Toronto Event Dec ember 5, 2014
CENTRE FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION ANNEX
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Context
The CYCC Network is a knowledge mobilization network that was created to improve mental health and well-being for vulnerable and at-risk children and youth in Canada. It promotes the use of research, best and promising practices, and local knowledge in mental health programming for children and youth in challenging contexts. Our Wisdom2Action outreach events bring together members of the local community who are passionate about improving the mental health and well-being of young people. They are designed to help participants connect, share knowledge, and promote promising practices. As the first of these events, Wisdom2Action Toronto acted as a prototype for further gatherings. The Wisdom2Action process is guided by a national committee that includes Network members from across Canada. CYCC Network staff then connect with Network members in each community to develop a local planning team that helps guide the planning process – identifying the local need and rationale for an event like Wisdom2Action, identifying participants to be invited, and providing advice on logistics. The national committee – along with the Toronto planning team – meet in October 2013 and developed a statement of purpose, principles and outcomes.
Network Objectives: Promote knowledge and understanding about CYCC NetworkExpand Network community dialogue on core themes with a focus on best practice Deepen local connections amongst partners
Purpose: Wisdom to Action: Sharing stories of best practice, and discovering ways to better share what we know so we can support young ppl better.
Product: Hear stories from local practice (promising practices) related to CYCC Network mandate Understand barriers to putting new programming into action Develop action plans and pledges to: ▪▪ ▪▪ ▪▪
document best practices, share best practices, and learn from others about best practices.
Principles: Support goals of CYCC Network (best practices, interdisciplinary, three pillars) Ensure diverse engagement (youth to funders to decision makers) Multi sectoral (including private sector and public sector) Meetings should model and provide an experience of best practice (youth engagement, technology) Co-created locally Youth engagement
In Toronto, the CYCC Network and New Leaf Social Innovation worked closely with Cathy Dyer from the New Mentality. She gathered a group of youth associated with the New Mentality and the Centre for Social Innovation to actively co-host this gathering. The entire hosting team first meet on December 5 for a day of capacity-building and co-design. This report outlines the agenda of the day, explain the processes used, and highlight the themes that emerged from the many stories shared and conversations that happened.
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Approach: Hosting, Harvesting and Experimenting Participatory methods and tools from the Art of Hosting and Harvesting Meaningful Conversations created a framework for the day with many opportunities for rich conversations.
Art of Hosting is a highly effective approach of harnessing the collective wisdom and self- organizing capacity of groups of any size. Based on the assumption that people give their energy and lend their resources to what matters to them - the Art of Hosting blends a suite of powerful conversational processes to invite people to step in and take charge of the challenges facing them. (Learn more at www. artofhosting.org) Harvesting refers to making visible what has occurred at the event – the fruits of the conversations. This is the practice of bringing wisdom into action. Our approach to harvesting this gathering was based on experimenting with the question: How do we activate the wisdom that is present in the room and share it with a wider network? The harvesting tools we employed included video, photos, conversation hosting templates, social media, and graphic recording.
Creative Registration
As participants arrived, they were greeted with an unconventional registration experience. Each person had their photo taken with an instant camera. They put this photo on a “Profile Card” where they answered the questions: What do you hope to learn? What do you hope to share? These “profiles” were posted on the wall so all participants could better connect with one-another. This harvesting tool immediately highlighted the richness and diversity of people in the room, helped everyone arrive in the context of the day in a playful manner and brought focus to their own learning objectives and offerings. The wall of “profiles” acted as a visual networking tool throughout the day.
Purpose and Agenda
The purpose of this event was to explore how to bring wisdom to action to better support youth in challenging contexts. Fifty people gathered for this day of networking, offering stories of practices, asking questions, and sharing learnings. The day began with a creative registration activity, followed by active introductions, and PechaKucha Presentations. The remainder of the day was spent in the Open Space Technology process which created time and space for people to engage deeply and creatively around issues of concern to them. A creative corner was set up for silent art making and quiet contemplation. Music played softly during conversations to create a comfortable atmosphere. As participants arrived, they were greeted with an unconventional registration experience. Each person had their photo taken with a polaroid camera. They put this photo on a “Profile Card” where they wrote: What do you hope to learn? What do you hope to share? These “profiles” were posted on the wall. This harvesting tool immediately made visible some of the richness and diversity of people in the room, helped people arrive in the context of the day in a playful manner, and brought focus to their own learning objectives and offerings. The wall of “profiles” acted as a visual networking tool throughout the day.
