Regent Park Focus

Today the boys had the opportunity to participate in a healthy eating workshop facilitated by Jorge Ginieniewicz   from the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health. They started out by drawing all of the healthy and unhealthy foods that they could think of. From there, Jorge lead the boys through a discussion about some common misconceptions around healthy foods and eating habits. Although the boys were disappointed to hear that some of their favorite foods were grouped into the unhealthy section, they all seemed to agree that they felt better after they had eaten a nutritious meal, rather than a fast food option.  After the group discussion, Jerry prepared a nutritious snack for the boys. The boys then discussed whether they felt it qualified as a "healthy" snack or not. After thanking Jorge for leading us through the workshop, the boys did a quick clean-up and left for the night.   Brian

This week, Dr. Laura was our guest speaker. She spoke to the Diva Girls group about the relationship between mental health and eating habits.   Dr. Laura (last name here) had the girls split up into two groups and draw pictures of what they considered healthy and unhealthy foods. the girls drew pictures of fast food items such as KFC, french fries, and hamburgers on the unhealthy side. The healthy side drew pictures of fruits, vegetables, breads, and pastas.   Dr. Laura talked about how these foods relate to emotions and how eating healthy vs. unhealthy foods made them feel mentally and emotionally. some of the girls said they could actually feel the difference in how they felt after eating fast food; as opposed to eating a healthy meal. After eating healthy food, one of the girls said she felt her concentration levels become stronger during the day. The girls talked about negative effects of unhealthy and processed foods, such as low energy, hunger shortly after ea...

Today at Boyz 2 Men, the boys had a great time getting to know the cameras that they will be taking home to begin their comic strips on healthy eating. After a brief explanation about how they were to document the food they will be eating and turn it into a story and comic strip, we discussed their responsibilities with the cameras. The boys then had an opportunity to take some pictures of each other and the healthy snack that Jerry prepared, before talking about their ideas that they had about the topics for their mini-projects. The boys left talking about what they were planning on documenting with the cameras and were eager to show that they could handle the responsibilities of working with the cameras on their own time.   Brian

Today at Boyz 2 Men, the boys had a great time getting to know the cameras that they will be taking home to begin their comic strips on healthy eating. After a brief explanation about how they were to document the food they will be eating and turn it into a story and comic strip, we discussed their responsibilities with the cameras. The boys then had an opportunity to take some pictures of each other and the healthy snack that Jerry prepared, before talking about their ideas that they had about the topics for their mini-projects. The boys left talking about what they were planning on documenting with the cameras and were eager to show that they could handle the responsibilities of working with the cameras on their own time.

The following are journal entries from a few of the girls in the Diva program. The girls speak on their findings after reviewing photos they took of the food in their home and discussions on the benefits and drawbacks of healthy and unhealthy food choices.  Diva Girls Journal Entries Healthy Food vs Junk Food Last week me and my sister got a camera to take home and take pictures of healthy food and junk food. Some stuff I learned or knew about junk (food) was that… junk food is mostly stuff with a lot of sugar and they make you fat and lazy… well most junk food. Some stuff I learned or knew about healthy food is that healthy food is vegetables, fruits and more. I also know that people think healthy food is gross mostly because its good for them. The kind of pictures I took were of apples, orange juice, apple juice, fruits, vegetables, green food and more. I chose those foods because they are healthy and keep you fit.   -Rida My sister and I got to take a camera hom...

This week, Chris Leonard was our special guest speaker. Chris came in and facilitated a workshop about resiliency. Chris talked to the girls about the different ways in which they can go about protecting themselves and bouncing back from tough times and adversity. Chris also spoke to the girls about the benefits that came with a healthy amount of confidence and positive attitude. The girls contributed to the conversation by talking about the experiences they’ve had thus far. Some of the girls in the group spoke about friends who had low resiliency and how they would benefit from programs like the Diva Girls, especially when it came to workshops like this particular one. These conversations led to stories about how some of the girls were able to help their friends through personal hardships and when you have resiliency you are able and strong enough (both mentally and emotionally) to help those around you. With that said, you should also surround yourself with trusting and supporti...

The ladies in the Diva Girls program had a special guest speaker this week; Chris Leonard, an expert in the benefits of healthy resiliency spoke to the girls about confidence and self-love. The girls also had the chance to share their feelings and experiences with Chris who in turn gave them advice on how to deal with the pressures and challenges of everyday life. The following are journal entries from a few of the Diva Girls: Resiliency is when you bounce back from hard times, have self-confidence and love yourself. –Ishmahan This week at the diva girls we had Chris come in, she works in the health center and she deals with people who struggle with things that stress people. She taught us what resiliency is and how you can recover from not being resilient and how to stand up or help someone who can’t seem to recover by themselves. Chris also made me realize how resilient I am. –Fazeela Today we focused on resiliency. We talked about what it means to bounce back from a...

Today the Boys2Men group was very active physical as well as cognitively in there thinking on the topic on Resiliency. They learn that resiliency is the social academic competence, despite exposure to severe stress. It is important for these young boys to develop this skill at an early age to build up the ability to solve problems, being self-motivation, self-awareness, assertiveness, a sense of duty to self and others, and the capacity for reflection and meaning making. The facilitator discussed life skills and self-control in coping with physical impulses such as anger, in a school setting based on school lifestyle in dealing with daily challenges. She also brought some balloons and asked the youth to blow air into the balloon and match it with how resilient they are and what scenarios they had shown resiliency. Some of the boys showed how big and massive their balloon was to match their resiliency levels, others showed in the medium average. They were asked what kind of strategie...

A very smooth but lively month for the ‘CatchdaFlava Radio crew’ again. It must be the yuletide season around the corner. This is the time when everyone was talking about the ‘Doomsday 2012’   which is around December 21 st . Everyone was sort of freaked out about the end of the world and how they are gonna deal with it when it happens on that specific date. As for myself, I bought 2 seat tickets for the Toronto Raptors game for the wife and myself to deal with Doomsday. The CatchdaFlava crew was also excited about wanting to see the much awaited movie “The Hobbit” by Peter Jackson, which were a few weeks after December.   Aside from these topics we had a few weekly doses of Rob Ford’s Idiosyncrasies as usual. On the political spectrum of things, the update of Tim Hudak rallying to make wines, beer, spirits to be available at any convenience stores other than LCBO alone. There were a lot of Elementary and High School teacher strikes getting organized this month. In addition, ...