VYPER VALLEY YOUTH PARTNERSHIP FOR ENGAGEMENT & RESPECT QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

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1 F A L L VYPER VALLEY YOUTH PARTNERSHIP FOR ENGAGEMENT & RESPECT QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER Quote Corner If you want to fly with the eagles, you can t run with the turkeys. - Troy (VYPER Youth, New Westminster) People, Places, and Events: What VYPER has Been Up To! Hello and thank you for reading VYPER s first quarterly Newsletter! Here, you ll find lots of information on the exciting activities that VYPER has been involved with. You ll be able to learn more about the VYPER project and read about various youth-driven and youth-inspired initiatives. This newsletter was developed by youth who have contributed as project coordinators, design consultants, writers, photographers, and artists. We hope you enjoy it! I never let school interfere with my education. -Albert Einstein The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend. -Henri Bergson CORE VALUES - Embracing diversity & enjoying life Growing relationships in an environment of trust, compassion, and understanding. Creating an open forum for honest and respectful dialogue and discussion among youth and adults. Strengthening connections in the community through collaboration with service providers and youth.

2 Area Updates Chilliwack, Agassiz, & Harrison The Chilliwack area VYPER youth team is currently getting connected to several different service providers in the community, as much seems to be happening in the area of youth services. The VYPER youth have been especially interested in collaborating with and connecting to the newly opened Cyrus Centre, as well as a Youth Health Centre that is in the works and scheduled to be open in the New Year. The area youth were also invited to sit on the World Suicide Prevention Day Planning Committee, where they helped to plan an event on September 10, promoting suicide awareness and prevention with a number of local community partners and agencies. In Agassiz/Harrison, VYPER is continuing to meet new youth, as well as learning about initiatives in the community that are interested in partnering with VYPER to discuss the possibilities of strengthening youth-adult collaborations. With the ending of the YIP (Youth Inclusion Program) and the starting up of the youth centre, the community of Agassiz is excited to be moving forward with youth voice and increased involvement. The VYPER youth team in the Chilliwack, Agassiz/Harrison region are continuing to learn about what is happening in their communities, and are looking to define and redefine how service providers connect and build relationships with youth in the areas. By Stacy Wood (Area Facilitator) 2

3 Area Updates Hope & Boston Bar In the Hope area we have a core group of 7 youth/young adults who are from the ages I have observed that Hope youth/young adults have started to grow as a family, and each of the youth have been feeling vyped (a term they created which means to be energized and confident). The youth are involved in the following youth-adult collaborations: Planning World Suicide Prevention Day, Consultations with BC Responsible and Problem Gambling, Hope/Boston Bar VYPER youth meetings, and Regional VYPER youth meetings. This fall, when school returns I plan to visit the Boston Bar Schools once a week to build new connections with youth as well as the broader community. I look forward to connecting with more service providers and youth/young adults in the Hope and Boston Bar area! By Roxanne George (Area Facilitator) Fraser North & South The VYPER Fraser North area became active in July 2014 after a youth-led committee hired the area facilitator. The Fraser North youth developed a project and grant proposal for Hepatitis-C awareness and prevention named Community for Hepatitis-C Empowerment and Prevention (CHEP). The youth delivered a presentation about their project in front of the Fraser Health Regional HIV/AIDS/Hepatitis C Regional Advisory Committee on Friday September 19 th, On September 22, they learned that their grant was approved for $10,000. The funds will support them to work closely with the provincial youth-led HIV/Hep-C organization, YouthCo, to prepare and present workshops and other events and materials in schools and various community settings over the upcoming fall, winter and spring. We have expanded our community partnerships with Share Family & Community Services Society (SHARE) in Port Moody. SHARE invited VYPER youth and staff to join meetings with local youth and young adults to discuss youth engagement and ways in which the local youth might envision partnering more closely with SHARE. VYPER will soon also be collaborating with the D.E.W.Y. Program in New Westminster; the Fraser North area youth will be able to utilize their space for regular meetings. The area has been growing at a steady pace as more youth and community partners are becoming involved with VYPER. The area has many actively participating youth and more are to come. The youth are looking forward to see where the Fraser North will go from here. By Roxan Trudeau (Area Facilitator) 3

4 The Mission Youth Committee (MYC) began meeting in June of 2014 at Fraser House. MYC has enthusiastically dedicated itself to making the voices of youth be heard and valued, as well as doing what we can to help youth in our community succeed and grow. We started working on the Pulling Together conference for this year and quickly titled it You Asked for It ; based off an activity that will feature Mission youth answering the questions of professionals working in addiction services, youth mental health services, education, social services, and other areas that greatly affect the lives of young people here. MYC has been meeting regularly to discuss ideas for the You Asked For It conference and so far we have come up with activities and lectures on the following topics: showing the benefits of teaching through different learning styles, exploring the rights that we have as citizens and how to help spread this knowledge to youth, what a proper and complete sex education program looks like, and LGBTQQIAP2S information and how to talk about these identities respectfully with young people. MYC has also been consulting with a large group of local service providers working on creating a much-needed youth-friendly space in Mission, which has been given the youth-developed name Mission Youth House or MY House. We of the MYC look forward to sharing more of our progress in future! By Delainee (VYPER Youth, Mission) Area Updates Fraser Central 4