Active Introductions
The event began with everyone sitting in a circle. Participants were invited to walk around the room until the facilitator said “Stop”, at which time they were to find two other people. This was done three times, each round with a different question to spark conversation: Introduce yourself and why you came. What do you want to learn? What do you hope to share?
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Violence | Dalal Abdul-Razzaq
PechaKucha Presentations
This PechaKucha provided a brief introduction to the CYCC Network’s Violence Report. It was presented by Dalal Abdul-Razzaq, one of the Knowledge Synthesis Research Assistants who helped prepare the report. Dalal now work as a Research Assistant on a project related to Social Pediatrics at Public Health Ontario in the Health Promotion, Chronic Disease Prevention & Injury Prevention Unit.
Inspirations from projects and experiences were offered by five participants using the visual 20x20 PechaKucha format. In a PechaKucha presentation, the presenter has 20 images in their slide show and each image is shown for 20 seconds. This is a fun way for presenters to concisely share their stories, where participants are engaged by images and spoken words.
Youth Engagement | Isabelle LeVert-Chiasson
PechaKucha Highlights: What are the effective strategies to support youth who have experienced trauma? e os to watch o n li ne
The best PechaKucha presentations uncover the unexpected talent ideas. PechaKucha events started in Tokyo in 2003 by two architects who combined PowerPoint with the notion of a visual poetry slam - they now take place in 266 cities around the globe. For more information on PechaKucha, visit: www. pecha-kucha.org
r he Click vide This PechaKucha provided a brief introduction to the CYCC Network’s the Youth Engagement Report. It was presented by Isabelle LeVert-Chiasson, Senior Program Officer at the World University Service of Canada (WUSC – EUMC). Isabelle was a member of the Knowledge Mobilization Subcommittee that guided the CYCC Network’s Youth Engagement Report. PechaKucha Highlights: How do you amplify youth voice? In Nova Scotia, the government invited youth onto a committee to address cyber-bullying. These youth helped develop further youth-engagement frameworks. We need youth-friendly spaces if we are going to engage youth in government. How can we build better relationships between youth and service providers?
We need alternative therapies such as: guided human interaction with horses, dance therapy, expression to help youth move through trauma. How do we evaluate alternative therapies? A lot can be learned just by talking to people to fill in what is not evident in the data. It’s essential to seek local knowledge and engage front-line workers. Seek to understand and respect what inspires and motivates young people. Introduce culturally relevant ways to support mental health. Peer support and mentorship is important. Prevention and treatment need to be included in one comprehensiv system of care.
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Technology | Heather Miko Kelly & Taylor Holden Heather and Taylor of mindyourmind presented a PechaKucha on the CYCC Network’s report on Using Technology To Provide Support to Children and Youth in Challenging Contexts. mindyourmind.ca is an online space for youth and young adults to find mental health support, resources, and services co-created by young people and those who serve them. The Program Director and Co-Founder of mindyourmind was a member of the Technology Report’s knowledge mobilization sub-committee. Heather and Taylor both participated in a mindyourmind workshop which turned the technology report into plain-language zines as a form of art-based knowledge mobilization. PechaKucha Highlights:
mutual goals. The campus and community need to come together to put research into action – this is what creates real impact. David asked: What role does the CYCC Network need to play? The response from participants was: a) A forum to engage the front-line; b) on-going communication for follow through; and c) accessible information in accessible language.
Youth: “When you create messages for us, with us - it will rock.” Turning reports into something digestible. Using social media to activate community. Technology as a bridge for service providers. Youth are the experts: engage the experts. Communities support youth by learning the language and technologies of engagement: don’t miss out.
Knowledge Mobilization |
David Phipps
This PechaKucha was presented by David Phipps, Executive Director of Research & Innovation Services at York University and leader of Canada’s knowledge mobilization network. David is a knowledge mobilization expert and a member of the CYCC Network’s Governing Board. Knowledge mobilization (KMb) is the act of making research useful to society. Bring silos together in a shared space and co-create to meet
The Art of Hosting
| Cathy Dyer
The final PechaKucha was presented by Cathy Dyer of the New Mentality – a youth-led mental health promotion and consumer advocacy program of Children’s Mental Health Ontario. Cathy spoke of the importance of youth engagement and the challenges and opportunities that come with ensuring young people are meaningful involved in the discussions and programs that are designed for them. The core of youth engagement: “Nothing about us without us.” Youth need to start their own projects, but this often feels like pushing against a wall. Adults are going out their ways and young people are being radical: how else could we organize? Art of Hosting brings processes for people to take risks and move together. Change: you need to create an ecosystem where everybody can bring their wisdom, because everyone’s wisdom is needed. There is a need to show up and create space.
