Regent Park Focus

We are rested and ready to take on spring after our March Break Wellness week! The Diva’s spent their time at Focus with good food, good friends and a whole week centred on understanding and supporting our minds and bodies.  With winter finally melting it’s time for self-reflection and preparing for a new season. On Monday we started off by talking about the role anxiety plays in each of our lives and the healthiest and most effective ways to combat it before our evening programm ing with UofT. On Tuesday we took some much-needed R&R with our pajama themed Chocolate Fondue party! Fresh fruit, melted chocolate, and empowering chick flicks! This was one of the best days of our week! Wednesday we started are morning off right, yogurt parfaits and empowering self-talk. Just like we maintain our body’s health, it’s important to maintain your mental health. Making sure we talk to ourselves the way we talk to people we love, even when we’re stressed or ...

On Tuesday November 27th, Radio Regent's Catch da Flava youth radio show explored the topic of mental health and mental illness. We were fortunate enough to have guest Mike Stroh from mental health organization Starts With Me on the show with us as a guest. Mike answered a number of great questions from the youth and had some important and thought-provoking discussions with us about mental health and mental illness. For more information about Mike's work and Starts With Me, visit  https://startswithme.ca/ We started off the show the way we usually do when we are introducing the topic or issue for the day's episode, which is to provide a definition or general explanation of the main concept. Mike made the important distinction between the terms "mental health" and "mental illness" for us and our listeners. The youth started the discussion off by asking Mike to talk about some of the most common forms of mental illness, especially for youth in part...

This week on Catch Da Flava on Radio Regent host Nate and Diamond were joined by special guests; staff and volunteers from the Youth Health Action Network (YHAN). Which is a Toronto Tobacco Control Area Network youth engagement initiative that brings together young people ages 16 – 24 from across Toronto for the common goal of exploring and taking action on current and emerging health and tobacco prevention issues. From raising awareness to advocating for healthy public policy, the Youth Health Action Network encourage youth across Toronto to take action on current health and tobacco prevention issues. For this sessions interview we talked about the history of YHAN as well as the many initiatives that they have done over the years; which have resulted in influencing local laws and policies in board of health meetings. This including the banning of hookah smoking in patios across Toronto. Additionally we addressed the rise in hookah smoking and the glorification of smoking in gen...

For our July 5th episode of Health Talks Youth Radio, we introduced our show with a discussion on the movie “Flubber” and how sports equipment enhances sport performance. Flubber is a movie about mad scientist Professor Philip Brainard and his insatiable need to create more and more scientific innovations. He’s engaged to Sara Reynolds, a part of the college faculty and they are trying to get married for the third time since the last two times he forgot because he was busy creating more inventions. He misses his third and final chance when he gets caught up creating “flubber” a polymer substance with free will and the capacity to multiple the energy that is given to it. So if you bounce it on the floor, it goes up and down repeatedly and rapidly given only one little toss. In between, he has to win back the heart of Sara, fight off his mortal enemy, and defend his creations against an evil parent and his bratty son. Some of the questions we asked the youth panel when it comes to t...

For this edition of Health Talks Youth Radio, we had our panel discussion that explored the topic of exercise. Not only is the weather better in Toronto that it would encourage people to celebrate the use of their bodies but exercise more than ever is an important and vital component to healthy living for youth. According to the latest study by Preventive Medicine, it analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination that tracked over 12,500 people aged 6 to 84 years to log how many of their waking hours they spent active and how many they spent sitting. It shows the older people are, the more inactive they becoming but shockingly the research shows that 19 year olds spend as much time being inactive and sedentary as 60 year olds. Considering that, it’s clear we need to get a move on when it comes to exercise! Some of the questions we asked our youth panelists were: What do you think accounts for youth being as inactive as seniors? What is pulling them away fro...

For our July 3rd edition of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, we started our show with a series of pre-recorded interviews from youth participants to get their take on exercise. The interviews were conducted to try to understand how youth participants are dealing with their body’s changes and how they perceive the adequacy of their bodies. Especially in our modern times where most youth want to just hang out indoors and scroll through endless memes on social media, exercise seems to be something fundamental we must reclaim. We asked them five questions which were: How much exercise do you think you do a day? A week? Do you consider yourself physically fit/healthy? Why or why not? What ways do you want to improve your physical health? How do you think you can achieve this goal? Do you enjoy exercise? Why or why not? What kinds of exercise do you participate in? What are some you want to take up? We ended off this show with a song that celebrates the triumph of the human spiri...

For this edition of Health Talks Youth Radio, we had our wonderful panel discussion with our youth participants discussing how they navigated through school stress while school was in. We chatted about the issue only to celebrate that it’s finally over. Some of the questions we explored were: What’s a way school stress has affected you emotionally? I’m talking about how it has made you feel, the anxiety, the sorrow, the anger, the frustration. What’s the worst and best emotions from the school term for you? So how’s school stress affected you psychologically? This can be something like how it makes you doubt your ability to finish assignments, to do well in exams- all that. Or what about some stories you heard from friends and classmates? Sometimes, because the body and mind are connected, we can have physical symptoms from school stress. How has school stressed you out- did you have to have all-nighters, difficulty sleeping because of worry, physical weakness trying to keep ...

