Regent Park Focus

This session the Little Divas had a showcase and the older Divas were invited to watch! While the Little Divas were getting ready the older Divas and I talked about the UofT Showcase and how they felt it turned out at the end. We then talked about the sessions leading up to it and how everyone's experience went throughout it.   Soon after, we were all invited into the room the showcase was happening at and the Little Divas talked about the work they created and we were able to listen to a song the girls had created and then watched a dance they came up with together which had the message of empowerment implemented into it. Some of the pieces the girls worked on was a wall titled "Black Girl Magic", which included letters the girls had created to people they think embody Black Girl Magic. There was also a section titled The Future which included Time Capsules the girls created. More work created was on advertising, self-portraits, Taking back Stereotypes...

On February 15th, just after Valentine's Day, the Little Divas came back together to continue their exploration of love and healthy relationships. We didn't expressly focus on or relate the content to Valentine's Day in particular, but the themes we were dealing with were quite timely nonetheless.  For our ice-breaker discussion question to start the day's session off, we asked the girls to share what they would do if they could become invisible, but only for the next 15 minutes. This definitely got their creativity warmed up, but it was also interesting to see the challenge of coming up with something that they could achieve in 15 minutes. After all, they were only given invisibility, not super-human speed or the ability to fly! The girls really had a good time with the electronic version of charades that we played before, so we used that as our ice-breaker game again this week. It not only allows the girls to use their close connections with each other in order to...

On February 8th, the Little Divas girls' program came back together to wrap up the previous two weeks and start on with a new theme! As always, we start our session with an ice-breaker discussion question, and then an ice-breaker game. The discussion question for the girls today was: if you could ask a wild animal one question, what animal would you pick and what question would you ask it? The girls had some very creative and interesting answers. Our ice-breaker game for the day was Heads Up, which is an electronic version of charades! We played in teams, and with Heads Up you do charades as fast as you can for your team, with the aim of the team correctly guessing as many as you can in the allotted time. You could really see the connection the girls have with each other in this game, as they seemed to have an unspoken language of understanding between them without needing to speak very much at all, which worked very well for them with charades! Before we dove into the new them...

The Little Divas wrapped up the month of January with a look at the themes of self-acceptance and body positivity. On January 25th, the session started with an ice-breaker discussion activity that asked the girls to think about what the most important thing would be to bring with them if they moved to another planet. This made them think about things that they rely on and are important to them in their lives, and also got their creative juices flowing for the rest of the session! As another fun ice-breaker activity for the day, we played a "mix & meet" game with Skittles, where each colour of Skittle was given a specific category, and the girls had to share a piece of information about themselves that related to that category for each Skittle they had of that colour. For example, if the category for blue Skittles was "family", and for red Skittles it was "hobbies", and someone had two blue Skittles and one red, they would have to share two facts about ...

When the girls came back for their first Little Divas session of 2019 after the holiday break, we wanted to make sure we did a bit of a refresher about some of the concepts we introduced and explored in December before our time off. We asked the girls first to talk about their favourite things that they did or that happened over the holiday break. After we all got to recount the fun and memorable moments we had over the break, we played an ice breaker game called Teeth. In Teeth, we sat in a circle and each person is given an object to hold. We played with fake plastic fruit. On their turn, each person has to say the name of their fruit, and the fruits of the people to their left and right. The game gets its name from the fact that nobody can show their teeth at any point in the game, either during your turn when saying the fruit names, or if you might be laughing when anybody else is taking their turn. We had a great time with this game and laughed a lot - it was a really good ice b...

For the last two sessions of the Little Divas girls' program in December 2018, we began exploring the theme "love is love". We started into this theme by discussing the question "what is normal?" We thought "normal" is what people expect us to be or do, or what usually happens in a given situation. We also talked about what it means or feels like to not be normal - being weird or different, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as it isn't hurting anyone! We went further into the concept of "normal" and thought about who decides what is "normal" and what is not, and where we get those ideas from. We talked about how the idea of "normal" is different for everyone, and in fact it's really just made up and perpetuated by people with some sort of power or influence in our society. That's also why the idea of what is "normal" is often different in different cultures and different parts of the wo...

