 Good morning and welcome to day two of the mental health and schools conference. I'm Maria Florez I think those of you who were here yesterday know that already and I woke up this morning with really a very warm heart Thinking about and feeling about our day together yesterday So I went back and we read the posts that you put into chat And I was really amazed again at how much of a community this feels like this setting We're in right now feels like a community and more broadly just in British Columbia in general Those of you who are working in this field of education and mental health I work at a in a lot of different settings, but I have to say British Columbia stands out you stand out as As the word came up yesterday with connection and and supporting each other The sun is shining here today Once again, I'm grateful to live on the unseated traditional territories of Metsby, Plum and Casey and Simeon and First Nations Walk along the Fraser River and look into the water, look on the water and see all the activity of kayakers and rowers I know some of you rowers are watching today or those today Campers and Fisher people and and then just look over and see the mountains as well Which are still this morning covered with snow or lots of snow I'm sure that you I hope you woke up recently to and I also hope Maybe a bit last night about about our day yesterday and maybe even have a few conversations because that's really as you know How we make meaning of all that we're learning Yesterday, we heard from educators and youth. It's remarkable researchers thought Of Perspective on promoting and maintaining mental health in schools So we took time yesterday as well to to Reflect and connect while we tried to connect today. We're going to connect it's going to work for sure and then you shared a word that resonated with you around the question of What is it that's standing out for me right now and We took those words out of chat and we're going to share them with you now just to remind you of what you said yesterday About what stood out for you at that point in the event and you know, most people know about these word Pictures now that the larger words are the ones that showed up more often So I'm not surprised at all that connection showed up is very large and as From our speakers yesterday was standing up for you. Listen It's great connect human beings love Let's just let you look at that for a minute There you are there you are. Thank you Thanks for and and today we're going to continue learning and Performance a sharing that I know will inspire you Naomi tree Drummer and she attends North Island secondary important meal. She's graduating pretty soon She joins us now to share a special song that she chose specifically for you for this gathering So, please give a warm welcome to Naomi tree. What's it? Yeah, like a slur. No, go on net Naguas. No, me. Hello. So I'm hot guy, you can laugh Guaistums glue your lease So what I just said was Welcome my name is Nana Guas. I am also known as Naomi. I come from Guilford Island and alert Bay the song I'll be sharing with you today is the Shawitzis farewell song which is from one of the tribes I come from that Thank you very much Naomi and and I wanted to mention that if you live in or around Fort McNeil May 27th, Naomi will be featured in a concert with headliners multi-platinum. Juno award winners the tenors That's what Naomi will be doing a benefit concert to support rural food security and music programs So you might want to just go up there to watch way to go Naomi. Thank you So we invite you again to use your note catcher I have to know if these were useful for you. I'm sure for some they were they were for me That's for sure and you'll notice again the first box of the note catcher Asks you what is your intention for today? It might be the same as yesterday It might not be but you'll be able to consider that for the next little bit while we Share another grounding activity this morning were guided by Lisa Bayless who most of you know She's among many other things the author of self-compassion for educators. She's joining us now here is Lisa Bayless Thank you so much. Maria. Good morning I'm joining you today from the traditional of one can people's territories also known as the squimalt Sonkees and waist and I can I'm really grateful to be able to take a moment to ground and land with all of you To help us move from doing to just being for a few moments We spend a lot of our time being very busy as educators going and planning and thinking and Being in a really big busy state and so today my invitation is to practice slowing down and To move into a present state Presence is our our greatest gift that we can offer We're often too busy to be present with one another present with the work We're doing present with ourselves. So we're going to slow down and I'm going to use the word slow as an acronym to Physically slow us down for a moment to ground to be present But also to arrive settled To arrive lifted to arrive open and to arrive welcomed And we're going to do that in In a really settled in an alert state So please take whatever comfortable posture that you may want you can stay Standard if you're neat if you're standing you can stay seated. I invite if it feels right to Let things out of your hands drop your pens And if you wish you can close your eyes drop your gaze or just keep your you know Your eyes soft as we it was we start this practice So we're going to start with this opportunity to soften and settle our body So perhaps soften across your cheeks your face your jaw Down through your neck across your chest Softening through your abdomen Into your hips Softening down your legs into your feet and letting this whole process be about sinking and Settling this invitation is truly to settle our body To settle this physical body first so we can work towards settling our our thoughts and our feelings So giving some space to soften sink and settle into this moment right now right here Just notice the softening But perhaps not a collapsing so to avoid collapsing and invite an Equally necessary alertness I invite you to drop your shoulders lower your shoulders and lengthen through your spine This creates a beautiful sensation of lifting Lifting to our awareness And it's in this beautiful balance state. We allow everything to settle but to expand at the same time Joan Halifax calls the strong back soft front And as we lift we take our awareness beyond our body and just allow this awareness to gather in in this room Taking a moment to notice how your physical presence feels Whatever room you're in right now as you sit here as you land Perhaps you may even be more aware of the sounds around you The sounds far away the sounds near you I'm just letting that Sounds come to you without getting caught up in a story about them Just lifting your awareness to whatever exists around you at this time This growing in present awareness lifts our attention without getting lost in it We can notice the sensation of both being grounded and lifted at the same time grounded and expansive and As we grow in this expansiveness we begin to open We open our awareness to Whatever is going on And perhaps maybe if it feels right to you you may begin to open Up to a breath into your body The kind of breath that fills you up with whatever you need And as you exhale is releasing letting go Perhaps trying one or two of those breaths these opening breaths going your breath just to Come back to however it breathes regularly And allow yourself to continue to be open to any sensations that may be happening open to sensations in your body open to Thought patterns thinking that may be occurring if you might be noticing your mind's already wandered off In my argument minds love to do that. So just this beautiful invitation to come on back to feeling settled lifted open Maybe when we slow down sometimes we can be a little more open to any feelings that may emerge Noticing whatever bubbles up to our surface slowing down Create space And in that space we can be more open to whatever is existing Perhaps taking one more breath as you're being open to whatever is happening in this moment And then an invitation to Welcome whatever is existing for you right now Welcome yourself arriving just as you are just as it is It's welcoming and connecting with our present self Is an opportunity to really acknowledge and appreciate ourselves just as we are If it feels right Maybe you might even want to offer a little bit of warmth to this one to this Perfectly imperfect human being who's arriving here today That may look like perhaps placing a hand over your heart and feeling the warmth of your hand Just Acknowledging this being in the room here Maybe a word or two of encouragement you can offer yourself right now We may just even be a sense of ease or warmth that you can welcome yourself into this moment This present moment. This is what's existing right here right now This present moment being the greatest gift we can offer our presence And as Maria said earlier, perhaps setting an intention to be as present as possible today To be present in your learning To be present through your interactions both in person online And even in the interactions that you have with yourself Kindest way we can offer our presence is to to do this slowing down And to be really here with one another So throughout the day if you feel yourself being pulled away allow that practice of slowing to happen settle your body Lift your awareness Open to the experience and welcome whatever is existing Whatever you're feeling with kindness with compassion With care and with ease as you go through this day May you do so with this slowing down Perhaps taking one more last really deep juicy breath again that kind that Fills you up with whatever you need Allowing your exhale to be releasing maybe drop your shoulders one more time And when you feel called to lift your gaze and ready yourself to go onward back into the day I invite you to lift your eyes come on back And go forward with that slow intention however you need to be today Thank you for practicing with me Thank you so much Lisa. That was exactly what we all needed and Lisa's going to be joining us again later at about 10 30 In her session about mental health in the classroom using self-compassion is compassion. What is empathy? So that's at 10 30 Right so every every corner of this province educators such as you are working with students families and communities to find ways to support mental health and well-being in schools and You are all doing that in a way that's suited to your communities to your schools to your students to you are as well and just a moment we're going to meet three mental health leads from British Columbia you're going to talk about some of the work that they're doing and Some of the unique initiatives that that they hope will inspire you and and During that time, please feel free to post your questions Into the and as happened yesterday. I'll be watching You're about to meet So joining me now you Maybe everybody could come up on screen now Heather. Maybe that's a way to do it There we go. You can see the names there Irene Isaac is from a district school additionist Vancouver Allinor Claire McKay is director of instruction school district 91 And the tackle ladies and Vanessa white district school say and these schools school district 62 Great everybody can I think it's probably a good idea to turn microphones just on because it'll be more of a fluid conversation And you won't have to turn it on welcome. Good morning Irene you also sent along a slide and it would be great to look at that slide and tell us about what I can't about that for you Julia, could you bring up the slide? Thank you Well, Taylor Kessler Nougat, I'm well, you know, okay. Yeah, you can lock namgis look haquat haquat means I just said good morning. And I'm so uplifted listening to our student Naomi Share, you know, sort us off in a good way. It's a good segue into what we're looking at here I hope that you can all hear me. I am at home and sometimes our internet is a little Clitchy, so hopefully it's a thumbs up so the photo you see in front of you is Basically our typical week. This was my week this week in a way. So One of the things that we've we've Done in our district is this year we offered a cultural wellness program So what that means is we brought our traditional kwa kwa kwa ways of knowing and being and Bridged it with what we have going on in the district right now. So some of the photos that you see This is our dupe see here That's what which in our language that means our traditional big house and we have students who came to learn about Our traditional ways that we practice in our big house I know a lot of people might think of culture as being mainly dancing and singing But a lot of our practices also Are around ceremony which really help, you know, keep balance within our our our lives. So What you see here is one of our elementary schools joined us and they're learning about The circle and how we use that and they were fortunate enough. We've just had our our big house open They were one of the first people to be able