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Against All Odds, #BellaBrave and Her Mom Kyla, Share Their Family’s Journey Online Mother-daughter duo, Kyla and Bella Thomson have been touching the lives of millions around the world ever since Kyla began documenting her daughter's medical journey online. Mediaplanet sat down with the dynamic duo to learn more about Bella's story and how their family is helping to inspire others.
Bella’s story has reached millions of people. Can you give us an overview of her story for any new audiences? My daughter Bella was born on Dec. 6, 2013, with three very rare diagnoses that we didn't know of before birth. At three days old she had her first surgery on her bowels for Hirschsprung’s disease, which had affected her colon. Bella was also born with no immune system due to a rare disease called severe combined immunodeficiency. As a result, she had to have a bone marrow transplant at 15 months old. Bella’s third condition is a form of dwarfism called cartilage hair hypoplasia. The condition has affected her growth and bone structure but definitely not her spirit. She has taught me that you can still find joy, keep your strength, and remain brave even in the hardest of situations. By 2020, Bella had lost all vascular access but one and with bowel failure, she
needed to be listed for a bowel transplant. She has been waiting for two years now.
By helping people understand Bella’s experiences, what are you hoping to convey to the public? I hope that by seeing our story, the public will know that others out there have made it through the darkest of days. Bella has shown me that even though waves of struggle continue, it doesn’t mean you can’t help yourself get stronger so that the next wave is easier to handle. I hope our story inspires others to find joy through the hard days.
How has your family coped with the more challenging days of Bella’s journey? We're very fortunate to have a lot of support from our relatives and friends during the more challenging days. Our community has also been an enormous support — we're incredibly proud to be
from Saskatchewan, and the love and support here have means so much. We have a huge family of support to which we can always come back home.
Bella, what’s the coolest thing you’ve done this year? The coolest thing I’ve done this year is the water slides and water park at the Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls! Mom said they invited us, so we travelled there and spent four whole days in this amazing water park hotel meant for kids like me. Well, it’s totally meant for kids and families. We got story time and dance parties at night, so I got to stay up late and party every night and then water slide all day. We also went to mini golf and played games in a giant arcade. Our room was like an actual cabin, and the bunk beds were made of real logs from trees. We basically had our own cabin in our hotel room with a door and windows and everything. It was so cool!
Read the full interview at healthinsight.ca.
Not All Youth Who Struggle with Mental Health Have a Family to Turn To
O Tom Advocate, Entrepreneur & Former Youth in Care
The Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada is dedicated to improving the lives of children, youth, and families impacted by child welfare.
ver the last few years, youth in Canada have experienced significant mental health challenges as they struggled with instability and isolation. Yet, for youth who are served by the child welfare system or are transitioning out of care, mental health challenges have long been a barrier to their ability to survive and thrive. The COVID-19 crisis intensified these challenges, and youth who have often experienced abuse and neglect were left even more vulnerable. Tom, an advocate, entrepreneur, and former youth in care, experienced first-hand the devastating toll the pandemic had on a young person’s mental
health. “I was diagnosed with depression a week before the lockdown started. I was living alone and had to deal with my mental health in an apartment by myself, and it was a very difficult time,” he says. Thankfully, Tom was able to seek support from the Pape Adolescent Resource Centre (PARC), which helped connect him with a doctor and therapist. “Their support helped ensure my safety during a very uncertain time,” says Tom. PARC receives funding from the Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada’s Teddy Bear fund. The Fund grants $1.375 million to the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto and Native Child and Family
Services of Toronto each year, enabling these organizations to respond to the immediate and urgent needs of children, youth, and families in crisis. “Children and youth are our future, and we need to invest in them today to build a stronger, more resilient society for generations to come,” says Shael Kalef, Chair of the Teddy Bear Fund Committee. “The fund is doing just that for our children and youth facing vulnerable circumstances.” The Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada is our country’s leading charity dedicated to improving the lives of children, youth, and families impacted by child welfare.
To learn more and get involved, visit cafdn.org/teddybearfund.
Publisher: Layal El Masri Business Development Manager: Sarah Ferreira Country Manager: Nina Theodorlis Content & Production Manager: Raymond Fan Designer: Lauren Livingston Content & Web Editor: Karthik Talwar All images are from Getty Images unless otherwise credited. This section was created by Mediaplanet and did not involve the Toronto Star or its editorial departments. Send all inquiries to ca.editorial@mediaplanet.com.
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Prioritizing Connection in a Screen-Saturated World This Toronto school is helping families adopt “screen-light” living.