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Open Space The rest of the day was held in Open Space format, so that participants could host and take art in deep conversations. Open Space Technology is a simple facilitation tool with a profound worldview that creates just enough structure for people to self-organize into the conversations they want to have.
Assumptions Underlying this Method of Engagement: We can trust the innate intelligence of groups: We don’t need a master conductor to decide what is important for people. People know the conversations they need to have - if we create space for self-organizing, people will connect their own experiences and ideas and this will create new possibilities that did not exist before. Diversity is a great source of energy to be unleashed: No one person can see the bigger picture that a diverse group can see. Every person brings: life experience, their unique vantage point, capabilities, ideas, and resources. You must take responsibility for what you love: Give everyone a platform to share, express, and learn in a way that is meaningful for them. When we have the freedom of choice to engage in what truly engages us, we can contribute the best of ourselves and everyone benefits.
Q What conversations do we need to have to support Children and Youth in Challenging Contexts better? This could include Best Practices, Challenges, Initiatives or Anything Else Promising practices & lessons learned Participants hosted fourteen self-organized conversations across three rounds of Open Space. These conversations delved deep into the question of “cross cutting issues that highlight promising practices, major challenges and lessons learned.” The conversation topics were: Post-Secondary Student Supports // Gangs and Violence // When Does No Mean No? When Organizations Tell You, You Must Say No // Forms of Youth Engagement // Youth Worker Support // How to Show Your Impact // Knowledge, Information, and Resource Sharing // Training for Mental Health Workers // the Ethics of Engaging // Positivity and Validation // Alternative Treatments // Mentorship // Youth Resiliency // Impact of Violence on Learning and Addressing That in Every Context These open space conversations were synthesized by the hosting team and five clear themes emerged. The following pages contain summaries of the themes and best practices that emerged across the various Open Space conversations.
DID YOU KNOW: The CYCC Network hosts an online database of our members’ best and promising practices. Visit our website to see them all.
Deep Conversation 1 THE CHALLENGE OF KNOWLEDGE MOBILIZATION (KMb) Many of the Open Space conversations discussed the gap that exists between the “research lab” and practice/policy making. The question of how to move knowledge (research based, practiced based, and local knowledge) into active use became a common theme for the day. Participants asked: •
How do we make research useful to society?
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How do we make challenging topics more ordinary, accessible, and speakable?
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How do we support alternative methods that do not have the data to back them up?
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How do we create a comfortable space to talk about what is important and share vulnerable stories?
2 HOW TO BEST SUPPORT AND ENGAGE YOUTH
There was a consensus among W2A Toronto participants that the best way to support youth is to meaningfully engage them in the process. To do so, we need to take a strengths-based, positive-focused approach that emphasises self-value, creates positive experiences, and encourages youth in a variety of forms. A variety of values and frameworks were discussed as ways to engage youth in the systems in which they exist: •
Adults need to recognize the capabilities and strengths of young people, and be willing to position them as equal collaborators, not leaders or “helpers”. Engaging youth requires that we learn to embody patience and presence of mind, while ensuring our own self-care.
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Peer support is an essential model of youth engagement that can build confidence and a safe space for sharing while levelling power imbalances. Peer learning, peer exchange, and peer mentorship (which cannot be defined by age) should be supported. Yet this is only one possible youth engagement approach. Successful strategies for youth engagement create an ecosystem of different types of models and services, and are willing to evolve and look for new, innovative ways to get youth involved. For in youth engagement, “no” is an opportunity to have a different type of conversation.
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Using clear, common, shared language is crucial for youth engagement. It is important to pay attention to the language being used to ensure that it works to build connection, shared understanding, capacity, and resilience. Questioning the language we already use can reveal ways in which it may be restrictive or harmful to our goals and youth.
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Youth should be compensated for their contributions wisely and carefully, as this values their time and reflects others’ contributions in similar situations.
