Thinking Outside the (Lunch)Box: Approaches to Creating Healthy Student Environments with Kari McDougall, Vanessa Perrodou & Suzanne Johnson

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Date: Thursday, May 14, 2015

This special session organized by Suzanne Johnson, Program Nutritionist at the First Nations health Authority features two school programs that are making a difference in children’s nutrition and promoting healthy lives. Representatives from Farm to School BC and DASH BC will talk about their programs and help you to get started planning to bring more health promotion opportunities to your next school year. This session will highlight several of the provincial Healthy School-related initiatives that provide opportunities for holistic health promotion in schools.  First Nations schools can access these initiatives which in some cases provide Aboriginal-specific resources as well as training and funding opportunities.

Session Topics

1. Learn about three agencies that provide support in the promotion of improved school health.
2. Discover how easy and applicable these programs can be for First Nations schools and hear some First Nations schools success stories.
3. Discuss the possibility of coordinating future webinar/videoconference training for communities.

About the Organizations

Farm to School BC was established in 2007 and is a diverse and expanding provincial network that promotes, supports, and links Farm to School activity, policy and programs across the province. Farm to School programs bring healthy, local food into schools and provide students with hands-on learning opportunities that foster food literacy, all while strengthening the local food system and enhancing school and community connectedness.

The Directorate of Agencies for School Health (DASH BC) is a not-for-profit society committed to promoting, supporting and facilitating the creation of healthy schools in BC. DASH has a vision that ALL students are healthy, engaged, and connected at school. We use our deep understanding of a Comprehensive School Health (CSH) approach and our network of leaders to deliver and facilitate innovative healthy schools initiatives to directly benefit the health and learning of students and school communities.

About The Presenters

Kari McDougall is a Project Coordinator at DASH. Kari coordinates the Healthy Schools Network (HSN) – a group of schools dedicated to promoting the importance of health in their school communities and sharing their learning, efforts and experience with others. Kari is studying via distance at the University of Alberta in the Master of Public Health program, specializing in health promotion. As a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, she also has a big appetite for food and nutrition!

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Vanessa Perrodou is the Provincial Manager of the Farm to School BC Network. She is a Registered Dietitian passionate about connecting students to their local food system and providing access to fresh, healthy, local and sustainable food in schools as well as the knowledge and skills to lead healthy lives and steward the land.

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Suzanne Johnson is a Registered Dietitian and member of the Penticton Band (Okanagan Nation). Together with her partner she’s indescribably blessed with a three year old daughter. Suzanne was raised in a food active family and health-minded community. This upbringing, along with her professional training in dietetics, has gifted her with a unique area of knowledge that allows her to support individuals to a greater level of independence as they strive to live the good life. She has more than 18 years of experience working in First Nations health and nutrition both at the community and regional level, including many years with First Nations Inuit Health, the First Nations Health Council, and the Penticton Indian Band. She has extensive experience in the continuum of health as a patient, clinician, educator, promoter, motivator, advocate, writer and researcher. Suzanne’s passion for health stems from her own personal challenges with health, the witness of suffering of her many loved ones who have since passed on as a result of their struggles with health, and from her devotion to the possibility that we can continually live better.