to be in there after the the pandemic. So it was a really quite a special day I'm not sure this photo up here. I hope you can see This is one of our elementary schools welcoming another school to the territory so they joined They came and they they came up actually to do a math class in this big house here and We had our alert bay elementary school welcome them, which is part of part of our practice when people visit us in our territory We welcome them. We say Kayla Kessler, which means welcome Also part of the cultural wellness program here is you'll see this young young fella here He's he's mentoring a elementary school student and he's showing them how to do one of our traditional dances, which is a ha matzah And, you know, so so doing that bridging of our elementary school coming up into the secondary school. And here we have a former grad student, you know, who is teaching weaving to one of our younger elementary school students. So all of those Are are are are coming into our schools and bridging Our Western ways, I guess you would say with our traditional quack quack quack ways. And A newer a newer step we took this year, which is fairly new is What we have what we call our cedar brushing and look it's looking like I'm frozen here. Can you guys hear that? Can you guys hear me okay You can. Yeah. Okay. Sorry because I'm I'm I'm almost wondering if I need to turn my video off Maria. Sure. Most of what we need to do. Maybe we'll take the slide down and come back to you to that. Okay, Irene. Yeah, that's fine. Sorry, I'm just when I'm looking at myself. It looks for like I'm freezing. So I just want to make sure that you guys can hear me. We can let's let's stay on the gallery view with all four of us. Please, Heather. Okay. Yeah, so so just to, you know, before I want to take questions of people are questions as well but One of the things When I say culture and wellness. One of the things we've incorporated is our brushing with which is We use cedar boughs to kind of brush and help when people are going through grief and water cleansing And burning so like if we've you know if people have had loss Then it's one of the practices are people used to do is in memory of their loved ones is burn some food for them and then have ceremony around that so We actually have our staff coming into alert Bay today school district staff who are going to our students have taken part in it so now it's our staffs pro D data to join us in learning about what that's all about. Back to that Irene because that's a question about how do you how do you work as a community in terms of your staff to do do you mind if we come back and ask you more about that I know today it's an exciting day for you. Everybody to arrive as we're talking. Yes, they're coming off the ferry. I think your camera by the way is okay you are freezing a bit, but it's not distracting us. It's fine. Thank you for getting us started and launching right into doing Claire and Vanessa welcome to you as well. I wonder if you could, if you could give us a sense and I'm curious about this with all of you actually about how do you determine what the need specific need is in your community with your students it's a question for all of you actually clear if you wouldn't mind starting Because as I said earlier you designed it for your needs. Yeah. Thanks Maria it's a really good question and when you'd originally asked me this, I thought about it and the way that we looked at it wasn't actually necessarily we identified a need so what we did was we took the meant the compassionate systems leadership that lots of us in the province have done and actually looked at it through our youth so when many of our district staff and our principals did the course we were so engaged and impressed by the student voice their student ambassadors. That we, we immediately said we would like our young people to have those skills we want them to be able to see those tools to be able to use those tools in their daily life in their school work in their contribution to the community. And so we didn't necessarily I say there was a need we just knew that that was a skill set that we knew that all young people really should have because we were so impressed by that that work. So that's kind of how we approached it so we, we looked, I think everybody's kind of familiar with the compassionate systems work but just the tools that allow people to look at systems to look at the world around them to to be able to work out what's going on for them how they're reacting how they're feeling in the moment how somebody else is in the moment and to consider those two sides, the powerfulness of that for our youth. So we decided that we wanted to bring that to them and we chose grade seven in our middle school as a as a grade that we thought we would try that with and we've got a long journey to talk about I don't know if you want to talk about that Maria right now or just as it comes out but for us that was the way that we approached this this work with the mental health care. Let's talk let's let Irene Irene. Our agency Vanessa jump in here first about the how did you decide I think it's interesting even my question has a negative bias right as a deficit kind of bias. What needs did you determine as in what's broken what you're telling me is no you didn't look at it that way. You looked at it as what is the strength that's possible and that we could really build on here so thank you for for kind of illustrating exactly the kinds of things we talked about yesterday. Look at what is there instead of what is broken and in a minute I want to hear more about the systems. Compassionate system thinking how that applies to young people alone and older people too. But Vanessa do you want to just maybe address that question. How did you decide in your district what you were going to do what would be most useful. So our focus this year has been on staff wellness. We've we've really come at it from that point of view that if we want to focus on student wellness we also need to focus on the wellness of the adults in the system. We're doing things for students as well but we've we've really focused heavily on our adults and our teachers in particular. We used a report that came in from some focus groups that were done about three years ago with Charlie nailer Cindy Andrew and Kim weather be so we had Charlie and Kim come as a consultant group they worked with different groups of staff. In order to get really anecdotal and on the ground conversations about where people were at and what they needed. So they spent a great deal of time working with those groups hearing them having conversations like this and getting a sense of what was was truly needed from that they created this amazing report for us and that's about the time I joined the district and it was pretty much laid out I kind of had my roadmap of what what we needed to do. That was requested by staff. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm listening all thank you for that and and again will be interested to hear more details of what you're doing interested to hear even the process of decision making. Do you have a report and the report says something but you make meaning of that data with people how do you decide to who do you involve and you make a decision about what kind of process you're going to engage in Irene what come back to us with that question but I mean maybe you could answer that question is it who makes the decision how is it made so that you make sure it is relevant for everybody. I think it's a combination. In our in our district and I think in many districts across BC we have education First Nations Education Councils that help guide at least the indigenous education part of things and one thing that we recognize is that our partners. We're offering these wellness cultural wellness opportunities and they weren't having a great show up. But when they offered it in the schools, you know you have your audience all there and so we began to partner and rather than compete for our students we actually work together and we had the same goals in mind. And it's very similar my answer is very similar to Claire but the one thing and the sad reality is is you know we we have a bit of a. Our partners felt that we're in a bit of a crisis, especially during the pandemic. We had a lot of unfortunate loss we've had we had a lot of. You know, struggles around addictions and so on. So we work together to try and and you know for for thousands and hundreds of years are ways of being and knowing has worked for us. So we thought hey you know why not bring this into the school. It's always work for us. And so far it's been nothing but positive, and I hope that we continue to build on the momentum that we have going right now so. Yeah. How about you what, what's the process who do you involve and why. Um, I mean I think that this particular project we really were specifically trying looking for a school that had some already had some skill base around working with our adolescents who had a who had a interest in developing that skill. We couldn't do it with every grade seven in the district for a beginning time for our pilots so really just finding the place that it fit, most appropriately, because it is a journey and we're, we're learning from our mistakes and and going forward with strength and so you need a team that's also willing to have some resilience around when it doesn't work as well so. And were the young people themselves involved in the that those decisions or those you know deciding what to do or. No actually the young people were not we decided that we would present it to them and that this is this is what we were going to be doing for this year and so they've come along for the journey they've given us lots of great feedback and we find it for the next year so the voices really heard right now but we said we decided the decision when we started was this we feel this power in his. And I know that for lots of people who've done the compassionate systems it's really hard to explain what the compassionate systems is and how it feels until you're in it right until you're immersed in it it's really hard and so we thought how do you explain it to them without doing it so that's kind of why we just said we're going to do it. And then we're going to see where we get to so that's kind of where we're at right now so. Yeah, I get that and again we'll find out more about that but Vanessa if you would answer that question with the process who was involved how do you and why. Yeah. Our process was in terms of staff was the focus group process so we had representatives from each employee group. Our teachers group joined a little bit differently we have a health champ network so very similar to the so G network where we've got a sort of a health and wellness rep in each school and so feedback for anything that we do around well being is done through them we we we meet. Not as regularly as I'd like unfortunately with our to see shortages right now but we try to we try to get together and network as much as we can and there's sort of that liaison between the district and the school. When it comes to staff on on the site. The focus groups met with our QP group, our exempt group and our PVP group, all separately so they had time to really talk and share what it was like for them in their particular role in the district. That's gone back and forth we've we've had their feedback come in Charlie and Kim had a chance to sort of sit through it, sit through it and put it back in a report form and then had it back to them is that is this what we really heard from you was this correct. Before we hand this out to everybody. Here's another chance to look at it and say is this right. So it took a lot of time. That amount of feedback looping going back and forth has definitely taken some time as I said those focus groups were probably three years ago now and we are just getting to some of the recommendations to be fully implemented. Yeah, the reason I asked that question is there is some evidence that the, the process you use to decide on something the amount of collaboration you do, you know leads to more success and you just decide something hey that looks like a good idea let's do it it's, it's not as sustainable and I think just by senior heads not in that's been the case with you by involving people. I read that kind of. Yeah, that kind of leads me to the next, the next question just describing a little bit about what's going to be happening there today with you in the sense that one of the partners of course is the educators who are going to be implementing this program that that you described earlier. So, you know, yeah, yeah, I can share. Why do you do that. Well, I think it's important that we're all in it together, you know, when we're explaining to teacher gr students are away today because they're, they're involved in a cleanse, or they're involved in a burning. If your teacher doesn't know what that is they create their own stories of what that might be. And it is, it is an important piece of our ceremony. So it's important. You know, sometimes we don't have the capacity within