Youth Wellness (Part 1) – Beginning Our Wellness Journey with Gerry Oleman & Asia Youngman

Date: Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Welcome to Part 1 of our Youth Wellness Series as we join Gerry Oleman back to the UBC Learning Circle once again. In these sessions, he brings with him his coworker and co-presenter, Asia Youngman of Cuystwi who is new to the UBC Learning Circle but has presented at the UBC Summer Science camps for youth.

“The Cuystwi (cwoo wheesh twee) program evolved from conversations with First Nations in northern British Columbia about their concerns regarding youth suicide. It was suggested that if youth could have a platform to explore their identities and cultures as Indigenous peoples, as well as understand colonization and how the on-going cumulative impacts affect our people and families, that they may have a stronger foundation to depend on when encountering difficult periods in their lives. The Cuystwi quests emphasize themes of identity, culture, understanding colonization, tools to deal with racism, healthy relationships, sexual health, and an invitation to become a young warrior. The quests have an on-line component meant to introduce topics to be facilitated to Indigenous youth by youth workers, health workers, and educators within existing community programming.”  ~ Cuystwi

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Session Video

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A.  Introduction: Cuystwi

B.  Where we come from and who we are as Indigenous people

1. How things were before contact
2. Pre-contact values and philosophy
3. Animated historical timeline
4. Colonization and residential schools

C.  Transition from pre-contact to how things are now

1. Touch on issues that youth are faced with today
2. Prevention

D.  Bullying

1. W.A.R.R.I.O.R.S.

E.  Racism

1. The effects of segregation and how to deal with it

F.  Sacredness, protecting yourself (possible guest speaker: Jessica St. Jean, YouthCo)

1. Sexual abuse
2. Consent

Youth: if you have any specific questions that you would like answered, feel free to refer to our Indigenous Youth & Wellness website or email Asia Youngman directly with those questions. Otherwise Your questions can be answered during the webinar/video conference.

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About the Presenters:

Asia Youngman is a Cree, Carrier, and Iroquois youth who was born and raised on Coast Salish territory. Asia graduated from the University of Victoria in 2013 where she studied Psychology and Sociology. She now lives in Vancouver, where she has been continuing her studies at Emily Carr, VanArts, and UBC; taking a variety of courses including photography, 3D animation, multimedia, and web development. Asia currently works at PHSA Aboriginal Health where she assists as a project coordinator and videographer for an Indigenous youth wellness program – “Cuystwi”. She is passionate about travelling, technology, and promoting Indigenous youth wellness through the use of multimedia.

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Saahiilthit (Gerry) Oleman has worked with the Indian Residential School Survivors Society since 1998. He is from Seaton Lake and of the Stl’atl’imx Nation. He has been involved as a change agent for First Nations since 1976. His experiences include counseling for community addictions programs, providing leadership politically and administratively for his community and Nation, and working as an independent consultant. Click here to view Gerry’s website.

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Here is the Graphic Illustration of the presentation!