RASS engage and communicate with the community through awareness and prevention initiatives such as community education presentations/workshops and in-service workshops for community organizations. We promote program delivery models which focus (support or facilitate) the integration of services. We invite and include key stakeholders in RASS programming when possible (e.g. create and support community advisory committees to inform our future planning and program delivery).
RASS has several school-based initiatives that exemplify our expertise in strategic prevention delivery, sharing information and increasing life skills towards holistic health. The following program descriptions show our creative and dynamic approach to support youth in their understanding of health, risk, and coping. Our aim at RASS is to advocate for and provide channels through which youth voices are listened to and valued. Our programs are developed in cooperation with the many schools in SD38, where we have secured ongoing, and decade’s long relationships.
Our approaches are versatile and practical, providing options for in-person and virtual learning engagement. This flexibility is essential in a post-pandemic learning system. Additionally, our programming takes relationships with the school staff seriously, and works hand-in-hand with teachers and administrators to implement programs to fit their school most effectively, with a lasting, sustainable structure in place.
A key strategic initiative in the Secondary Schools is with the Career-Life Education (CLE) classes. A central program in support of CLE students and teachers is our Life Areas Program. At RASS, we have holistically defined these 5 different Life Areas as the physical-mental-social-spiritual-environmental experience. These 5 Life Areas contribute to the human experience, and our understanding of how we relate to other people and the world around us. Health promotion addresses all of these 5 areas in an interconnected, dynamic way. We know that having healthier Life Areas provides a foundation for better adjustment and academic performance, reflected in more positive social behaviors and peer relationships, fewer conduct problems, less emotional distress, and improved grades and test scores.
A second connected Career-Life Education (CLE) program is our Peer 2 Peer (P2P) Program. P2P is a two-fold initiative. First, P2P aims to engage with students, working with CLE classes to create a curriculum-based presentation/project delivered/provided to students transitioning from Grade 7 (feeder schools) to Grade 8 (Secondary School). Second, P2P works with teachers and administrators to develop a common vision and common approach for a transition model for students.
P2P is a creative feeder school initiative based on a peer-to-peer delivery model. Secondary students in their CLE classes engage with grade 7 students, having select CLE volunteers visit a feeder school class of grade6/7s to build relationships and explore the feeder school students’ questions and concerns about high school life. Following, CLE classes work on creating public service style multimedia messages which respond to the concerns feeder school Elementary students have on entering Secondary School. Having piloted this program school over the last few years, our learnings/ feedback have emphasized the importance of intentional and enduring strategies to complement a separate evaluation process.
RASS aims to build teacher capacity, supporting the development of caring relationships between teachers and students. Such relationships are fundamental to achieving the goal of being a healthy school environment. Positive change occurs in the context of authentic relationships, when students feel school staff care and will be there for them unconditionally. Teachers also require the same concepts and resources as their students, including caring relationships with colleagues, positive beliefs, expectations, and trust on the part of administration.
In addition, teachers require ongoing opportunities to reflect, engage in dialogue, and make decisions together. RASS provides optional Professional Development to teacher/admin staff populations at request. Our workshop on Creating a Culture of Connectedness invites adult staff to consider their relationships with each other as coworkers, with their students, with themselves, and within their school environment. RASS is an essential support to communicate and equip school staff to form their school environments towards social and emotional health from the top-down (teachers/admin to students), as much as bottom-up (students to teachers/admin).
As laid out in A Pathway to Hope, the provincial roadmap for making mental health and addiction cares better for people in BC, Mental Health in Schools in one of the key priorities. One of the actions is to have evidence-based and culturally safe programs and supports that focus on prevention and health promotion activities. Our school prevention programs will proactively identify children and youth early who are experiencing social or emotional challenges and/or early signs of mental health and substance use challenges.