in our districts to do these things so you know we want, we want our teachers be able to be comfortable if they decide to plan or organize any of these, but also today to be honest. A lot of our staff have had a lot of grief and loss in the last few years, a lot of them are in a way coming out of really a traumatic experience being in the pandemic. And they feel like this could help them it could help ground them it could help help them with their process it could help them with whatever they're going through today. And some to be honest it is it's out of curiosity because they don't know what it is that we do sometimes they hear about it, and they know that our students want it, and that it works. So, yeah, it's a mixture of things so some will be involved in a cleanse today some will be doing a burning. And then we're going up to our big house to watch our youth dance. And our yeah so it's going to be it's going to be a really nice day and it's the first day it's been sunny and like six days so happy. And it's kind of like what Claire said that it's one of the things that until you've experienced it you really don't know what it is and, and, and also part of what this is saying about adult well being so it's it's all there and that package today and sunshine. Yes, yeah. Let's dig in a little more into the specifics of the initiatives that you're that you're involved with and Claire why don't you start by explaining to us what is compassionate systems. What is your job. Oh yeah, I'm not going to do a very good job without Maria but thank you I will try. So, I'm, I know that the compassionate systems has been around in BC for a few years and then it's part of our mental health and school strategy so I'm really hoping that my poor explanation will just add to other people's problems and we don't have it so that's my hope. So, for me, my understanding of compassionate systems leadership is the two pieces the compassionate piece and the systems leadership piece and so that that systems don't work in systems and that we, excuse me, and that that our systems are complicated but there are there are tools in our models to look at systems to look at how they work to see how we can make them respond better to the goals that we have as a system. And so, there are many different ways to look at that from small tools to large tools that will help us with the work that we're doing. And to look at that through a compassionate lens so compassionate to ourselves, compassionate to people that we work with, and also compassionate to the system on the people that we work with and serve in our, in our systems. And so there are, you know within the compassionate systems training we learn lots of different tools that apply to lots of different scenarios whether it's a, we're just in a meeting and how to meet together in a generative field that feels like we're all contributing to choice and we all belong to the bigger systems through systems say this is how, you know, like looking at icebergs and what do we want to grow what is what is our aspiration that we want to grow as a system and how do we filter that all the way through our system to looking at our mental models and our artifacts. Lots of powerful tools for lots of different situations but always through that compassionate system, compassionate lens, compassionate to ourselves and compassionate to our system so that's my attempt at explaining compassionate system. Okay, show hands on this show hands on this screen how many of you understood what she said. And what it's a how does that work like how do you do that how do you engage young people and what do you do. So, so really the when we we worked with the MIT team, the youth ambassador team to create how to, first of all, how do they already do that they do it around the world already select what are you already doing how does that already work. And how is it going to apply to a group of 120 grade seven kids who live in band who have a completely different experience to those student ambassadors in Switzerland than in Indonesia like how do we bring that those tools to them and how do we engage them in that work. And of course the complications of the pandemic meant that that looked a lot different than, than it would have done it will do next year and it would have. And so, you know that they bring those tools, really they they teach them in the same way that we do it as adults in the work right they immerse you in the tools and so they, they start with all the mindfulness that grounding the checking and not too strange to our grade seven learners because our middle years already has what we call a crew program, working with our adolescents, Dr Nancy doder and so for them that was a very familiar piece they were able to be like, Okay, it's not that strange that that these people from all around the world because the youth ambassador trainers are from all around the world in a different time zone are coming and asking us to do that. And then we started teaching tools to them we started they started with the iceberg because it tends to be the one that they start with and they for the for the youth. And then we moved on to ladder of inference. And that's kind of where we got hung up. And so I mean I don't know if we want to talk about that now but so really they taught the youth that how what an iceberg is and what it does. And then the teachers in the classrooms spent the next few weeks teaching iceberg in different things. So this is a math class let's talk about an iceberg here let this is a, this is a science class we're going to see how it applies here, and the teachers continue to work with MIT team through global calls and staff training on. Okay, how do I put an iceberg into a, into a science class it works a little bit better in literature. I'm going to do a novel study but how do I do that inside so that they were developing the skills that the learners just get to practice over and over, what an iceberg is, and it's, and one of the things that we realized soon was that they, we wanted to take it away from the iceberg is just what Gus and Rask do on the screen, and iceberg is something you can apply all the time. So that application pieces become really really important, because until the youth are able to really apply it. They can use it into any sort of meaningful way. So, and then we taught them the ladder of inference. I don't know how many people know about the ladder of inference but this was one that really spoke to the youth that talked about how you move up through a series of assumptions about the other person in front of you on their intent and what they might have meant and what's happening in the situation. So they gave you work without a lessons but for grade seven kids they can get a bit ladder really quickly. And so what we found was actually applying it to personal conflicts in the classroom or conflicts in the classroom the ladder of inference actually had way more meaning to them than the iceberg did. So what's an example. So, you know, we got to see we have two youth who are having a, you know, often we're talking about friends right grade seven, like my, they said that they did this. So, you know, I have a lot of feelings I'm going to do this, right, and it goes right to, and we're all up here. And now we've got a gang of friends on either side and we're, and, and so really, we have a little ladder, a little blank one and they work, they work down with the teacher to the teacher to say okay what did you make an assumption about what did what do you actually know, and then trying to really bring it back down to okay, what actually is the, what is the situation here and how can we actually solve this in a different way. And that's actually proved to be really, really helpful for the staff, and the kids really understood the ladder of inference, when it applied to them personally. So for us, that was a huge, a huge piece because it already started to give teachers tools to talk to the learners and the learners tools to talk to each other about conflicts. So, we hadn't really, who knows why you don't think about these things we hadn't really thought about it in the social realm we'd really thought about it in a problem solving way, I mean, it is a problem solving way but we've never but the minute they went there we were like, whoa, okay, well that was, that was a great. So, that's kind of we're still in the ladder of inference right now we're using some other tools that team is helping us with and practicing those because it really spoke to the, to the youth themselves and once they can hang on to a tool I don't know how many, you know, when you've done the course or some tools that you just can't see how they work. But sometimes you just need to be able to use them and then they have such practicality for you so I can't even write the question was Maria. Well, I, I just said, tell us what. Well, we'll hear from everyone got lots of time this morning but I have some more questions Claire for you. And for you Irene to about how did it work and what went wrong and all that but thank you for that because I think most people who are with us today. Know about compassionate systems for sure because of the wonderful work that's being done across the province. It's part of the whole plan. And if you hear how it's being used with young people is really interesting so thank you for that, and you help us understand how you're doing it to Vanessa tell us more detail about the work you're doing. Thank you. So as I mentioned, we were given a report with all of the focus group input from staff. Our job was to implement the report and look at what what we were going to do next so a couple of them were super easy. We were able to get off right away it was informed a well being committee which we were able to do representative representation from all of our groups. Have a look at some of the processes and policies that we have in the district. The big one that stood out loud and clear from all employee groups and we were hearing it across the system was do something about email. The email is emails driving us crazy. They come at all hours of the day they come all weekend they they invade our life. And it can honestly feel very overwhelming and it has a huge impact on wellness and well being. We had Dr. I do come from UBC to do a sleep session with the staff in January so they met with all our she met with all our health camps and our school counselors and did a session around why sleep is important. I thought it was going to be all on sleep and she very quickly moved it towards electronics in the bedroom and and that inability to disconnect and the impact that it has on our brain and our cortisol levels and just our general well being. So our committee met and thought you know what this is a big one and we're going to tackle it. So we decided we would create an email guideline. We didn't want to call it a policy because we didn't want it to be top down again we're trying to, you know, be open and let people choose what they need from from these guidelines. But we were hearing so loud and clear people wanted some guidelines so that they had that freedom and that's that permission to shut off when they needed to, and to have a break from work. So we have been working on a draft and actually we presented the draft just last night to our leadership team to say, What do you think, and we're waiting for feedback from them before we send it back out to the to the larger system. And we've been we've been working on this now for a year, going back and forth with feedback so asking, you know, is this really a priority. What parts of this would be a priority for you so what about email is is driving you crazy. If we were to put something in place what would suit your needs what do we need to be thinking about for you as a particular individual within our system, because it's very different for people who work different shift hours right, or it's different for people who are in those roles where they need to be on call. And how do they get a break from email. So, taking all of that input, we, we've created a first draft. It was difficult because we didn't have much to go on as a basis we sort of put the call out through through Cindy and Charlie and Kim to say can you send us some samples. Where do we begin. And all the samples that came back were all from business there there weren't any samples in the education sector so it was, it was tricky. We created first start. And now we're in the process of waiting to hear what people think about it. I think, I think when you said the emails of you have been really interesting when you said the emails are problem I think everybody became very interesting because it's absolutely true. What did you do about that. We have done so we did a little soft start. We just hired a new communications manager right before spring break and the Thursday before spring break she came into the office would be great if like we put out an email from head office from the head office saying, Hey, it's spring break you're going to have two lovely weeks off. Please feel free to put on out of the office room, you know bounce