Date: June 25th, 2018 Hosts : Jeneace & Rhiannon Guests : Faith, Giselle, Trystan Topic : Pride, LGBTQ+ Identities and Realities and Allyship This week, Jeneace and Rhiannon hosted a Pride episode on Pride, LGBTQ+ Identities and Realities and Allyship . Jeneace began with a brief history of Pride in Toronto, outlining how the 1981 Bathhouse raids in Toronto that saw police storm 4 gay bathhouses and arrest about 300 men sparked protests that evolved into Toronto Pride. She also discussed Black Lives Matter Toronto’s successful protest at Pride in 2016 that challenged the organization’s racism and police presence at Pride. We began our interviews with Giselle from SOY H.E.A.T. Giselle and the hosts had an honest conversation about the struggles queer and trans youth face coming to terms with who they are and thriving. From wide spread transphobia and ignorance about different queer, trans and non-binary identities to the many risks of coming out before you’r...

For our June 21st episode of Health Talks Youth Radio, we chatted about the Disney classic “Air Bud” about how a furry friend wanders into the life of young Josh Framm and changes the community for the better. After losing his father, Josh and his mother and baby mother move to another town and Josh is lost and sad about the change. With a huge love of basketball, he finds he is unable to make the team and can’t fit into other teams like band. He stays on the basketball team as the waterboy, becoming an observer of the team and realizing the caretaker used to be a pro basketball player, he soon decides to try out after the influence of a stray dog that follows him around. Realizing Buddy is great with the basketball, Josh plays his new friend. This movie has been impactful when it comes to promoting health and sports among youngster but especially highlighting the therapeutic benefits of having a dog to restore one’s faith and emotional wellbeing. It’s Josh’ friendship with Buddy...

For our June 19th episode of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, we shared a pre-recorded clip for our first half. Interviewing a few youth participants, we asked them a few questions when it comes to issues of eating habits. Eating habits are an important topic for youth to consider because it is usually the time when people start to develop eating disorders so understanding how they eat and their views of healthy eating habits is important to know how we can monitor our own views of eating. When it comes to healthy eating, youth tend to have similar ideals and definitions on what are healthy eating habits and healthy foods. The participants seem to enjoy talking about their favourite junk food often, having very clear and very specific junk foods to highlight. Generally, it seems that our youth participants are quite healthy and eat fairly balanced. There were a few questions asked, which include: 1. Do you consider your eating habits “healthy”? What’s your definition of healthy eat...

For our June 19th episode of Health Talks Youth Radio, we had our youth panel discussion to talk about our eating habits and how we enjoy eating. We explore the different ways we eat, especially given our diverse backgrounds and perspectives. We come from different cultures, different food preferences, and have different relationships to food. We try to explore how our food habits are the same and how they are different through our panel discussion. Some of the questions we addressed were: We’re all coming from different cultures and upbringing? What’s your favourite cultural food from your own culture? Can you describe how it tastes and how it’s prepared? What’s your favourite food in general? Why? What’s your favourite dessert and why? What’s the worst food dish you’ve ever heard of, and what was it? What’s an amazing food dish you’ve heard of and what is it? An amazing restaurant or franchise you want to visit? We chatted a lot more about different foods and our shar...

For this episode of Health Talks Youth Radio, host Diamond shared on the topic of healthy eating and good nutrition and how kids these days can go about doing that with the hectic lives they live. She discussed the importance of vitamins and minerals in one’s diet, like having calcium for example for strong bones and healthy white teeth especially because young people are still growing so it would be an essential for their diets. Diamond looks to address Millenials in this conversation, asking questions that include: How do you think today's youth view health and nutrition as a whole? Do we as a generation seem to take our health of granted? When does healthy eating become dangerous? What are the issues and problems associated with eating too much junk food and not enough healthy foods. There’s little use denying the fact - social media affects your health. Be it physically, psychologically, or a dangerous combination of the two, our addiction to our screens can have so...

For our June 12th episode of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, host Diamond introduced the show with a segment interviewing her mom Rona Bailey who happens to be a her mom and the Student Nutrition Coordinator at Nelson Mandela Park Public School, which is just next door to our radio studio. Rona has worked for years a nutritionist, preparing meals for kids and young ones- even preparing meals for child stars on hit TV show “Degrassi”! So she has a great deal of experience when it comes to sharing how kids can learn to eat better. Diamond had a lot of great questions to ask Rona about her role to assist in the healthy lifestyles of students. Some of the questions Diamond asked were: What is your role as a student nutrition coordinator at Nelson Mandela Park Public School? What do you do? As the student nutrition coordinator you can't just whip up anything, there are some guideline that have to be met. What are the requirements relating to food and nutrition in schools? Some ki...