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Sonya Friesen
The Clover School’s Disconnect to e can’t ignore the immense benef its Reconnect: Screen Time Pledge encourtechnology has had ages families to be intentional about on society. For famhow their time is spent, instead focusilies, technology offers increased ing on building connections off-screen opportunities to connect, whilst at the and using screens in a purpose-driven same time dominating time previously way. Technology isn’t going anywhere, reserved for fostering tangible relaand the pledge doesn’t mandate a comtionships. It’s essential to recognize plete detox. Instead, it encourages the influence screens can have on a families to take small steps to lighten family by monopolizing a caregiver’s screen time, committing to a family time and therefore affecting their abil“unplug hour” or leveraging screens for ity to nurture familial connections. educational, connection-building pur“It’s through relationships that we poses, like watching a movie together. learn to form social bonds and healthy relationships,” says Joanna Anderson, Fostering education off-screen MSW. As adults, we face an ongoing This is easier said than done. To help demand to be plugged in — our lives are caregivers navigate going screen-light, tethered to a screen. The Clover School has It can be tempting to created a curriculean on technology lum that supports We can’t tell parents as a tool when raisbuilding st ronger to have fewer demands connections during ing children.“Screens placed on them, but we can school and at home, aren’t inherently bad. It’s about how we use give ideas that parents focused on the experithem," says Anderson. ential learning that can use with their children has proven critical "We’re seeing kids to ensure they’re for development. At exposed to topics meaningfully connecting. school, children are they aren’t equipped to understand. As a offered opportunities result, attention spans rooted in experiences are diminishing and generalized and like gardening, creating a connection to food and where it comes from. The social anxiety is on the rise.” school also offers an outdoor educaConnection is key tion program, allowing children to For 25 years, The Clover School has experience the natural world through worked to bring Montessori education physical exploration with the hope of fostering a caring, responsible generto families across Toronto. The school is committed to providing programs funation. Outside of school, HomeGrown damental to a child’s overall well-being is a home-based program that provides simple activities that can be adapted to and highlights the importance of the connection between caregiver and child. any household, helping families learn “All humans need connection to thrive. together outside school. “We can’t tell Genuine, loving connection with someparents to have fewer demands placed one they trust can be the antidote to on them, but we can give ideas that many behavioural issues in children,” parents can use with their children says Isabelle Kunicki, Co-Founder and to ensure they’re meaningfully conDirector at The Clover School. necting,” says Kunicki.
Find ways to make screen time meaningful — take the pledge today at cloverschool.com /takethepledge. This article was sponsored by The Clover School.
Q&A with Dr. Becky Kennedy, Clinical Psychologist and Good Inside Founder Mediaplanet sat down with Dr. Becky Kennedy to talk about the ill effects of device screen time on children and tips for parents to manage.
What strategies and tools do you suggest to help children get off their screens?
In what ways can excessive screen time be harmful to a child’s development? I’m big on avoiding shame and panic in parents. So, I wouldn’t say that excessive screen time is harmful to child development as much as I’d say let’s think together about the impact of screen time and how to build skills for kids so they can engage in independent play — which is often the alternative to screen time! Screen time can interfere with a child learning the skills they need to develop in their early years — namely, emotion regulation, attention, frustration tolerance, and experimentation. Children thrive when they work through challenges, tap into their creativity, and explore the world through their senses — none of which can be accomplished when glued to an iPad.
First, let’s embody authority — it’s our choice how much screen time our children get even if they don’t like it. This comes back to a core principle of Good Inside, my global platform for parents: children’s feelings don’t dictate a parent’s boundaries, and a parent’s boundaries don’t dictate a child’s feelings. Second, talk to your child during a non-screen-time moment about screen time rules. Remember, you want to approach your child as if it’s you and your child against screen time struggles, not you against your child. So, tell your child something like, “I want to be super clear about screen time rules this week. I want to limit screens to ensure you have time to do the other things kids need to do, like play, explore, create, and even be bored!” Yes, boredom is important to kids because it’s one thing that leads them to try new things. Third, prepare your child in advance for how they'll likely feel at the end of screen time. We call this “emotional vaccination” or pre-regulation at Good Inside. Words like, “Hey, before you get your iPad, let’s think together: how will it feel when I see iPad time is up? Ugh, that’ll be so tricky, right? Let’s take a deep breath and remind ourselves now, ‘It’s okay to be upset,
and I’ll get more time another day.’” Preparing kids for upsetting feelings is a much better strategy than trying to convince them not to have these feelings, as it’s the only way they can build basic coping skills.
How can parents and educators model healthy screen-use habits for children? Our children are watching us and how we direct our attention teaches them what we value. And so, first, let’s look at our relationship with screen use. Second, let’s think about the patterns we have and how they impact our kids. If you’re like most parents (and like me!), you often carry your phone around with you even when you don’t have to. So step 1 to modelling a healthy “screen relationship” is having phone-away time. If this is new to you, start small — a few minutes everyday. Next, schedule play no phone (PNP) time with your kids — this is a core tenet of Good Inside. PNP time is one-onone time with your child where you tell them, “You have my full attention, we can do anything you want to do — and my phone is nowhere to be found!” This shows a child that they're valuable and interesting, and not only does wonders for their self-esteem but also for your connection and for modelling that people-to-people non-screen interactions are worthy and important.