back email on your on your email account. What a great idea this is, you know, it's a good first start and it's gentle and people can do with it what they please anyways, it took us a day to sort of word it and you know we didn't want it again we didn't want it to be top down it was an invitation. You know, it's okay to do this, we support you doing so it came from from the school board office saying, please make sure you think about putting one on and here's some sample wording for what you could use, and enjoy your spring break. Well, we had so much feedback instantly people were writing and saying thank you so much, you know this is really nice to hear that it's okay to do this. But anyways, or oh I never thought to do it we had lots of different reactions. And even for myself, I have to say, I, you know, I wasn't going to put one on I've never put one on before. What's the point, you know the emails will just come anyways and who cares. Nope, I'm going to jump in I will walk the walk and do what I'm practice what I'm preaching so I put my little email reply on. And I'm the cert and feature person so mine had to be worded really carefully you know if this is an emergency use my phone instead and put it on spring break started and of course a lot of my contacts being in the role I'm in our community partners so they don't take spring break. So first thing Monday morning, the email start bouncing in from all of our different community partners but upcoming meetings and things to do. And I did I felt this sort of lurch in my body of forgot to tell them I'm on for you know, I need to answer them or I need to let know I'm offer. And then boom, as soon as their email came in a little reminder came up, an instant reply has been sent an instant reply. Oh, how lovely you know I like just, I felt lighter all of a sudden I don't need to worry about it. They've been told I'm away they've been told when I'm going to answer. And I don't need to do anything with this I can just let it go. Wow, yeah, step away from the email. Yeah, and I did. I didn't answer a single email during spring break. Good for you. Thank you for that. I wonder, Irene, you started to indicate to us already this is what the results are the initiative but some of the results are and and I'm hearing well being. I'm hearing some more mental health and so interesting because it's a very it seems to be kind of simple but it's not this whole email thing is not simple. I mean, that makes you think that you're on the right track. What are you saying with students. What are you seeing with adults as an outcome of what you're. I think when a student says, I wish we could do this every Tuesday. You know, that's the kind of feedback that you get and like when you're in our big house, or, or if you're in Umi style where we host a lot of Umi style is is one of the buildings that we're hosting at today and Umi style means the return of something important. So when we're doing our museum, it's more it likes to be called a cultural center actually houses all of our mass that were taken away during potlatch prohibition. So we have these there but we have a cultural center to it but when, when our, when our kids are there, there's just a different. There's just the way they look the way they behave just, there's such a calm, and it just. It's hard to describe but you can just see it and feel it, and this is where we offer this is just one piece of a bunch of things that we're doing but it's. It's just hard to describe it's just you have to see them it's in their face it's in their behavior it's in their being. You know we we always our district promotes Maya Hila, which is a respect for self. It's a respect for all things it's respect for others it's a respect for the land to see the sky. And that's all part of our day and anything that we do. If you ask any student in our district what that means, whether they're indigenous or not they can tell you what Maya means. And when we're in those spaces, we, we, we, all our teachings around that Maya Hila, whether it's our academics, whether it's our language, whether it's our cultural wellness. We all start with that idea of Maya Hila, so that so that that starts the beginning of each of our sessions but I know, I know that what we're doing is right because you saw Naomi. Naomi opened us off and when our kids even when they hear that drum beat it's just a calming, like if you're, whether it's our log drum or even our drum there's something in that that just, you know, it's called in our language we'd say salty does it means to calm your spirit. And that's also one of the teachings that we have, and it's part of our enhancement agreement. We have these teachings around. We have the DAS which is that calming and who he last like practicing, practicing that listening, listening, not just like with your ears with your heart with everything. And that's like no he means to carry a good heart. And that's all part of the teachings that we bring in. You know, it's interesting everyone I'm hearing there I just made a note to myself is thinking about this idea of transformational social and emotional learning which is a thing people are talking a little bit more about now and that includes belonging identity and agency. It's at its center. And I think what I heard in your story there was a sense for students of not just doing an activity because someone tells them to because that's a lot for that half hour of the day. And I'm hearing development of belonging identity. Would you say that's true. I would say that's an important piece and one of our elders, and I purposely shared language with you today, because one of the things she shared with which is around what you're talking about belonging is without our language. We, it's all part of the teachings around culture and wellness. We're not quack quack quack anymore we're not non geese we're not clout seats we're not the knock out if we don't have our language. And that's all when our kids hear our language or singing, or they see an elder walking in our school buildings, they all look and they all it changes them. And they're just so proud to see that so we're wanting to do more of that and that's all part of this we bring in our elders and residents we bring in our cultural leaders and language speakers and it changes everybody in the building it changes. That pride it's like, you know, the hoods come off the heads go up and it's it's just a different. Indigenous and non indigenous students you just said. Yeah, we it's we're not our programs are not secluded just to our indigenous learners, everybody is invited. We all do it together so it's, you know, we're fortunate to have a small district and we've all know each other. We're all interconnected. When something happens it hurt it affects all of us, whether it's a birth death marriage any of that those types of things where we're a very close knit district so. Yes, model that is so for any students. Thanks. I wonder that same question to you about like the proof is in the food and is that the same, what you you've described what students are experiencing and I gather that there's certainly some conflict resolution maybe some skill building around that conflict because of the tools and different mindset. What are you seeing and hearing from the students themselves around their mental health. Well, I think that for us really the proof of the pudding that we're that we're on the right track is truly that that we've been already we've been able to give them a tool and a skill that helps them to solve their, their conflict and they're going to need lots of guiding through that and they're still on some of them are receiving better than others, because you know we have a full range of learners within our in our grade seven group there. But we already see them using it and once they can already learn how to use a tool to support themselves in those conflicts particularly those personal conflicts are already going to be able to have better mental health in that situation. We're already able to see them talk about it, talk to each other prompt each other about it, and ask the teachers for the help. And so that truly is giving them some skills we've got a long way to go in this journey. And if you'd asked me at the beginning I wouldn't have said that was the one that really would have captured their imagination but that's what you don't know right until you start. So, I think that we've seen enough and the teachers have enough confidence that that we're on the right track that we're repivoting for next year we've taken feedback from the learners taking feedback from the teachers and we're redoing it completely differently next year for the next set of grade seven learners who will come in, and then helping the grade eight teachers learn the skills so that they can keep moving that group forward. So, I think when teachers are asking for us to continue it means that they're seeing something in those skill development for those learners so for us that's what we're using as our proof to keep moving forward so I guess that one of the powerful things about compassionate systems thinking is that the system is effective and that there's a more meta awareness of the fact that the system's being affected. So I wondered if students themselves have that oh I'm doing systems thinking or if they're just doing it, but I also wonder about what effect our teachers or this, are you seeing some systemic changes or effects. I think there's a very bold statement for me to make that I probably wouldn't make at this point but ask me in a couple years and I might have a better statement for that I think for now you know we're so still deep in the weeds of how it's working and what's working and I think that the teachers maybe I didn't ask them that question and I nobody said that but I think it's early days for that so ask me a couple. I had a hypothesis that if students are able to solve their conflicts. More, it probably makes for, you know, healthier environment in the classroom for example it's probably too but you're saying you haven't checked that so I can't put words in your mind. I mean, that's my guess based on what people told me about I, you know, it's a bold statement so we'll just hang back on the book for a minute. Good for you. Good for you because you are being watched by millions. Vanessa, I'm wondering to what the impact then you talked about the impact on yourself and other teachers around that that concrete action of, of slowing down those emails are saying no to emails. What kind of an impact are you expecting or seeing anything else you want to share that's become that's positive even about being part of this process. I think it's, you know, I've seen impact on it's filtering slowly, I think is what I would describe it as it's very, as you say, Claire, it's early days. It was really heartening, we did a bit of a feedback session with our leadership crew, right after spring break to say what was that like, what did it feel like, did you enjoy it. Did anybody have any problems because some people did have problems with it, you know, a lot of people spoke about. But my time off is when I get to my emails and that's what gives me wellness is being able to stay on top of things by using the time I want to do my emails and it's this this guideline is not meant to tell you that you can't work when you want to it's giving you the ability to disconnect if you want, and putting practices in place that allow others to be disconnected from you. So a really good example, and I won't use names, but somebody, you know, who who has a fairly high up position in our district gave their feedback and said, it was, it was really annoying said because I sent out an email the first week and I got like 400 replies saying I'm out of the office. And it was silent. And everyone. Yeah, exactly. So it's, it's, I think it will build slowly. I think we're seeing gratitude for it. And it's by by no means perfect and like I said we're in first draft stage right now. So looking at the first draft we've, we've had feedback from people saying well you've set these hours does that mean that I have to be available now during those hours even though my shift ends two hours prior to that and no no, it's not what we're saying. We're just saying these are really good guidelines that between these times it's great to send emails outside of these times. Be with your family be with your friends be with yourself, and disconnect from work there, you know, give yourself that that time. I wouldn't say it's just even an awesome opportunity to recognize your relationship with emails. You know, even if you don't put that email up right away and you're uncomfortable with it. No, no, I would know that about myself and say well that's very interesting that I can't go a day without checking my emails with a. We added other things in there as well about just guidelines in how we use email so you know when to use the CC expecting who to reply how do you how do you denote who's supposed to reply. And we've really focused this first draft on on in district so between colleagues are next step this is what we would see