The Little Divas girls program continued on with the songwriting process through the end of November, culminating with the girls performing and recording their own original hip-hop song, "Girls Like Us"! On November 30th, the girls came back together and practiced their own separate parts of the song that they had written with their partner or on their own. After a few practice rounds to make sure they had all the lyrics, rhythm, and tempo worked out and they felt comfortable with their parts, the girls took turns going down to the music recording studio at Regent Park Focus and recording their parts with the musical backing track. Each pair or individual was given the opportunity to record a few different takes of their part of the song, either to fix any mistakes they made or to try different styles or tempos or emphasis in their part. The girls did a really great job with the recording process, and also learned a bit about what it is like to record a song in a professional...

The Little Divas girls' program continued into November, taking a break for November 16th when the girls had a PA Day. The next concept we began exploring with the girls was feminism! We obviously started with what feminism is and what types of things feminists believe and advocate for. Below is a sample of the basic ways the concept was introduced and explained for the girls. After the girls had a basic grasp of the concept of feminism and what it means to call yourself a feminist, they were asked whether they would consider themselves feminists personally. Even though the girls generally agreed with the basics of what feminism is, they were still hesitant to accept and embrace the actual label of "feminist" for themselves. This led into an interesting discussion about why the girls felt that they would not immediately label themselves as feminist, even though they did agree with the views and ideas that comprise feminism as a concept. We also then discussed why o...

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...

A new program at Regent Park Focus launched on October 26th - the Little Divas girls program! This program is a variation of the Divas girls program, just for a younger age range from 9 to 12 years old. The Little Divas programming is facilitated by our partners at CANVAS Arts Action Programs, Twoey and Maymuna. CANVAS describes their mission as using " interactive, arts-inspired training programs to educate on gender equity, consent, and LGBTQ2S+ inclusion in schools, summer camps, community centres and workplaces. Through creative and compassionate workshop facilitation, participants critically examine harmful norms, learn about the struggles of marginalized groups, and recognize their capacity to affect positive change. Together, we can work towards a more empathetic, equitable and kinder world-view. " (Read more about CANVAS and their programming here: www.canvasprograms.ca ) We have a smaller, more intimate group size for this program, which seems to be working well w...

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 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, Diamond hosts our panel discussion about how connected we’ve become in this digital world, and how it takes a toll on our mental health. Experts call sitting the new smoking, as people have become addicted to nothing- and especially through hours and hour of nothing. Talking about how we’ve become a culture of social media consumers, we see how youth are now wasting a lot of time consuming meme after meme the same way we used to consume TV show after TV show. Ranging from twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, the three big social media platforms, they chat a lot about how it has become such a norm and fixture in our ordinary lives. Diamond asked a few questions of our youth panel including if they thought social media can affect our mental health and how, how much is too much social media usage, how has the acceleration of the internet affected social media consumption, what are some warnings about social media addiction, and th...

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 episode of Health Talks Youth Radio, host Travis walked us through a discussion on the Disney favourite “The Mighty Ducks”. About a group of kids in a local community who love to play hockey, they are the underdogs as they don’t find a lot of success in their team. Their last coach passed away and even when he was alive, he wasn't helping them out all that much. They since played for fun and never did anything serious. One day, a limousine pulls up where the kids are playing and stops all of them instantly. Out steps a man in a suit and a long trench coat, who tells them that his name is Gordon Bombay and he's the new coach. He's going through some issues at work and was told by his boss that he has to give back to the community and learn about teamwork- plus he hates kids. Through the interaction with the new coach and the untamed team, we see how both sides transform from the experience. Discussing the movie, we wonder if Gordon has what it takes...

For this episode of Health Talks Radio, we interviewed some youth participants about their experience with drugs. We asked them five questions, which were about what they knew about recreational drugs, if they or someone they knew used them, would they consider using them, if they used them then why, and what new drugs have they heard about. Overall, the youth participants didn’t seem to have much knowledge or information when it comes to drug use and didn’t seem to have much of an interest in participating in drug use. The most popular recreational drug the youth knew about was marijuana. Some just knew that many people use it, the smell and use of it, but one youth participant claims it is not a recreational drug but an “herb” because it comes from a plant, so is more natural than most recreational drugs and is often utilized for medical purposes. The youth participants had interesting responses to the questions, but most didn’t seem to have any special interest in pur...

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...