To learn more follow Dr. Becky on Instagram at @drbeckyatgoodinside
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Top School Ensures Student Success by Focusing on Whole Child Student success at The York School comes by supporting the individual needs of the whole child.
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orward thinking and academically robust, The York School approaches education in a unique way. A gender inclusive JK to Grade 12 International Baccalaureate (IB) school, York prioritizes their students’ mental and emotional wellbeing alongside building their academic strengths in preparing them for the future. Knowing one cannot thrive without the other, The York School has a multi-layered support system in place that includes teachers, learning strategists, counsellors, and social workers. By focusing on the whole child, the School can provide specialized assistance suited to each student’s needs. It also cultivates meaningful parent partnerships to ensure children succeed at school and at home. This approach proved especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Being away from the classroom, students may have experienced learning gaps. In addition, they may have experienced difficulty focusing and adapting to online and hybrid learn-
ing. The School also recognized that young people may have struggled with their mental health over the course of the pandemic.
Community encouragement
division and also headquartered in a centrally located Leigh Centre for Wellbeing. As one student put it, “I just think the school wants us to be prepared — to build a foundation here and be able to do whatever we want to meet what we think our idea of success is.”
Fortunately, The York School already had a strong wellbeing and Well-rounded learning strategies struceducation Social and emotional ture in place, ready to From Junior School wellbeing is central to through Middle and support where needed. how we approach our Senior School, York P roact ively, t he students because we School intervened to presee it as the foundation ensures student sucvent learning gaps and for academic learning. cess by having the right promote mental health tools and infrastructure by reaffirming support in place to support difthrough its three-tiered Response to ferent learning styles. “Social and emotional wellbeing is Intervention (RTI) System. Teachers and staff quickly identified where students central to how we approach our students were struggling and addressed learning because we see it as the foundation for academic learning,” says Elissa Klineissues with individual learning plans built on subjective intensity, frequency, Beber, Associate Head of Wellbeing. and duration levels. “Our goal is that, by graduation, stuPlus, the School has an impressive dents really know themselves, are social and emotional learning curricuconfident in their strengths, and aren’t afraid to ask for help.” lum that is woven throughout each school
To learn more, please visit yorkschool.com. This article was sponsored by The York School.
Understanding the Impact of Adoption on Children, Youth, and Their Families Adoption is not an event but a lifelong journey for everyone impacted by it — children, youth, and their adoptive and birth families.
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dopted children and youth child years ago or recently. Pathways have all experienced loss, makes parenting easier to understand grief, and adoption trauma and provides the skills needed to parent in their young lives. This in a way that helps children and youth loss can impact how they feel and think heal from adoption trauma and loss. The training has been very well-received and about themselves, others (including parents), and the world around them. At is highly recommended by participants. the Adoption Council of Ontario (ACO), we understand this. We also know that For children and youth healing from loss and adoption trauma The ACO’s free, virtual Kids Sessions happens through strong and nurturing provide a space where children who relationships. For this to happen, kids are adopted can get together in a safe and parents need to feel understood, and environment, learn about each other, play games, and talk they may need support in Pathways makes building and deepening about adoption — if they parenting easier to their relationships. want. The sessions are understand and provide organized by age group the skills needed to For parents and are an excellent parent in a way that helps opportunity for children We have an excellent children and youth heal to connect with other free training program from adoption trauma adopted children and called Pathways to and loss. The training has not feel alone. The ACO Permanence 2: Parentbeen very well received also runs a Youth Neting Children Who Have and is highly recomExperienced Adoption work program for youth mended by participants. and young adults aged Trauma and Loss. The Pathways training program provides 16 and over that meets virtually twice education and support for adoptive a month. In addition to the fun and parents — whether they adopted their social atmosphere, the Youth Network
also provides interested youth with the opportunity to participate in advocacy and leadership work. “At first, I didn't want to join, and my mom kind of made me try it. It was great. I felt so comfortable within a couple of minutes and actually met someone like me,” — A Kids Sessions attendee.
For professionals Because of the unique dynamics involved in adoption journeys, the ACO offers ACT training, a specialized professional training program.
ACO understands... ACO understands adoption and adoption journeys. Therefore, we take a child/youth-centred approach to all our work, and through our programs, we normalize, connect, educate, support, and advocate through all stages of the adoption journey. Let’s support the health and well-being of children and youth who are adopted and provide them and their families with the ongoing support and connections they need.
To learn more about these programs, visit adoption.on.ca/ children-healthand-wellness/. This article was sponsored by ACO.