5 The VYPER Staff Team: A Youth Driven Hiring Process A number of youth and young adults have taken the opportunity to be on a hiring committee for the Area Facilitators of each VYPER area. During each of the hiring processes, the hiring committee has been made up of 2-3 local youth and 1-2 adults. First, the youth and adults collaborated on developing the job posting as well as the interview format and questions. Then, once the job posting closed, we each read all the applications and narrowed down who we wanted to see in person for the interviews. We then did the face-to-face interviews, and in a few cases we interviewed candidates over Skype. Some interviews went better than others and it was clear in the end who was shining. But, all of us on the committee decided to hold one more round of interviews to connect with a few applicants more. We shared stories, talked more about VYPER, and came together to get to know each other a little better. At the end of the second round of interviews, we had our area facilitator. The interesting thing is everybody came to the same conclusion in the end, and, during most of the hiring process, we all agreed on how to move forward. I think being a youth on a hiring committee is a very unique experience, and I believe we all made great choices in hiring the area facilitators for VYPER. By Roxanne (VYPER Youth, Tri-Cities) 5

6 1 st Annual VYPER Conference On July 9, 2014 a group of VYPER youth packed into their Area Facilitators cars and headed to the Chilliwack RCMP training grounds. For some this road trip was a lot longer than others. The purpose of the VYPER Conference that lasted until mid afternoon on July 11, 2014 was to provide youth, young adults and staff and opportunity to get to know each other better, to have fun and stretch themselves in rewarding and challenging ways, and to plan to move forward with the VYPER vision and mission. Before the conference, during local area meetings, youth and young adults came up with ideas of what kind of workshops they would like to see, and then when we got to the conference, we had the opportunity to pick our top choices for workshops and activities. Everyone had a voice, and most activities were chosen by more than one youth. Due to the short time we had there, we were not able to do all the activities that we would have liked to do. The activities/workshops we did participate in were the following: Story Sharing with Lau Mehes (from CALLOut!, a provincial project led by Vancouver Coastal Health for LGBTQ youth), Suicide Awareness with Jenz Malloway (from Sto:lo Nation Health a few weeks later many of us attended a day-long training with Jenz and walked away with certificates in Safe Talk), Learning About & Making Cedar Roses out of locally sourced cedar with our very own Roxy (Hope/Boston Bar Area Facilitator) Various activities led by Spirit of our Communities (a group of First Nations youth), including, singing, drumming and a traditional game of Slahal, An Introduction & Consultation with CALLOut! with Kyle Shaugnessy and Lau Mehes, and Opportunities in Youth Work with Mark Littlefield (sessional instructor in the Child, Youth and Family Studies Department at University of the Fraser Valley). Outside of these workshops, we had a dance competition, learned basic boxing, played an improv game and we can't forget the lovely 3 buffet-style meals a day. The highlights from this conference were bringing everyone together, being able to laugh and bounce back from heavy topics, learning new things, and last but not least, tangling everyone up in a giant human knot! By Roxanne (VYPER Youth, Tri-Cities) 6

7 Events Since VYPER s beginning, we (VYPER Regional Youth Advisory Committee) have attended multiple workshops and conferences to strengthen our skills and be better trained to work with community partners. These events have been throughout the Fraser Health region and we have been very busy over the summer! Here is a snapshot of some of the events we participated in. One of the first events we attended was the 2014 Youth and Family Consensus Conference in Vancouver at the beginning of May, where a lot of us met each other for the first time. In May and June we met many times and came up with VYPER s mission and vision and a definition of who we are that is guiding us to this day. We got our first chance to present about our Mission and Vision at the First Nation Health Authority year in review in early June. The First Annual VYPER Conference was held in Chilliwack in July. It was a chance for members of VYPER s Regional Youth Advisory Committee to review the type of work VYPER should focus on. We also attended the Wisdom2Action Conference held at SFU in Surrey. There, VYPER was able to connect with community partners on how to communicate with youth more effectively and comfortably when it comes to conversations about mental and sexual health. We also met and started working with representatives from BC Problem Gambling at this conference. VYPER youth also attended a sexual health workshop. This workshop was a chance to explore what sort of services are in place for youth and what services need to be put in place for proper and comfortable information sharing amongst youth and service providers. We have also attended two Hepatitis C workshops facilitated by Positive Living Fraser Valley and the Women s Resource Society of the Fraser Valley. We have learned about Hep C, the causes, what it affects, and how the treatment and prevention process works. We also spoke to someone who has first-hand experience dealing with Hep C. VYPER youth have also been involved in developing and participating in Suicide Awareness Day in Chilliwack as well as offering feedback and suggestions for the newly opened Cyrus Centre also in Chilliwack. We are looking forward to a busy Fall! Written by Hanna (VYPER Youth, Surrey) 7

8 We Thank You! Funding for this publication is provided by the Government of Canada. Are you VYPE d Yet? List of Youth Contributors Alysha Amber Hanna Roxanne Delainee Troy Santino Jess Mandy Joey Deano Joseph Trevor We d love to hear from you! info@vyper.ca Want to know more about some of the things you ve read in this newsletter? Here are some links: Mission Pulling Together You Asked for It conference: Mission Youth House (MY House) Description Preliminary Family Smart Consensus Statements we helped develop at a conference in May: safetalk suicide awareness training: VYPER Mini-Grants ( and Youth-Adult-Partnership Grants ( VYPER Project Description: VYPER s first annual conference description: Who We Are, Our Vision, Our Mission and some definitions of isolation and belonging: Youth mental health and substance use services are incomplete if youth aren t offered the opportunity to a VYPER youthdeveloped document: IncompleteIf.pdf The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the Government of Canada.