Some of the KMb suggestions that came out of these discussions: •
Storytelling and narrative can help support resilience, and are powerful methods for creating safe spaces and learning together. We need to make visible and accessible positive stories of youth to show the public and other youth.
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There is a need to create a central body of knowledge/information with many access points. This will help people become aware of and share with others who are doing similar work. To keep access to information/knowledge equitable, it needs to be provided through a variety of different methods (not everyone has access to the same resources/technology).
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The face of research is changing: Lived Experience IS Evidence. We need to open up room for different ways of valuing knowledge that allows for lived experience and local knowledge to be appreciated and utilized, not just research. This means challenging current restrictions on grant/funding requirements, evaluations, etc.
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3 PROVIDING SERVICES AND SUPPORT TO POST-
SECONDARY STUDENTS
Some participants were particularly interested in discussing how the mental health and well- being of post-secondary school students can be better supported.
4 SUPPORT FOR FRONT LINE WORKERS W2A Toronto participants identified a number of areas where training for front line workers needs to be given or improved. These included training for the following issues: •
Viewing challenges or barriers as opportunities
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Viewing trauma as a lens
Addressing stigma (for example, stigma against international students)
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Incorporating youth engagement and alternative therapies
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Responding to disclosure
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Getting administration to follow through with youth engagement suggestions
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Navigating cultural differences
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Effectively promoting supports
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Training parents in coping skills to help build children’s resiliency
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Students intentionally choose who they disclose information to, and this isn’t always a trained professional. Therefore everyone in post-secondary school settings – from staff, to instructors, to students themselves - needs to be provided with the tools to support mental health and wellbeing.
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Understanding different learning styles and how to engage different audiences
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Understanding historical contexts and inter-generational trauma
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Self-care and peer support
Discussions around this topic raised some key challenges. These included: •
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Universities and colleges need comprehensive strategies so that “every place is the right place” to turn. This requires collaboration needed between administration and student associations so that students can be involved in determining the ‘best practices’ that work for them. Knowledge and information sharing between initiatives should be ongoing.
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Finally, it’s important that emphasis is placed on working towards prevention of mental illness, not just crisis response.
Discussions focused on the importance of using culturally specific references to mental health. It’s essential that ethical and philosophical frameworks are recognized as central to how youth understand mental health. Connecting with a cultural navigator and building a network of navigators can help avoid stigma, and knowledge should be combined with cultural sensitivity prior to meeting with clients.
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THE ROLE OF EVALUATION TO IDENTIFY BEST PRACTICE Effective program evaluation is essential for understanding your impact and gaining support and funding. Yet measuring impact can be a challenge, and often organizations have limited resources to meet this need. The following considerations were offered: •
Using an external evaluator can be most effective, and graduate students should be considered as possible evaluators.
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There is value in creating a network of internal and external staff that can collaborate on evaluation efforts so that program staff learn to value and take responsibility for the process.
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Instead of merely writing an evaluation report, programs should consider using more creative avenues which “pull on the heartstrings” of their audience. Using engaging visualizations and conducting qualitative evaluations that utilize storytelling are recommended.
Weaving the Threads of Conversation
We ended the day as we began: in Circle. Each person responded to the question: What is one thing you’ve learned today that you would like to take forward in your work or in your own life? We’ve captured the essence of these answers here:
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Special thanks to all participants for your contribution: Alicia Raimundo Anchugan Sivagnam Andrew Hall Anjali Misra Candice Jacko Carlos McDonald Cathy Dyer Chris Paton Dalal Abdul-Razzaq Emily Zinck Emma Firsten-Kaufman Gillian Gray Heather Miko Kelly Heather Stephenson Inali Barger
Isabelle Levert-Chiasson Jacqueline Kennedy Jake McPhee Jenny Horsman Jessica Kwik Laura Hartman Lee Nobbs Lisa Lachance Lynn Bushell Maria Louisa Contursi Michael Hay Niall Tamayo Nichelle Hubley Oma Boodoo Samantha Johnson Sera Thompson Sheeba Narikuzhy Suzette Llacer Tamara Daniel Taylor Holden Vibhor Greg Victoria Bryce Yumi Hotta
The Wisdom2Action Event Series is hosted by The CYCC Network: CYCC Network
Find more information online: www.cyccnetwork.org @CYCCNetwork /CYCCNetwork
Funding for the CYCC Network is provided by: