the robert wood johnson foundation has joined forces with ashoka’s changemakers to launch “rethinking mental health: improving community wellbeing”, a competition for new ideas and practices that challenge the status quo in terms of how we think about and address mental health care needs. the foundation invites you to join this important conversation and put… Continue reading rethinking mental health
Category: news and events
suicide prevention
today is the last day of suicide prevention week. to honour those who have attempted suicide and survived, those who have lost loved ones, and the lives of people who have chosen this sad way out, i’ve collected a few worthwhile links on the topic. if we put them all together, here are some ways… Continue reading suicide prevention
taking responsibility: constance barnes and the braidwood enquiry
i was going to offer you another poem of sarah’s in this post but there’s something i need to say before we move on to that. the braidwood enquiry into robert dziekanski’s death, the polish immigrant who was tasered at the vancouver airport in the fall of 2007. and constance barnes. right from the very… Continue reading taking responsibility: constance barnes and the braidwood enquiry
supporting iran’s protesters on a wordless wednesday
image by giorgio montersino
reconciliation. music.
from nancy’s blog yesterday: today was a day of reconciliation, initiated by the assembly of first nations. here are some facts every canadian should know (i didn’t until recently): approximately 250,000 kids were forced by law to go to residential schools in canada, starting in 1850 these were kids age 6 – 15 the intent… Continue reading reconciliation. music.
the cinderella project
on friday i went to a highschool graduation ceremony – my first one! not having grown up in north america, and my older children having decided to skip grade 12, i had never been to one. my first impression were the beautiful clothes everyone was wearing. where did all these gowns come from? well, some… Continue reading the cinderella project
tiananmen square – standing up
the twentieth anniversary of tiananmen square. i sit at the mall in richmond centre as i write this. richmond, we sometimes say, isn’t vancouver – it’s part of china. if you want to get a job here, it really helps if you speak mandarin or cantonese. so there are a lot of chinese people here… Continue reading tiananmen square – standing up
homophobia, the 4 noble truths, and the 8-fold path
today, on the international day against homophobia and transpobia, i’d like to gather a few thoughts on homophobia in view of the four noble truths, the core ideas of buddhism. there is suffering – giving birth, aging, illness, etc. in the pali text, there are two things that specifically apply here, i believe: “union with… Continue reading homophobia, the 4 noble truths, and the 8-fold path
ride for mental health – join the party!
if you live in vancouver, or anywhere in canada for that, please join 60-year-old xerox executive mel thompson in his 100-day ride for mental health. more here at our MentalHealthCamp. image by bernat
is tweeting about omid reza misayafi a negative thing?
the other day, an interesting discussion took place on twitter. i tweeted a link to the death in prison of omid reza misayafi, the iranian blogger who had been sentenced to three years in prison for blogging in ways that the iranian government found threatening. one of my fellow tweeters found that this was a… Continue reading is tweeting about omid reza misayafi a negative thing?