing this along!

Self-Advocacy Group Meeting at Lakeside Park

The Nelson Self-Advocacy Group will be holding our first in-person meeting since the start of the pandemic at Lakeside Park on Thursday, May 19th from 1-3pm. We will be meeting in the covered area with the picnic tables by the tennis courts and snacks will be provided! This is a great opportunity to re-connect with the group or learn more about what we do. There are a lot of great ideas for what the group can do this year and now is the time to have your say and be part of the plan! Email Jaymes (that’s me!) at vocationalcounsellor@nelsoncares.ca for more info or if you need help getting to the park.

Everybody Belongs!

Hey everyone, the (previously postponed) Inclusion BC conference “Everybody Belongs!” is coming up in Surrey at the end of the month! You can get more information about the conference and register here.

Emergency Preparedness Week: BUILD A KIT!

Hey everyone, as part of Emergency Preparedness Week we want to share some helpful resources to support everyone to build their emergency kit.

Check out this video that walks through the process of putting together a kit — and some special considerations, like medications and mobility.

Check out the lists on this page to make your own kit, or start off with a guide like this one. You can also find information online about where to get a kit. There’s also a great resource here about preparing a kit on a budget.

Don’t forget to consider having an emergency car kit if you drive or own a vehicle! You can check out information on emergency car kits here.

Emergency Preparedness: Distress vs De-stress!

Hey everyone, we’ve been posting emergency planning information and resources for Emergency Preparedness Week, and we want to take time to talk stress.

Emergencies can be stressful to think about. Planning for emergencies might seem like a big chore, or it might seem like it’s an impossible job to be ready for anything, or it might make you feel scared or sad.

It’s important to know that having a plan is one of the best emergency response strategies you can have: it will help you stay calm if you’re ever faced with a real emergency. So, while emergency planning might seem like a challenge, it’s definitely worthwhile!

Here’s some videos to help lighten things up and simplify some key concepts (and a website to got with them!).

GRAB AND GO BAG:

EMERGENCY KIT:

GRAB AND GO BAG vs. EMERGENCY KIT (What’s the difference?)

Join SOAR for a Faire tomorrow!

Thanks to our friends at Nelson Cares for passing this along!

SOAR Year-End Celebration Tea and Artisan Faire

Tomorrow, May 5th from 11am to 1pm at Silver King Campus the students of the SOAR Program at Selkirk College will be showcasing their year and selling a number of veggie starts, tropical plants, soaps, and candles. Some veggie starts you can expect to see are a variety of tomatoes, basil, peppers, thyme, and hopefully more!

There will be cake, too! Please email Alison at aroy@selkirk.ca if you plan to attend so she can make sure there is enough for everyone. 

Emergency Preparedness Week: MAKE A PLAN!

Hey everyone, as part of Emergency Preparedness Week we want to focus in on supporting everyone to make an emergency plan that keeps you ready for anything!

Check out this video for a helpful walk-through of what to consider and what to do in case of some examples like 1) flooding while you’re not home, 2) a severe storm while you’re are home, and 3) a wildfire evacuation order.

Check out this page for access to 9 free online emergency preparedness guides you can use to plan for an emergency specific to your needs — from pets, to power outages, to pocket guides.

Finally, check out this page for some tips on how you can (and can’t) use technology when you’re planning what to do in case of an emergency, like these helpful hints:

  • Non-voice channels like text messaging, email or social media use less bandwidth than voice communications and may work even when phone service doesn’t.
  • Keeping phone conversation brief conserves your phone’s battery.
  • Waiting 10 seconds before redialing if you can’t complete a call helps reduce network congestion.
  • Cordless phones rely on electricity and will not work during a power outage.
  • Save your safe meeting location on your smartphone’s mapping application.
  • Conserve your smartphone’s battery by reducing the screen’s brightness, placing your phone in airplane mode, and closing apps you are not using.
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