sort of down the line is working out to that broader system of our parent community. And so we've we've just started that a little bit with one of our guidelines being, you know what's reasonable to expect for reply, because nothing feels worse than getting that email back from someone saying I see you haven't replied, and they CC your supervisor. It's a horrible feeling to go gosh I haven't haven't replied and now my boss knows I haven't replied, and it sends up the anxiety as well so what is reasonable and how many hours is it okay to sit and wait. The other one was the we and we heard this from so many different people was the the 4pm on Friday email that kind of vague and says I really like a conversation with you next week. And then the person sits with that all weekend, you know Saturday Sunday thinking, is this bad news, am I in trouble, have I done something wrong is there conflict. And so, even though they may not be reading or doing anything about that email that we can, it's sitting with them and it's causing unwellness, so we get very specific. Apparently the term for those sniper emails so we're, we put that in there, no sniper emails and no vague emails about. That text, that text. Can we talk. No. Why. Thank you for that. You've. I was just saying it's a lot of work to put into that really appreciate you sharing that. And I think we have a lot of time in our chat as well. So we have just about four minutes left or something like that and I wonder if we could just think about maybe even one lesson learned because of course everybody who's joining us is listening and thinking. I'd love to do that or so so Irene maybe with you what is a lesson learned about that that you'd like to pass on to others. One thing that's really helped me is connecting with our local nations, because they have resources available through First Nations Health Authority, First People's Cultural Council that you may not have available at the district. But they really want to partner and sometimes if you don't make those connections you don't know that. And when I first started this position I thought I had to do it all on my own. But there's actually a whole bunch of partners we have who actually want to help, and they have the same goal and the same intent. So that's been a bit great for me. That's great advice. Thank you, Claire. One piece of advice or one lesson learned. One lesson learned that just got to keep trying that the first idea I mean the grand idea that we all had when we all sat down together with school district 42 last May with all with our principal with the team and we had this great idea and we laid it all out and we're like, we are awesome, we know how to do this. Yeah, no. And so it didn't work anything like that. And so just be willing to just keep changing and keep changing and just create those those the new things that come up just create new challenges and new adventures and because it was a good idea and it is a good idea and we're seeing results just. Yeah, don't don't give up. It takes time. Yeah, yeah, I hear that from all of you actually Vanessa. Yeah, that would probably be mine is the don't be, don't be scared to take time to do it well and to slow down and get that feedback at each at each and every step. I was, I was chomping at the bit last June to get this out and let's just get it out so it looks like we've done something, and we can report on something and there's this need to, to have something tangible very quickly. And when you rush it, you, you often run that risk of getting it wrong. And so the slower you can do it and the more feedback you can ask for the hopefully the closer to the target you're going to get. So thank you all. I can see by that people really appreciate you sharing they can identify with a lot of what you're saying. Mostly just want to say thank you and over the weekend you won't get me because I'm going to try to reply on Mother's Day. I hope you stay with us for the rest of the day. Thank you so much. Okay, bye bye. Thank you. There we go. So, I can see that you saw those really fascinating area colleagues doing the work that many of you are doing as well and wouldn't it be great if you could hear from all of you about what you're doing. Now in our next session, we're going to introduce you to some new reflected tools we've talked about big ideas here and here are some tools that will help guide educators in building and strengthening relationships and well being and mental health for all these tools are the results of the work that's being the work that was recently done by the group that minister wise I talked about yesterday that is the the Ministry of Education and childcare's mental health working group with representatives from BC teachers Federation and the independent and sorry, BC teachers Federation and the Federation of Independent Schools Association so that's a month where you can hear. But here to tell us more about what all that means and and the work of the working group and the new resources please welcome Suki Davis, and surely drew. Thank you. Hi, I can take me off Heather there we go. All right. There I need to see him see it yet. So good morning on our colleagues I am. I'm really happy to present. This opportunity that Shirley and I had to participate in this two fold project. So I just will give a little blurb in introduce our experience and then leave it to Shirley to really explain these two tools which we've created in the project so our first step was to share our experience with the Ministry of Education, how we had experienced supporting mental health and well being in schools during the COVID pandemic. And these listening sessions that led into this collaborative work where the representatives from BC TF and FISA reviewed and developed these teaching and curriculum resources to support mental health and well being through all the learning. So you're seeing here, these emojis of the 11 participants and our gentle leader, leader Katie Winship. And so collectively, we have about 150 years of experience in BC classrooms, and you might consider all of us to be mental health parents, we were really excited actually to lend our skills and energy to create an education system that supports learning and well being. And we work together in a beautiful create co creative manner to build upon those key principles and strategies for K to 12 mental health promotion schools, and to clarify how those four key principles of cultural responsiveness and humility, proportionate responses and supports trauma informed practices and strength based practice support mental health and well being in BC schools. And as we work to build upon these four key principles and connect them to the first people's principles of learning to professional standards to curriculum, assessment and reporting, and to amass a huge volume of resources. We reflected on the idea that to develop a pervasive culture of caring and belonging, everyone has to be included. And so the document was written in the plural first person, we, we did that really consciously. And then the iteration of our conversations, we kept coming back to something that resonated for all of us and that was how staff and student well being are entwined. So how do we develop a culture of collective care. We asked ourselves, and we created this tool for reflective process which surely will share. Thank you so key. I'm just going to get us back to there because I accidentally hit my forward button. Well I'm doing that. I want to acknowledge that I am presenting today from my home on the traditional unceded territories of the simp and clately to me peoples here at the headwaters of the Fraser River in the Rocky Mountains, it's a pretty beautiful spot. And I am privileged and honored every day to be able to call this place home. So, so key, I'm just going to get this done but I, I felt in the in our time constraints to I really want to acknowledge my gratitude to work and live here. On the same territory, and raise my hands to the cinema people for their care of this land. Thank you. So as you mentioned, we were so excited and privileged to be a part of this working group on behalf of mental health in RBC schools both independent and public. So as part of the work that we did, one of our groups, as you mentioned, really focused on that document that the 11 key principles document that came out when we were looking at our startup coming back from COVID. I happened to get to be a part of that group, and it became obvious fairly quickly that when we're considering those first four key principles the cultural responsiveness and humility, proportionate responses and supports trauma informed practice and strengths based approaches. We recognized quite quickly that these really share a fundamental, like a common foundation, like a similar foundational capacity, which is really how do we own what is ours. So our perspectives are biases the ways that we're showing up. How do we hold create and hold these spaces that really prioritize the flexibility that each of us needs, both to allow for multiple interpretations of behaviors of other people in the spaces where we are, and to allow for the possibility. I'm saying, and I'm using the word possibility very generously, the possibility that we might not have as an individual all the information that we need to make an informed decision that is really going to build and sustain those generative social fields that we really hope to, to have in our classrooms in our schools in our districts in in each of our different spaces where we're coming together. So, with that in mind. We decided, I like to make pictures. So I volunteered like I think I could probably, you know, maybe turn this into a picture and then let's, you know, work on that simultaneously. So in our group it kind of became this two track process of going through the document, and then also developing this infographic infographic, and that's in addition to the work of the other piece of our larger group, who were working on the scope and sequence documents. So this image and the next image I should mention are still in draft so these are draft ministry resources so I'm so I think I'm supposed to ask you not to screenshot it, which I probably should have before I shared it so sorry about that. I'm new to this, and very excited. So, you know a bit scattered. The way that this particular picture came about is thinking about. As I mentioned, how do we build these spaces, how do we hold space that that's going to honor that diversity, the strengths, the struggle, whether it's seen or known or not in ways that really invite participation and celebration of these shared spaces how can we see each other and and celebrate each other. How do we move from control to connection which is something we heard again and again yesterday, and how do we celebrate each other, not in spite of our differences, but because of them. So, from this, the first place where my mind went as it often does is, how do we help support these gaps these gaps as Victor Franco would say between stimulus and response, where we have that space to make a make a choice so instead of just reacting. We're able to respond. I once upon a time did some training in a structure called the neural relational framework, which is a beautiful framework I'm happy to talk at length about it but not here today, but in that document or in that framework. A big core principle is getting to green. So it's a dyadic method for caregivers and children but it is also definitely applicable to adults anywhere that we really are trying to help co regulate each other. And that that's why this is called a map for getting to green so how do we get to that space where we're able to co regulate each other. So, looking at this center here. As we heard yesterday, as we heard this morning with the work from that Lisa shared and is going to share again later today, when we're able to first see what's going on for us as an individual in that space. It's also going to be key to then having that choice in responding, rather than reacting. So whether you're a secondary science teacher between blocks, and you only have that five to 10 minutes, or whether you are about to go into a meeting with your staff as a school principal, you are about to have a bargaining meeting, which is particularly salient to some of us at this moment. If we're first able to take that moment to check in with ourselves, make sure that we are aware of how we're showing up. That is then going to give us a lot more flexibility in how we're able to take in information, and in what kind of information we might be sharing through body language through our presentation of, you know, facial expressions and just kind of that general energy that we're bringing into a space. So that's sort of why we started with the center here. Also connected to this neural relational framework, we can see we have some hands at the bottom, we have a heart. And part of that neural relational framework is this idea of head heart hands, which, like the starting with yourself, which is one of the three pillars of Compassion Systems Leadership is also connected to Compassion