Hello everyone!

December is here! I am so excited about the holiday season, my favourite time of the year, and I'm also excited to share the next virtual sessions offered in the early months of 2021. This year, almost 200 family caregivers attended the virtual psycho-educational sessions I facilitated, thank you to everyone who joined me online! For everyone who missed any of the sessions, I am offering them again next year. Below are the posters with dates and times for the upcoming sessions.

I will be taking vacation time during the holiday season, I have posted below my schedule when I will be away. I have included where family caregivers can connect for support.

 In this Issue:

• Vacation Schedule During the Holiday Season

• Support During the Holiday Season

• Virtual Family Caregiver Psycho-Education 

• Francophone Mental Health and Addiction Navigator

• Youth Shine Campaign - Youth Mental Health Centre

• BounceBack Ontario

• Crisis Services

Wishing you all a safe and wonderful holiday season

Take care and stay safe, Tara Maxwell.

Vacation Schedule During the

Holiday Season

Tara Maxwell will be on vacation during the holiday season from December 21, 2020 - January 1, 2021. Returning to work on January 4, 2021.

Virtual Family Caregiver Psycho-Education

These sessions will be offered on the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN) website. 

Sign-up by Emailing Tara Maxwell tmaxwell@cmhastarttalking.ca the topic and dates of your choice. 

December 2020

Habits, Routines & Self-Care

This session will cover topics on Goals; Designing a routine; The stages of habit formation; Self-Efficacy; Motivation and Creating your self-care plan.

January 2021

Healing Helpers:

Burnout Management & Sustaining Compassion

This session will cover topics on the difference between stress & burnout; Recognizing caregiver burnout; The signs and symptoms of burnout; Stages of burnout; Compassion fatigue; Sustaining compassion and the ABC's of resiliency.

February 2021

Living Well with Stress

This session will cover topics on why stress is harmful & helpful; The 4 types of stress; The Fight/Flight/Freeze response; The 90:10 rule for managing your stress and the 4 A's of stress management.

March 2021

Let's Talk About Effective Communication

 This session will cover topics on the elements of effective communication; Communication styles; "I" messages; Attentive, reflective & supportive listening; Tips for effective communication.

Youth Mental Health Centre

Canadian Mental Health Association of Simcoe County

10-20% of Canadian youth have a mental illness or disorder. 

Canada has the third-highest youth suicide rate in the industrialized world.

Early treatment and intervention lead to improved recovery and lower risk of relapse.

The Canadian Mental Health Association is a non-profit organization that provides direct services to people struggling with mental health and addiction issues and their families. The youth services at CMHA support those between the ages of 12 to 24. Services range from crisis intervention to counselling and case management depending on individual needs. The common goal across all our youth services is to help youth explore the impact of mental health on their daily lives, improve their coping skills, and to encourage wellness.

$600,000 is the number to make this happen! Our Youth Mental Health Centre is good, but could be better with your help. The launch of the “Youth Shine” Campaign will make our centre more inviting and able to offer additional resources for our youth and families. Help us make our new youth mental health centre a reality.

To learn more about the Youth Shine Campaign, Click here

To Donate, Click here

BounceBack Ontario

BounceBack® is a free skill-building program managed by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). It is designed to help adults and youth 15+ manage low mood, mild to moderate depression and anxiety, stress or worry. Delivered over the phone with a coach and through online videos, you will get access to tools that will support you on your path to mental wellness.

Crisis Services

Crisis Services offers 24hr telephone support to assist individuals, community agencies, emergency services and family or friends, to work through resolution of identified issues and challenges. The team is comprised of mental health and addiction professionals, who are trained in suicide intervention, and can help stabilize pre and post-crisis, developing coping strategies and plans for ongoing mental health and addiction support and follow up.

Family Mental Health Initiative of Simcoe County

90 Mulcaster St.

Barrie ON L4M 3M5

705-725-0363 / 1-800-324-3252

fmhi.ca