Disclaimer up front – I am a fan of the holiday season!  The twinkling lights throughout the streets seem to add a bit of ‘merry and bright’ to the shortening days. There are a number of fun, festive events for you to take part in by yourself or with others. It can be an exciting time of year.

During casual conversations with families, friends and co-workers, people share their plans for travel, stay-cations, traditions both old and new, and even a memory or two about what they love about the season. This year I also asked each of them:

Raising a child is one of the hardest jobs there is. Parenting a child with ADHD is even tougher.

We are excited to announce that the communities selected to host a Balancing Our Minds youth summit are from Gold River, Powell River, Chase, Revelstoke and Abbotsford!

Whether you live with mental health challenges or know someone that does, you may know that healing is not a linear path. There are ups and downs and some days feel like you are taking 10 steps backwards instead of forwards.

Originally launched in 2013, DrugCocktails.ca is a website developed at BC Children’s Hospital that helps youth and professionals ‘get the facts’ about the risk of mixing medications with other substances like cigarettes, alcohol, cannabis, and other street drugs.

Halloween is fast approaching, and most kids and families are excitedly getting their costumes ready and homes decorated. For some kids, however, Halloween can be stressful or frightening. I experienced this last year, when I took my 3 year old trick-or-treating. Things started off well, but a few houses in he exclaimed he was done trick-or-treating because of some scary masks he had seen.

It’s easy to get caught up in everything that is not going well and get caught up in the negative energy, but we can and have the ability to seek the silver lining in each situation, day and curve ball tossed our way.

In early August, as the back to school signs begin to pop up in stores, I am reminded that there are only a few weeks left in our summer before we begin the transition to a new school year.  As a parent of two, I find myself experiencing mixed emotions.  Part of me feels a bit sad, as the summer has offered a care-free schedule (minus a few weeks of early morning starts at day camps),

It’s almost that time of year again: back to school. And truly, irrespective of how old we are or at what stage of our schooling we find ourselves in, so many of us are feeling many of the same emotions as we prepare for that first day of class.

Everyone experiences pain in their lifetime. However, many people experience chronic pain that may come in the form of mild pain or pain in short increments or for others it could restrict daily functioning. Chronic pain is not only related to physical impacts, but it can also have a big impact on an individual’s mental health.