Systems Leadership, which I'll get to here shortly. So we want to make sure that we are thinking about what we're doing. So the head, we want to make sure we have care for ourselves and each other in what we're doing. And we want to have action. It's all well and good to think about it and care about it. But if you're not going to do anything about it, it's not ever going to help us make things the way that we might envision them. And then finally, there is also that reflective aspect in this neural relational framework with that model specifically it's talking about making the space for individuals and families with agencies and then with larger systems. So again, very much connected also to Compassion Systems Leadership. Some of you might recognize this inner ring here. And this inner ring where it says, am I modeling this is taken from internal family systems. And the intention of this particular group of words is meant kind of for twofold practice one is for personal reflection. So if we can think about, what am I bringing into this space, am I able to, you know, am I able to model calm am I able to model connection with my students or my colleagues because notice this is not teacher student language. This really is a tool that we, as Suki mentioned, developed deliberately to be useful across contexts and with various groups of people, people, because if we're not able to be supported as adults in the space it's really difficult to then provide that support to children and students. So this ring here can be used either in a reflective capacity to think about how am I showing up what do I want to bring, or it can be used in a planning for planning tools. And when we are using it in a planning capacity. So this is one of us with, you know, these principles of UDL. It's not an exhaustive list I feel that that's important to share. So this is from internal family systems they call the eight C's, but it's not meant to be the only qualities that we that we're bringing that we're bringing. These are meant to be some of the qualities that we are able to bring and to share when we are in green. So when we're able to be in that regulated space. It can also help us reframe what others are bringing. So where we might have a student or a colleague where you maybe are looking a little bit at them and thinking like oh you know why are they so motivated and maybe they're modeling correct courageousness and often when we are able to reframe we're also able to then have a bit more compassion for what other people might be trying to bring in the space. And then finally this outer circle here with the questions again, those are to help help us reflect when we're planning on some kind of any kind of shared space where we really want to again build and sustain these generative social fields, where everyone is going to feel comfortable showing up with their whole selves in ways that they are able to be seen, and where they are able to recognize that they are valued, whether it's students whether it's staff, whether it's colleagues, whether it's partners. And then these double headed arrows also very important. We want to keep in mind that all of this work is always done within these larger pictures these systemic factors the context the cultures within which each of us from which each of us come and within which each of us live, exist, and share our aspirations. I have a ton of connections from yesterday that I don't think I'm going to have time to get to because I also want to talk about our second slide, but in general, this is partly to recognize or to start maybe sign posting one of the ways that we can start working towards what Jean Clinton called that pervasive culture of caring, which we could also think of as that model of collective care. Going to our second. I'll just talk and introduce the second slide is here again. One group had a lot of success creating that scope and sequence that describes how mental health can be brought into PhD and other subjects. We really wrestled with social emotional learning, and we realized social emotional learning infuses all areas of the curriculum. So we created this where social emotional learning is not an add on, or something on a curricular plate at all. It's the plate itself. So please explain. We have about 10 seconds. In those 10 seconds, I would like to point out that this is a very fun metaphor. There is a lot you can do with this metaphor. And with both of these images that we're sharing we've actually also developed second pages so they're meant to be double sided or top and bottom 11 by 17 poster that really provide more of the context, more reflective questions, how to use these documents, and very important, also highlight the fact that this is none of this is meant to be used to further prioritize any particular individual within a system. It's meant to help really build those factors support those factors of first people's principles of learning where we recognize that learning is very relational it's meant to support well being. It's meant to be reflective, and it's meant to include an awareness of what we are bringing to the table. So I'm very happy if you want to put things in the chat to connect later again we can't share these yet officially, but very happy to have been here and thank you for having us. Thank you so much. You're back. I meet yourself. Hi, I rebooted during the, your presentation because I understand there's some audio problems for me and I apologize for that I think it's because they're mowing the lawn outside, not very highly tech. I wanted to say, thank you so much to Suki and Shirley and to say that there was one question that was about the timeline, when people are going to be able to get that info graphic and and these resources so perhaps you could answer that in the chat, because people are really wondering about that, but surely and Suki thank you. And, hey, why don't somebody give me a thumbs up is my audio better now am I still annoyingly. Oh yes, it was the lawnmowers. It's not that it's being moan mode, but not today. I wish I could have done something with that. All right, changing, changing pace right now. So every year, Orange shirt day, as you know, September 30th opens the door to global conversations about the effects of residential schools and legacy and the legacy that they left behind. Orange shirt day honors the experience of indigenous peoples celebrates resilience and affirms a commitment to every child matters. Phyllis Webster is the creator of orange shirt day and we're so fortunate that she is here now to tell us her story in her own words, please submit any questions you have in in the chat. And when I join Phyllis later we'll address your questions as much as we can. So please welcome now Phyllis Webster. Thank you for that intro. I will bring up my PowerPoint. I present with pictures pictures worth 1000 words. Okay, so participants can see. So way to wait up Phyllis Webster rinse quest. What I said is hello to everyone watching my name is Phyllis Webster and from the Kennew Creek Dark Creek First Nation. I am coming to you today from show what will the land of the people in Williams Lake BC. We moved our office on to the Williams Lake first, first nation band lens at the end of March. I have a half an hour today with 15 minutes of this question and answers afterward. And so I will talk very quickly and move very quickly to try to give as much information as I can. Starting with, sorry, something on the floor, starting with my books, the orange shirt story, all of my books have curriculum with them for every age group. So this picture is website is medicine wheel dot education medicine wheel dot education you can look and see what's available there. The picture in the middle is me when I was six years old at the mission. Otherwise known as the same Joseph mission Indian residential school where three generations of my family attended, and it's just down the road from where I am right now actually. And on the right is my book that came out telling just six generations of my family story beyond the orange shirt story, and I'll read a bit about it. This is a picture of my traditional territory the Fraser River flows into the Pacific Ocean in Vancouver I spent summers here as a child with my grandmother. My mother was too traumatized to take care of me. So I grew up with my grandmother until I was 10. And when my aunt took me. So spending summers here. We fish at nighttime. And in the morning we get up and cut up the fish. This is called Lillawit style it's not our traditional show up style the traditional show up as you open the fish out and you put sticks in it. This is the statelunk style they are a few twists and turns down the river. This is my son Jeremy he's fishing in the back Eddie. This is during the day we go down and claim our spot for the evening this is one of two styles of fishing. One is you stand on the banks with a dip net, and you fish we are a dip net fishery we do not use gill nets by choice and the other is to set and fish in the back Eddie, and you tie up your net to the rock you can kind of see that the rope there. And this is granny's house that I was born in I was born on July 13 1967 so to save you the math I'm turning 55 this year. This is a department of Indian affairs matchbox house, no insulation, other than a bit on the top, it was just bored walls in the winter time. The frost would come halfway up the walls it was so cold, and our blankets would get stuck to the walls. We didn't have electricity or running water. We to keep food we had a seller dug into the hillside. That's where we kept the food that we gathered from the land berries salmon. Granny had three gardens in the area we did not have the money or the means to get like we do today to Walmart or to save on and, and we had to rely on what we could gather from the land and the way granny made money is she had hand hides made me dear they were easier and would make make buckskin gloves and vests and coats and beat them and sell them at the local general store to tourists and that's most likely how she got the money to buy me that was easier to go to school on my first day. The shoe shop word for dog Creek is custom custom meaning deep valley, you can see on one side is hillside and we're standing on the hillside and in the care which I'll coat an area here. The ranchers usually ranch reserve and, and ranch, which is the case here so we were stuck in the middle of two prime areas of land that the ranchers got and that's usual in in our area. That's, I could talk more about what it was like as a child before I went to residential school but I have a lot more material to get through and stories to tell. Perhaps maybe I could come back and talk to you in person at some point and give more of my story. Just a little bit about how orange shirt day started the first orange shirt day was September 30 of 2013. It came about when the TRC came to Williams Lake. We were preparing for that in May of 2013 and I wasn't working I didn't have a boss of me. So I was able to attend the planning meetings and I ended up telling my orange shirt story. For the first time, and from there was orange shirt day was created originally it was for the care which I'll coat an area in Williams Lake to have the conversation at least once a year about the history of St. Joseph residential school about the mission. It was in response to Murray Sinclair's call challenge to Canadians to keep the conversation happening after the TRC wrapped up and as we all know that ended the final report was in 2015. This book was created in 2020 tells the story of orange shirt day. I didn't just get out of bed one day and decide that orange shirt day would be September 30. There's a long line of people a long line of events that took place, and it happens to be my story. So it was September, because that's the time of the year that the children were taken from their homes and their families. We chose the 30th because we wanted teachers time to settle in to teach the students the history, and we wanted time to settle in and even we chose every child matters. When we were talking about we need a catchphrase or a theme. It was to do with how I shared that I felt during that one year at the mission that I did not matter. We could cry ourselves to sleep we were hungry we were there were no adults to make anything better and five and six year old should not be comforting each other. And so that that's what was happening. And I was a newly six year old and my cousin Barb she was five years old she turned six in, I believe October but we were, we were young children. And the, it went viral things to this woman Shannon the story is in our book but at the September TRC event in Vancouver, her and some survivors handed out little four by six cards like this and I had forgotten about my conversation with Shannon. I didn't ask her what her plan was when she asked me if she could help me make this go viral. And I was having a hard time to because I had never really connected the residential school history with my healing on my healing journey and anyway, I was in Vancouver mid September before the first orange