Hey everyone, we have posted about PivotPoint’s fall online training sessions — don’t forget to sign up if you’re interested! December’s topic is Strategies to Promote the Independence of Life Skills.
Upcoming online training!
Celebrate Caregivers! Taking good care…
Hey everyone, we’re focusing our posts on CAREGIVERS and resources for caregivers this month. We know that one of the challenges faced by many caregivers is…making time and space to take good care of yourself, as a caregiver.
We’ve talked before about the dangers of compassion fatigue, caregiver stress, and burnout , and we posted about the Family Caregivers of BC resources available earlier this week.
It can be hard to know where to start with self-care, so we wanted to highlight the Family Caregivers of BC webinars as one way to start building your toolkit. There’s many webinars to choose from, but why not start with this one? It’s called “Caring for Yourself While Caring for Others” and covers compassion fatigue and how the body and mind deals with chronic stress, as well as what you as a caregiver can do to sustain and nourish yourself.
There’s additional resources available too:
PowerPoint slide deck for presentation
Exploring Your Relationship to Self and Others with Self-Compassion
SPOTLIGHT: Family Caregivers of BC Resources!
Hey everyone, we’re focusing our posts on CAREGIVERS and resources for caregivers this month. We know that one of the challenges faced by many caregivers is…connecting with others for support as caregivers.
So…here is a great resource!
Family Caregivers of BC has ongoing support available for caregivers. According to their website, they provide “direct support to caregivers through one-on-one emotional support, caregiver support groups, health care system navigation, and free educational resources.”
- Access information, self-assessment resources, and help here
- Access their virtual caregiver support group here
- Connect through their newsletter by signing up here
- Find COVID-19 caregiver resources listed here
You can also call the BC Caregiver Support Line (toll-free: 1-877-520-3267) on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:30 am – 4:00 pm, and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 am – 7:00 pm.
SPOTLIGHT: FSI Resources for Caregivers!
Hey everyone, we’re focusing our posts on CAREGIVERS this month. We know that one of the challenges faced by many caregivers is…connecting with other caregivers, and connecting those they care for with others.
So…here is a great resource!
The Family Support Institute of BC offers their Calendar for Connection, as well as several other, each month. We’ve posted their events before, but we wanted to make sure you’d heard about ALL their calendars!
- Check out the Calendar for Connection here.
- Check out the calendar of Family Support Institute events here.
- Check out the FSI list of external (partner) events here.
Lots happening online, too! Check it out.
Upcoming online training!
Hey everyone, we’ve been posting about PivotPoint’s upcoming online training — don’t forget to sign up if you’re interested! This month’s topic is Behavioural Support Plan Management.
Happy Halloween!
Hey everyone, we hope you have a fun (and safe!) Halloween weekend!
Here are a few safety tips from the National Fire Protection Association, and from the RCMP.
Rights & Responsibilities…
Hey everyone, as you know we’ve been posting topics for Community Inclusion month and last week we talked a bit about self advocacy.
A really important part of self advocacy is standing up for your own rights. We have a whole page that talks about rights and responsibilities here, complete with help to understand different kinds of rights, like:
- the Right to Say No
- the Right to Vote
- the Right to Love
- the Right to Have a Job
- the Right to Believe
- the right to be safe — especially, help to Say No To Abuse
Everyone has rights as a person in Canada, and rights as a person in BC. If you have a disability and you are getting supports, you also have rights as a person who uses the services of Community Living BC (CLBC).
With all those different kinds of rights in mind, we thought this would be a good time to remind ourselves about this awesome conversation that helped explore rights and responsibilities:
If you’ve got questions about rights and responsibilities, please let us know or leave us a comment.
COMMUNITY INCLUSION MONTH: Where we are
Hey everyone, we’ve been posting a series as part of Community Inclusion Month. Last week, we talked about where we’ve been in terms of disability rights and inclusion, and the work done by self-advocates who have brought the movement to where we are now. This week, we’re focusing on where we are by exploring some current issues and resources for self-advocacy.
So, what’s self-advocacy?
The BC People First Society (BCPF) talks about self-advocacy being what happens “when we stand up for our needs when they are not being met” and members help each other learn self-advocacy skills. Here is a video of the BCPF Advocacy Committee on Accessibility on YouTube.
The Self Advocate Net website has a whole page dedicated to self-advocacy topics, too, as well as a YouTube playlist of helpful videos here.
Here is an interview from Kelowna Now with Kelowna resident Shelley Decoste that was published on October 7th, to mark Community Inclusion Month. Shelley talks about her experiences and stereotypes about people with diverse abilities.
Here is a news article from CTV News about a young man from Toronto who is part of the Dear Everybody campaign put on each year by a rehabilitation hospital. He (and a team of young people with disabilities) are doing a virtual tour of classrooms and workplaces to talk about ableism.
What’s ableism?
Here’s how the Dear Everybody website explains it: Ableism is the discrimination towards someone based on their abilities, often favouring those who do not have a disability and seeing less value in those that do. And it needs to stop.
The idea is to get people talking about ableism, in order to end it — and that’s where self-advocates come in! Self-advocates can start great conversations about what’s wrong and how to fix it. You can see the videos made to start the Dear Everybody conversation here.
The Easter Seals website has a great idea on this page that would help start important conversations (like Shelley’s interview and like Dear Everybody). You can invite people you know to watch TED Talks about different disability issues, different people’s perspectives, and different experiences, and the then start a conversation about it, or a video chat, or have a talk on the phone. Or, if you’re interested in exploring another way to safely try out online community, you could post on the video page, a message board, or Facebook page, or post a comment below!
Check out the Easter Seals 10 suggested TED Talks about disability, accessibility, and inclusion to get started (printable list below).
RDSP Webinars with Plan Institute
Hey everyone, Plan Institute is offering their Level 1 and Level 2 webinars about the Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) over the next few months.
Check out the info below to see which would be best for you, and click here if you’re interested in signing up!
Gearing up for winter PART 3…
Hey everyone, we have posted about driving safety and about home maintenance to prepare for winter — and to finish off our series on “gearing up for winter” we are sharing information about extreme weather!
While there are benefits to being able to be outdoors enjoying winter activities, it’s important to be aware of the dangers of winter cold. This article posted on the Government of Canada website talks about extreme cold, and the factors that may make some people more vulnerable than others. It’s important to know about windburn, frostbite, and hypothermia, as well as how to mitigate these risks.
You can also be prepared for different kinds of winter weather (including storms). There is an article here that touches on winter storm preparedness, equipment, and cleanup.
Stay safe!
