Healthy Minds – Healthy Communities
Community Coordinator Project
North Shore Micmac District Council Inc.
FASD Project
Presentation- January 2012
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Content of Presentation
1. Project Participants and design
2. Our communities
3. Background
4. Goals
5. Objectives
6. Unique Features of our Project
7. NSMDC level duties & activities
8. Community level activities
9. Lessons Learned
10.Project Evaluation
11.Next Steps
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Project Participants & Design
Metepenagiag
Pabineau
Indian Island
Fort Folly
Eel River
Eel Ground
Bouctouche
NSMDCFASD
Project
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Our Communities
Seven Mi’kmaw communities that vary in size and are spread throughout Northern New Brunswick.
Traditional values and culture are very important and many events are centered around traditional activities.
Many students attend schools off-reserve. The activities in our project gives us a chance to out-reach and share traditional values and culture to these children and youth.
Total population within seven communities: 2, 553 people.
This project has served 137 participants to date.4
Background
Project has currently evolved from a 3 year FASD Mentoring project within the seven participating communities.
Purpose of the project is to increase the understanding of developmental conditions, including FASD through training, education and advocacy.
Resource guides for communities have been developed and support was given to mothers-to-be, their partners and families.
To conclude the mentoring project, the decision was made to follow the guidelines for a Community Coordinator project, and continue some of the mentoring activities.
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Goals of Community Coordinator Project
Main Goals:1. PreventionReduce the number of babies affected by the harmful prenatal exposure to alcohol
2. InterventionProvide support and culturally appropriate, timely and adequate interventions for people affected by harmful prenatal exposure to alcohol.
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Prevention Objectives
Community Coordinators will:
Select and develop resources on issues related to FASD that reference the traditional teachings of the Medicine Wheel.
Share information with community members on FASD at community events in a sensitive manner.
Embed information on FASD in Youth Leadership events and information sessions.
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Intervention Objectives
The community coordinators will work with other community-based workers:
To help develop a comprehensive system of supports, programs and interventions for people with developmental conditions, including FASD, and their families and caregivers.
Will help to provide support for people with developmental conditions, including FASD, and their families and caregivers as they go through the referral process to access appropriate assessments, programs and interventions.
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Unique Features of the ProjectThe position of mentors/community coordinators is blended with other positions in the community.
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Partnerships have been developed at the NSMDC and community levels.
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1. Blended Positions
The position of community coordinators is blended with other positions in the community, such as Head Start and Health positions.
By working in and with other programs, community coordinators had recognition and trust in communities and are familiar with mothers-to-be and people with disabilities and disorders, including FASD.
Community coordinators are able to offer their support in a nonintrusive manner. This contributes greatly to the success of the project.
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2. Shared Positions
Each community has two community coordinators.
This has lead to increased collaboration among agencies/organizations.
The wide range of competencies and experience of the community coordinators enriches the project as a whole.
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3. Proposal Driven Component
There is an equal amount of funding set aside for each community for activities.
Community coordinators submit proposals for funding for community activities to the project supervisor.
A sample proposal form is available at the NSMDC Inc. FASD Community Coordinators Table.
This component respects the diversity of our seven communities as one size does not fit all!
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4. Project Partnerships
The NSMDC FASD Project partnered with: Glenelg Youth Alliance New Brunswick
Community College, Miramichi
Partnered Activities: Development of the NSMDC
FASD Manual: Behind The Belly.
Three-Day Youth event in Metepenagiag. March 2011
Conference: Developing the Child’s Spirit, April 2011.
The community coordinators partnered with agencies / organizations in their communities on issues related to FASD.
Some community coordinators made presentations in schools.
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Highlights of District Level Activities
Development of pamphlet customized for communities
Development of Behind the Belly Information Guide for communities
Collection and sharing of resources from across Canada for community resource centers
Conference: Developing the Child’s Spirit
Guest Speakers – Glenda Carson, Pre-Natal Nurse, IWK & Isabel den Heyer, Consultant
Meeting with District 16 School Board15
Highlights of Community Activities
Participated in the district-wide Youth Event held in Metepenagiag in March, 2011
Took part in leadership events, such as those promoting Shannen’s Dream
Held youth events in their communities and developed relationships with parents
Began to collaborate with other agencies / organizations in their communities
Shared information on FASD in communities
All Communities:
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Highlights: Examples of communal events
Fort Folly
•Traditional sweats and Talking circles were held were information on FASD was shared
Buctouche•Presentation to youth using the FASD knot and eggs in alcohol demonstration•Made dream catchers, and participants had to earn their feathers
Indian Island
•Pizza party and camp fire where issues related to alcohol consumption and FASD were discussed.
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Highlights: Examples of communal events
Metepenagiag
• Scavenger Hunt: All around the Rez, with messages containing information on FASD hidden with directions to hiding place and the making of a canoe
Eel Ground
• Produced Mary Moses DVD a few years ago and it was shown in all communities. ( A must see!)
Pabineau
• Logo Contest used as a focus to present information of FASD
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Highlights: Examples of communal events
Eel River Bar
•Used the Brigance Inventory with a young child and her parents. •Then collaborated with others to have the child referred for Speech-Language services in a timely manner.
Great Idea!
•Indian Island developed permission from for parents which informed them that activities would involve discussions about FASD.
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Lessons Learned
1. “Working with partners helped me to adapt and respect other’s views.”
2. “I had to be assertive when it came to sharing the workload – We now write things down and discuss how we share.”
3. “It takes time to build relationships with parents – don’t worry if things go slowly at first.”
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Lessons Learned…
4. “When presenting to groups, understand that there may be people in the audience who may have symptoms of FASD, but have not been aware of it before. It may be a good idea to have a debriefing room available and somebody ready who can provide counseling.”
5. “Be organized and well prepared.”
6. “Be sensitive to the composition of talking circles. Some people may be afraid to talk if a person with power, such as police officer or social worker, is in the circle.”
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Project Evaluation:How well are we doing?
As part of evaluation, we developed a questionnaire be given in years 1 & 2 of the project.
The results showed the areas where we had success and areas where we needed to do more work.
The results of the questionnaires given in years 1 & 2 can be seen at out table.
We are doing pretty good!
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Next Steps.
Continue what we are doing as we are starting to have success. The first year was really getting organized and building trust in communities. We built up hopes, we can’t let people down.
Do more work on healthy child development as a positive approach to preventing FASD.
Focus more on teen pregnancy with more family involvement.
Expand the FASD resource libraries and get kits to distribute to parents that support what we are doing.
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Next Steps. Cont…
Continue to build community involvement in collaboration with other agencies / organizations and build community resource libraries
Look at the project activities as life-span activities.
We need more professional development on the effects of alcohol and drugs on everyone – then people will understand more about the harmful effects of alcohol on unborn babies
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We have much more information to share!
Please look at our project’s display
tables for more information on our
activities!
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