In 2022, RASS piloted a new program to address community requests for gaming addiction services. This program, Game2Life, is an after-school group that teaches youth aged 13 to 24 ways to develop a healthier relationship to gaming through the lens of the 5 Life Areas. It is run in the Gaming Stadium, located in Richmond’s Lipont Place building, and is facilitated by RASS staff with the occasional addition of other community guests. Game2Life focuses on helping youth identify areas of their lives that may need extra support without demonizing gaming itself. Staff facilitate learning of the 5 Life Areas through the lens of video games to help the youth resonate with the content. Currently, RASS is seeking to expand our gaming services to other populations in need but will continue to keep youth aged 13 to 24 as our focus.
I found the presentation very intriguing because of how the 5 life areas worked and what they meant. I always went about with a self check-in in the morning and one before I went to bed, but I didn’t realize how this actually helped me until I saw this presentation about how each life area is interdependent on each other and how we live on the same five principles, and I realized how we as humans are actually so close knit. The presentation really opened my eyes because now I am more self aware and understand that my actions not only affect others, but also myself because down the road I would be the one either receiving the rewards of my work, or suffering from a lack of work. I never really focused on the social aspect of the life areas, as I thought I should be fine in that aspect. But after the presentation I really started thinking about my social life and realized how tough the pandemic has made it to even retain friends. Maybe it’s just me but I feel like because of the cohort system, some friends that I originally had in the opposite cohort have kinda drifted and I didn’t really pay attention to it. I feel very dumbfounded because I realized that although I could be counted as a mature individual, I still have much to learn in order to even be ready for society. Understanding where I need to change is a key aspect of how I can shape myself to be a better person. I personally feel that this presentation impacts me the most because it allows me to have guidelines on what areas I could improve on and what the expectations for them are. To hear something this important from an addictions centre is also very interesting, because it breaks that stereotypical norm of oh addiction centres are for people with problems, and instead makes all of us think, do we all have a problem? And how can we change it? Also, it made me think about my phone usage, I thought I didn’t use my phone a lot because I hear others that have very dramatic screen time numbers. But after looking at my own numbers I realized that I use my phone a lot. I feel like I need to change my habits about my device and this presentation really got the ball rolling on how to change and why I should change, so that I won’t become fully addicted to my device. Anyways, that’s about it with this response to a single presentation. I guess I’ll leave it here as really don’t have much to say except for at myself that I should start changing or I’m gonna end up a lot worse than now.
This peer 2 peer program was one of my favourite things we did this year, because I really enjoyed teaching the grade 7’s and 8’s about cellphone addiction and hope they remember the useful information we provided for them in the future. I also really enjoyed editing the video my group and i worked on since we added some cool effects, clips, and transitions. As for myself, I learned a lot about cellphone addiction while researching for information. I also learned a lot about addiction, drugs, and alcohol which I had forgotten all about when I had the presentation back in grade 8.
[Game2Life] has calmed me a lot and made me more emotionally intelligent as I can now remain calmer instead of being controlled by my emotions.
This presentation was relevant to me because I understand the importance of keeping healthy, keeping happy and the fact that I have gone through many struggles in the past in regards to my dealing with Mental, Social, Emotional and Spiritual health. This presentation helped me become aware of other people’s many struggles, even in our school community. I also liked how he gave us solutions to solving our unhealth, compared to other presentations that may or may not give clear instructions. One major thing I took away was the very important fact that it is okay to be unhealthy, to show others that you’re unhealthy and that we have vulnerabilities and we are a vulnerable species. and that it’s okay to make mistakes. This is very relevant as I have OCD and tend to try to stay “perfect” and “healthy” and that anything other than that is “bad” and makes me feel ungood and unhealthy, pretty much yucky in other terms. It reminded me of another conversation I had with my counsellor about it being okay to be unhealthy and just to take things slow in life to take care of your health in all 5 areas. One thing I might apply to the future is communication and working on that like I have been. I especially liked this presentation because it’s about being yourself and no one else. This really helped me with my self-esteem issues. The last thing I wanted to mention was that this “5 areas” thing is new to me and I bet to others too, I didn’t know about it and I am glad that I can apply to my life now.