Wasa-Nabin
Urban Aboriginal Youth
AGES: 13-18
Program Components
A safe and culturally appropriate environment for Indigenous youth which:
-
Facilitate the assessment of required services and identifies areas of difficulty experienced by youth 13-18
-
Supports for youth to discuss issues that are creating barriers for their success and ability to make sound choices
-
Facilitates support circles and peer counselling opportunities
-
Increase access to healthy and safe activities for Indigenous youth.
Youth in Care
We provide activities that will have a positive impact on the youth's family, whether the family is biological or foster.
The Project will:
-
Including a focus and outreach component for youth in care that may not have access to their culture
-
Increase support and culturally appropriate services to non-Indigenous adoptive and foster parents of Indigenous youth
-
Develop and implement protocol arrangements to better support culturally appropriate interventions
-
Work with parents to facilitate access to culturally appropriate services
Education
Our youth program will provide intervention or alternatives to such instituinal involement through:
-
The provisions of school attendance and home-work support, and school suspension supports.
-
The development of activities which encourage changes of behaviours toward their peers and authorities.
Institutional Intervention
This component of the program will address issues through:
-
Collaboration with Kizhaay Anishinaabe Niin (I Am A Kind Man)
-
Involvement of elders
-
Appropriate and healthy problem-solving and decision-making workshops (self-esteem, positive self identity and healthy relationships)
Healthy Eating & Physical Development
Recent studies have shown that obesity in children can be a reult of improper nutrition, stress and lack of physical activity. All these issues are caused by poverty.
The Wasa-Nabin Program will address this by:
-
Providing opportunities to make nutritious meals and snacks as an integrated component of the program
-
Education and awareness to enable program participants to make informed nutritional choices
-
Provide safe and healthy opportunities by which youth can enjoy non-threatening/non-competitive physical activities
