BONNYVILLE - It's about stepping out of their comfort zone and trying something new.
Youth groups have become a popular trend in the Lakeland, and according to the Bonnyville Child and Adolescent Mental Health Collaborative, it's for a good reason.
“The biggest thing we see is our community focuses a lot more on sports-based activities, and not all of our kids are sports kids. Kids that aren’t involved in sports, it’s really important to have some sort of youth groups they can participate and socialize in with other peers that aren’t necessarily more sports or recreation-based activities that are already established in the community,” expressed the clinic's mental health navigator Kendra Krankowsky.
Youth coordinator at the Bonnyville Friendship Centre and Bonnyville Empowerment and Education (BEE) Café volunteer, Megan Kwiatkowski, agreed.
“I think it’s important because there needs to be a positive outlet for youth. Sometimes families who are struggling don’t have the funds to enrol their children in things like that, so groups like the BEE Café help kids interact outside of school with positive role models that aren’t necessarily their family members, and it gives them different experiences that they might not get elsewhere.”
Not all kids are into sports, which is why groups like the BEE Café and Cold Lake's latest addition, Jobies 2 Bee, have sprung up in the area.
These two groups offer similar programming to the girls in their community. Open to everyone, they focus on what their members are interested in, whether it's arts and crafts, yoga, or cooking.
“We like to get input from the girls and see what they’re interested in and what might be beneficial for them as well to keep them interested,” Kwiatkowski noted.
Both the BEE Café and Jobies 2 Bee are geared towards young girls. While the Bonnyville youth group focuses on those between Grades 7 to 12, the Cold Lake-based program is aimed at those between five and 10-years-old.
Regardless of their age range, the objective is the same: getting local girls out to socialize.
“The goal is to get the girls talking, communicating, and learning healthy strategies while in a safe environment,” stated Kwiatkowski.
The BEE Café is a free group that runs every Tuesday from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. out of the Bonnyville Friendship Centre's youth room.
“I think this is a good experience, and you can try out different things that you may haven’t thought to try and you might learn something that you like,” Kwiatkowski said.
The local club is arranged through a partnership of various local organizations including the Bonnyville and Child Adolescent Mental Health Collaborative, the Bonnyville Friendship Centre, the Lakeland Centre for FASD, Northern Lights Public Schools, and the local FCSS.
Even though the program is free, Kwiatkowski recommends registering by calling her at 780-826-3374.
Jobies 2 Bee is the little sister group to Job's Daughters, which is also out of Cold Lake.
Sara Schnabel, who brought the Canada-wide youth group to the area, said it's open to everyone.
“The little girls get a mentor or a big sister and they also get to have fun, learn songs, do crafts, and fun activities with the older girls or by themselves depending on what’s planned,” she detailed.
Regardless of what some may believe, Schnabel stressed, “There are no religious aspects to either groups.”
“You don’t have to come from a certain religious background at all. Both groups accept all religions and all belief structures,” she said. “We tell the girls to believe in what they want to believe. There is no ‘you have to be this.’”
Jobies 2 Bee meets the first and third Thursday and one Saturday every month at the Masonic Hall. There is a small cost, which Schnabel said covers the expense of craft supplies, snacks, and a t-shirt.
“It’s amazing to watch these girls get together and share their belief systems and what they know,” expressed Schnabel. “All of these girls come from so many different walks of life and this is a place where they can come and are accepted for who they are.”
Families are encouraged to sign-up their girls in advance by contacting Schnabel at 204-740-0478.
Youth groups "offer the chance for kids to step outside of the box," Krankowsky explained.
Not only are they able to get out and be social with others their age, but they're able to relax and express themselves with other youth.
“The focus is a lot on grades and academics and they don’t have a lot of time to have that recoup or that bounce back with emotions. It’s so important to have that time where our emotions can cycle through and we can actually feel our emotions,” detailed Krankowsky. “There are so many faces of that if we think in terms of the dimensions of wellness. We all have six dimensions of wellness and the academic side of things and school can only support so much, and also home life. If they aren’t getting all of the pieces of the pie in their dimensions of wellness it would be so important that they have extra curricular activities outside of school to help them balance life.”
This is among the reasons why the mental health collaborative is taking youth mental wellness one step further.
“We’re in the works of talking with community representatives and hopefully building a steering committee for what we call an integrated youth hub,” she outlined.
Time and time again families have explained their youth's struggle transitioning from the local clinic's programming, which is only available to those under 18, to other resources in the community.
This was what inspired the collaborative to create a go-between for locals.
“Our hope here is that it would be a transition from our services here to community organizations like the Dragonfly Centre, mental health, dieticians, and public health,” described Krankowsky, adding although it's still in the early stages, their vision is to have representatives from these organizations all under one roof so those in need of help have somewhere they could "come and talk about some of the things that they might be struggling with."
"We also would like to have a kitchen where nutrition could be involved, but we’re in very grassroots talks about it at this point, but because our community has been so influential in building my position in this clinic, we really see a benefit of having that transition, because it really is up until the age of 24 for the hub, and our services are only up to 17. We’re really looking at filling the gap in services for that transition into adulthood health care and mental health services,” she continued.
Krankowsky explained that because of the area's location, "we tend to have less resources than urban centres, and it's a lot more strenuous on families to try and be connected to all of those services."