shirt day and somebody handed me a four by six card. And I read it and I was looking at it like what that sounds like me. What is going on here. And it took a couple of hours I still get the shivers. When I talk about that it took a couple of hours to realize I bet you it was Shannon. When I left, she had created a Facebook page, and they were handing out, they had 5000 of these cards handing them out at the Vancouver event. And from the very beginning and I'm still getting shivers is that the whole orange shirt day movement everything to do with it has been divinely guided. And the ancestors shivers again, and the children are behind this whole movement there's no other explanation as to how it would get to the point that it is today. And as we know last year was the first national day for truth and reconciliation. September 30 and it will continue to be that one day there will be no survivors left in Canada, but Canada will have September 30. The, in the front cover when you open the orange shirt daybook is the map from the truth and reconciliation commission of all of the residential schools in Canada. And when you turn the page there's talks about all the denominations, the one that I attended was Catholic cat was run from 1891 to 1981. So in Williams Lake survivors are 40. My son was born in 81 so he just turned 41 so 47 years old and older survivors children in Williams Lake are still in the elementary and high schools here. On the left hand side is my cousin Barb that I mentioned earlier, and the second picture that exists of me when I attended the mission, the building is no longer there. It was torn down in the, the early 1990s we figure about 1993. There were five nations that attended the mission. There's the show or the shoe shop that's all protein or that's all coated the decal carrier, the statel from Pemberton whistler just outside of Vancouver, Lillewood area they were brought in by rail car. What we don't see on the side is a railway so they were brought in by rail, and also the new home came here. People from Bella Cula and Bella Bella area on the left hand side is was the boy side on the right hand side was the girl side. My aunt attended my aunts and uncles there was actually a fence that divided them they could not talk to the girls couldn't talk to the boys, even their brothers to visit, they had to pretend to be walking the fence to even have a visit with their own siblings and, but when I was there you can see there's a play swing set we were able to play on the grounds together, we still ate and slept separately however. And coming here from the reserve with no electricity and maybe a radio every now and again. It was very loud when I was here there were 272 students. And one of my memories is of eating eggs so you can imagine everybody with a bowl everybody with a spoon. You have eggs in your bowl and you're all chopping and talking at the same time. It was deafening. And I got to tell that story to my aunt and my grandmother my aunt was working on a book for to come loops residential school. That was the other residential school in Chihuahua territory in the south. And anyway my aunt was working on this book and we were talking and I told my egg story. And when I finished granny's response was, you had AIDS. And it just every time I say that it just breaks my heart. She was there for 10 years 1925 to 1935 and never had a single egg to eat. And my aunt was giving her testimony because they recently with the ground penetrating radar there's 93 graves and my I was with my aunt giving her testimony of what she knew. And she got me to tell that egg story and when I was finished she told the interviewers that she as well did not have an egg. And I forget the year she was there but mom was there from 54 to 64. Mom is older so it would be even more recent than that. In the back was a Catholic church. And for a place that was there for a long time. There's not enough, not a lot of pictures. The upper left is the only picture I can find of the church. The lower right isn't of the mission I found it online but that's what our beds would have looked like just rows and rows of beds with the pillars, the supporting beams in the middle. This is what the ground looks like right now the tree would have been on the girl side where we would have entered every day and when I was there. The tree were bust into Williams Lake into public school so everyone attended public school no one went here to the mission. This is a picture of granny the year that she left in 1936 so she went to 25 to 3536. And there was no graduating. It was either grade 10 or when you turned 16. The way granny would have gotten there was by horse and wagon and these are actual pictures I found online so the children would be brought in in granny's time on wagon or by horseback. And across country, it would take like a week basically to get from the reserve to where the mission site is and when granny attended like half of the day was cooking, sewing, that sort of thing granny was a very good knitter the boys would cut wood and of course they, their heat was all, all would heat in the low upper left is the way that it was when granny was there. And all of granny's 10 children attended, and my eldest and talks about in the book. She's in here that she moved to the new building in the lower right. And so that's the way it looked when I was there. This is my mother she attended from 1954 to 1964. And she was very impacted by her experience and the times. My mom was told by the Indian agent to leave the reserve when I was born she was 20 years old that the Indian agent would not, or the government wouldn't give her welfare. And she wasn't even expecting welfare like they lived off the land, but it was starting to become about money. And so mom left, and I have her permission to say she became an alcoholic and and it's hooked up is her 30th year of sobriety. She lives in can loops about three and half hours south of me here in Williams Lake. She'll be 75 this year and I'll show you an updated picture of her later, the way that my mom and my aunts and uncles got to the residential school was by cattle truck. This is of the southern show that the children in the cattle truck and my my eldest and talks about in the book about how as a six year or as a child in the back, there would be a none with them. So you can imagine, only speaking she went with Jean a shoe shop. Then this funny looking person is talking a different language and the none made them pray Catholic prayers the two hour drive into Williams Lake well maybe back then it was a little more than two hours but if there's if I ever do a movie that's going to be one of my one of the scenes in the movie. This is granny, the woman that bought me the orange shirt granny live to be 100. She passed in January of 2019 and we miss her dearly granny was Catholic her entire life. And as was her mother and beyond that I'm not sure if granny's grandmother would have been Catholic but I have the time to tell the story about granny. We grew up here in Williams Lake. I moved away to go to school to get education, and I worked in various like government and anyway I moved back in 2004. We have been in the BC treaty process now for 28 years. And in 2004 when I moved to the reserve we were right in the trucks or if that's even a word in the middle of talking about the chapters of the treaty like education roads and those kinds of things and we would have community dinners usually in the evening. So everybody could attend and we would talk about one of the chapters and granny was always asked to do the prayer because that's our protocol and I can remember just oh geez they're going to ask granny to say the prayer again like just kind of embarrassed about it because she would stand up make the sign of the cross bless us all Lord for these gifts and finish her prayer make the sign of the cross and set back down. And we were in the midst of questioning what does it mean to be show weapon. How would we have prayed in a traditional show away in the language, most likely, because that's the only language they knew. And so granny despite being fluent in show her gene in shoe shop did not know how to pray in the language, she would pray in the language but it was. There was a priest that learned the language and translated the Catholic prayers into show weapon. So she would say those in the language but not enough, like the way we learned to pray now to you know, grandmothers, the grandfather's creator. She didn't know how to pray in that way so fast forward a little bit granny ends up in Kamloops hospital she's 95. She's asking for a priest. It's like oh geez granny's going to die where she's asking for the priest and we're divided in our family. Some are still Catholic and someone to have to have nothing to do with it. Anyway the priest was called and I happened to be sitting beside granny when he came in and, and I whispered to her granny the priest is here. And right now he opened the curtains and right now granny sat up, despite having a broken hip got up on her arms, and she just belted out give me strength. And she just started trying to grab the priest's hands and just telling him how much pain she was in and just babbling away, and he's doing you know he's thinking the last rights and seeing that I realized that I had no right to be judging granny because I used to think, how can you be Catholic after everything that place is done. And just be really bitter about it and. Yeah, so seeing that I realized that was granny strength. In the north show up down by the Fraser River the smallpox of 1862 came through. Before that we had our own ways of being our own medical or own judicial or own. We were in great numbers. 92% got wiped out from the smallpox and the miners discovering gold on the Fraser, along with it a lot of our culture I don't even have an Indian name on the coast, a lot of the coastal have Indian name Indian names and I'm just so envious. We don't even know the protocol for that. And like with our language and so we are really, it's getting better like I'm speaking for myself culturally poor myself my son and my grandchildren, even less culture and language. So yeah so that's the story of when granny past. We, I know all the all the prayers so we were holding hands when when granny past and I helped my aunt say the Catholic prayers so great respect for granny. When she passed. I was a mom. I was pregnant when I was 12. I had a boy take interest in me. I didn't know what was happening, but it was good to have somebody in interested in me and actually like honey me because, because of the resident that's an intergenerational impact. Because granny had to give her children up. It's six years old. So at about five years old, she would start to push the child away. And I felt that and my aunts and I talked about that. Granny was good with babies and I had a picture of her holding my son in a basket that she made. And she was good with babies but at about five years old, you get pushed away no more lap. No more hugging no more singing you were because she was preparing her heart to lose her children. And as well as preparing us to be in an environment where we did not matter. That's just so heartbreaking. And so the my son's father is from my community he lives in Williams Lake and so I had my son on my 14th birthday my son was four months old. This is me on the left when I was 13 and I think on the right I was probably maybe 14 just turned 14. And there was never and I just found this out recently that because I always thought if my aunt found out I was pregnant, she would have made me get an abortion but recently she told me that that would have never even been a consideration. And she didn't find out until I was well past the three month mark and and but she took my son in as well. And so he grew up knowing me as his mother, I never did have any more children. And even though I wanted to and I had tried and it just never happened. So this is to finish I'll finish here in five, six minutes I have to tell you this is my family and was taken in 2020 in Kamloops, there's my son. And when I present to the children that some you're going to make stuff like into games or you know make it. So I tell them to look at my son's hairline and see if you can pick them out in the next picture, because there is with his hairline. So for the first time in four generations, my son and his wife are raising their children under the same roof, because of residential school in our history, granny, mom, me and my son didn't have that. My son was at the last operating residential school in Canada when it closed in Saskatchewan in 1996. And it's also in the beyond the orange shirt story. And my son never seen the inside of a high school. By the grace of God, he is on this side of this, the cell bars. He could have very well ended up in prison. He was a jail guard for many years here in Williams Lake and when he was about 17, because he quit school in grade six. I had just started my healing journey in 1994. I knew something was wrong, I didn't know what it was called and I didn't know what to do about it. I was a mess. I was just