For our May 24th episode of Health Talks Youth Radio, host Travis chatted with us about the movie “A League of Our Own”. Set during the second world war, the movie showcases a feisty and indomitable league of female baseball players that were slated to play in the major leagues as men were shipped of to war. Filling in the void, the women prove themselves to be just as capable, just as talented, and just as dramatic. Tension flares between the two sisters who come to the league together, Dottie and Kit, with younger sister Kit resentful that she always lives in the shadows of her sister’s effortless excellence. Finally with an opportunity to prove herself, she does whatever it takes to remove herself from the limelight of her sister’s success. Employing women from different cultural backgrounds from the city to the country, and a dysfunctional but endearing former baseball player turned coach, the movie shows that women have a place in the history of major league sports. ...

For this edition of Health Talks Youth Radio, host Diamond chatted about the importance of Indigenous Cultural Awareness with our youth panel. In introducing the topic, Diamond mentions that a person’s cultural background has a powerful influence on their personal development because as they interact and communicate with others, they draw from their cultural beliefs and values learned from birth. This is especially important to understand the different cultural perspectives people are coming from, especially the Indigenous community. According to a recent statistic, the number of the Indigenous population is estimated to rise to between 1.7 million and 2.2 million by 2031, or between 4.0% and 5.3% of the total population. With the Indigenous community ranging into the millions, chances are we will meet at least one Indigenous person in our life, which means it’s worthwhile to understand where they are coming from, their social-psychological background, so we can better commun...

For this edition of Health Talks Radio, we celebrated Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week in Ontario by talking about the power of storytelling when it comes to dealing with issues of mental health. Host Diamond introduced the topic and welcomed our youth panelists to discuss the issues and the power of storytelling when it comes to dealing with our personal mental health concerns. Talking to our panelists, it’s clear they have dealt with their own struggles and that being able to talk about it has helped heal them. One of our panelists discussed that when she was young, she was diagnosed with bipolar and her parents immediately warned her not to discuss the diagnosis, to keep it quiet from everyone to which she felt as if she “had to wear a mask” around everyone, not being able to share her personal narrative. Another panelist discussed how talking about their personal journey has helped them heal and accept themselves as all they are. Identifying as gay, when they finally shared...

For the May 8th edition of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, we celebrated Children’s Mental Health Week as host Diamond sat down with Mike Stroh who is the creator of organization the mental health awareness organization “Starts With Me”. Discussing the significance of storytelling when it comes to issues of mental health, Mike’s organization looks to share personal stories of mental health struggles and triumph to help others heal. In his personal journey of development, Mike smoked marijuana almost everyday from age thirteen all the way to thirty, having no idea he was causing himself severe damage because there were rarely any stories shared about the negative side effects of substance use. Consequently, Mike’s been motivated to become a motivational speaker to talk about his personal journey in understanding what he went through in hopes others can find themselves in his tale and be motivated themselves to share their tale. In understanding the power of storytelling, Mike believes tha...

Date: May 7 th , 2018 Hosts : Jeance & Seymouria Guests : Professor Gordon Cleveland (UTSC); Laural Rothman (Ontario Coalition for Better Childcare) Topic : Affordable Childcare With the Ontario provincial election drawing closer, the Powerful by Nature team covered a topic close to our hearts : Affordable Childcare. Our hosts Seymouria and Jeneace led a powerful conversation with special guests Professor Gordon Cleveland, whose research focuses on the economics of early childhood and childcare policy, and Laurel Rothman from the Ontario Coalition for Better Childcare. Breaking down everything from the high costs of childcare in Ontario and Toronto to the three provincial party childcare platforms, our two guests gave us a roadmap for making childcare affordable and accessible for all, and (spoiler alert) if there was governmental will, there would be a way! Listen to this very special episode below and, if affordable childcare matters to you, remembe...

For this edition of Health Talks Radio, we extended our conversation about the Indigenous community and discussed issues on how to support our Indigenous community in the struggles they face that range from emotional, psychological, and even around food scarcity and water supplies. Hosted by Gisela, we talked about how the Indigenous community continues to face struggles, such as the issue with water scarcity. In many reserves, the Indigenous community still has to rely on bringing in bottled water for everyday use including cooking, cleaning, drinking, and bathing. Water is so polluted and undrinkable and unhealthy for the community that they have to search outward for their solution. Growing up in these conditions, it would be easy for youth to think that this is normal and not realize that the resources are not as adequate as most developed communities, affecting their emotional and psychological health. Other topics we explored is the ways in which the Indigenous community ...

For our May 1st show of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, we had host Travis sit down and chat with the youth wellness navigators from Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre, Tasunke Sugar and Chantal McGregor. They talked to Travis about all the amazing youth services available at Toronto Council Fire. An organization that serves the general population, it specializes in developing services for the Indigenous community, but opens its doors to all. In discussing youth related services, they chatted about the Little Embers program, the Akwe:go program, and the Wasa-Nabin program. Each program promotes youth health and wellness, specializing in providing good nutrition to youth and focuses on different age groups. Evolving from its beginnings as a small meet up of members of the Indigenous community, it evolved into an organization with its own space and location, the closest to Regent Park Focus being at 439 Dundas Street East. Tasunke and Chantal also chatted about the amazin...