determined to raise my son because I was not raised by my mother. And so I stuck with him no matter what he was he went to alternate schools like the Friendship Center and because of one teacher there that made a difference in his life and told him and I'll get back to the other story here but I'm at before lunchtime and you have lunch and I need from you to full hours of school. And this is the courses you need to get your adult dog would. And that's something that he could do. He was 1819 at the time. So he got his adult dog would what a change that would make and so he would oh yes by the bars. He went downtown one night when he was 17 with some of his friends and they ended up killing a man. All of them got arrested and my son and his friend chose to stay back and play video games. I can see people coming on now so I think I have just a couple minutes but I didn't read my own shirt story I realized and but it's on page 12 in the book about how granny bought me the the shirt and when I got to the mission what it was like and what it felt like and the last thing I want to say or is the woman on the right here with the long hair is my aunt her name is Agnes her story is in here as well. She's the one that raised me from age 10. This is my mother. She lives in Kamloops my five grandchildren, my son's wife she stays home and watches the children and behind me here is my biological father. I found him in 2018 through Ancestry DNA, and there's stories in here as well. And I just recently, about three weeks ago, got my biological father added to my birth certificate. Because I'm like I like history and I thought 100 years from now, somebody might be wondering who was Phyllis's father. So I got it added to my birth certificate it was quite the process but I. Yeah, so I hope that I, that was a lot to talk about and I could have expanded more but I have a half an hour. And my presentations are usually an hour. And I hope to meet some of you in person someday and books Gem thank you all for what you do in education and hoping my story might help you with your students. I have this grandson here he's 17, and he's in grade 11 and really struggling needs. We're hoping to meet with his school counselor but he is intergenerationally affected, and his mother is a resident, his, her, her father went to residential school. He has a big shell so she's really affected and the second grandson he turns 13 next week has real trouble with reading but it's the family it's the family unit has come together after four generations and it's not going to be perfect. They are living in a city. And it just breaks my heart but that's another story. The house they're living in is selling and in countless houses half a million dollars now. So anyway, yeah, it's, there's just a lot that like my son there, he's trying he's working and he's, you know, trying to navigate being a parent and the education system and, you know, his wife with what she goes through being a survivor like a intergenerational and my son and you know it's it's it's a lot. And if there's anything I can stress is that it's. Yeah, it's apocalyptic. That's a word somebody told me recently that what indigenous people are experiencing right now is apocalyptic so you add the coven and you add that. And we have our people are dropping here in Williams Lake from drugs. And we deal with that as well. So anyway, quick sham thank you for listening and I will answer questions now. So quick sham thank you. I'm just looking for this. First of all, I don't want you to feel rushed at all. So I will we always have questions but I want you to. I want to make sure that you know that there's space here to talk about whatever you still have to talk about there's no rush at all. I just wanted to let you know that there are lots of comments coming in now and they're all saying thank you and acknowledging your courage and your resilience. And I know you when I asked you when we first met. Are you resilient. What did you say. Yeah. I don't want to be. I'm not on other platforms and social media but I'm on Facebook and I see I like the same as it. But one of them was. I don't want to be resilient and taking hits all the time and always having to be better than or trying to prove myself or, you know, always getting back up like I want some ease I want life to be a little bit. I have, I hope another 20 some years of life left like I want some ease I want some, you know, some slack. And it's tiring being resilient and it's it's not a good way to be and and for me it's. I don't know what I don't. We are well we are resilient with everything we've gone through but darn it like. It's it shouldn't it doesn't have to be that way and that's what reconciliation is about is about the two worlds because we all live in two worlds as indigenous people. The non indigenous world and the non indigenous world and we live in the non the non indigenous don't always know what our world is like so. Yeah, so that was my, my response to, to that. So when, when thank you for that. It made me think a lot. I, I, after you said that you didn't just accept the, the title of resilience you had some qualifiers around that. I haven't experienced any of that peace, or any of that space. Since, since you've started telling your story and because there's two things that happen when I hear your story one is so much gratitude that you're telling your story but another is my wondering about what is it like for you to tell your story. Yeah, I started doing orange shirt stuff. I'm in April of 2019 so just a little over three years ago. And we opened an office at the same time. We people think that we are government funded and that we have offices in every province and you know we have this big organization but last year it was me. I think me, my cousin that was working with me she moved and was wanting to do something else so it was just me in the office and I reluctantly accepted the title of executive director, because we, we were relying on what I could make doing presentations and sales and donations and we still do. But with 215. It's open people's minds and hearts and we're at a staff now of six full time and one part time. And, but with that, what I learned is forming and storming is a part of the forming storming norming and performing. So we've been in the forming storming. And just because we didn't have, you know, all of the policies we didn't have the procedures we didn't, you know, we've got to work out, figure out how to work with each other with people, you know, some in the office and some remotely and with everything that we're trying to do and it's hard and then I recently started traveling again and it's not like to get anywhere from Williams Lake it takes two days, we got to go to Vancouver, and then fly out of Vancouver. And so it's like, if I go anywhere for speaking, it's two trap like for travel days for maybe one speaking event so that was the one thing about being able to work from our own homes, you didn't have to go anywhere. Yeah, one one of the things I'm thinking about is that that we're 235 educators people working in the area of mental health in schools who are who are here today. And what why, why do you do this, what are you hoping that they and I will take away from your story. Yeah, it just kind of happened. And I'm doing my best to step up to what's happening and but why I do it is my grandchildren I always bring it back to my own story. And I want their lives to be easier, more at ease more different than what I've had to deal with with, because I'm half indigenous so like I haven't dealt with the racism that way, like my cousins that are full and dark or have to deal with. And but when I went to go fly for a loan, I was asked. Or it was assumed that I was on welfare. And I wanted to purchase the local travel agency, even though I had a business plan that I had worked on and I'm educated in that area, none of that was asked about and I didn't. I didn't know what was happening. It was a person that was my age. And then the people that owned the travel agency were going to support me even put the building up is collateral and they were going to train me and so they talked to them. The bank person and so she called me back in and then the next question she asked or she asked me was, um, do you people file tax returns to you people. You know, with my grandchildren learning and their peers, Orange shirt days and schools all across Canada corporates people are learning about the history of residential schools and and the impacts it's having and learning truths of survivors. They will have a different perspective than that bank manager that was the same age as I was. And I felt that oh my goodness I went to Royal Bank recently, and the woman she was like a younger, like long blonde hair and you know beautiful tall and skinny and and she gave me like a human being. It was so nice. She was chatting she said she, you know, had taken some courses in school and, and you know was just conversation, whereas, like a lot of times you go in there and you know you just looked at and asked questions like you're not a person right it really felt good to be that is a person in her eyes and what a difference. I was going to ask you how that felt to feel like a person. It's, it's some of that ease that I'm talking about. Like, life was just a little bit easier. I don't know where that's coming from. The word ease is a powerful word, actually, when you said that I had some feelings as well what brings you ease what you know you're not asking for a lot in this world you're asking for some ease and so interesting that story about that bank teller because that's not a huge act that's not changing the world that was this human being being human. Talking to a bank and sharing with them my experience because business and it is my like accounting and that is my education and like I've worked my entire life and to be yeah and then to struggle and like I've only been on welfare three months of my life and you know to be treated that way. Like I'm trying I'm trying to you know trying to make a difference for me and my family and to be just knocked down and pummeled on. But to go in with this blonde manager for for a loan to do some stuff and to be treated like that that was amazing. I just want to share with you one of the messages that came in, Phyllis you are a light maker. Your story and mission have transformed our national landscape, you are valued and appreciated much love to you. So, I hear you, your priority is that you think about your grandchildren, I get that I'm a grandma I'm a know that too. I wonder how often you get to really let it sink in Phyllis that you are a light maker for so many people young and old that shines on September 30, but other times to does that. How does that land for you. I'm going to write that down. I've never heard that before. You are a light maker. Yeah, it's some. I just get up every day. Do what I can for today. Sometimes I don't think I can continue. It's like, I don't think I can do this. But here I am. Coming in. I'm still brushing my teeth when Whitney called and said I was supposed to be on for a tech check it's like. I have a toothbrush in my mouth and try to get out of the house to get to the office and, but you clean up real good. I got a text Phyllis check in and it's like okay and I get to the office and something's happening I got to talk to my son. Okay I'm here so but it's, it's not, you know nice and smooth all the time it's, and I still my breakfast is, you know, it's half eaten. There's a human, you know, I'm human just like everybody else and I have no training in this, our president was saying like how do you do it and just take it each day as it comes I guess. You speak with many thousands of people and, and you tell your story and we hear today that this isn't simple and an easy thing to do. And it makes us even more appreciative that you've taken the time to do this with us today with your breakfast happy, like your teeth have fresh and how much impact you have not just today but but every day. Yeah, I usually have earrings that I wear but I couldn't find it in my office because I've been traveling and I've been just, I've been helping my cousin granny's oldest she's been in a homeless shelter with her four children for about three months so I've been helping her the last couple of nights. I brought my car in to get the tires changed and I forgot the tires at home, you know, like stuff like that, right. No earrings, no earrings necessary. Phyllis are you going to make a movie I heard you say you're going to make a movie. Probably at some point. I haven't been approached but. Yeah, probably. It'll happen. Yeah. So if you're an elementary producer I can see why you'd want to do that. Phyllis now you can go finish your breakfast. And I hope that you get a chance to come on to the main platform where we are because I'd love it if you could just read through and really absorb the gratitude that's there for you. You'll be able to hear your story people are saying so thank you so much and please do hang around and if you want to send us a picture of you with your earrings on that would be great too.