Training and Workshops
Mindful Mondays
The first session is an introduction to mindfulness and what it is. We will start by providing definitions, dispelling myths about mindfulness, and discussing the basic mechanisms by which mindfulness may operate. We will also begin with a simple breathing focused meditation.
Session #2 - Open Awareness Meditation
The second session will be discussing attachments and what control means in the context of mindfulness and meditation while shifting the attention beyond the breath to openness to experience.
Session #3: Mind-Body Connection
The third session will be discussing the mind-body connection and practice a couple of different exercises to get a better understanding of what information our body is trying to send to us, both internally and externally.
Session #4: Movement Meditation
The fourth session explores the Mind-Body connection even further and adds in movement to the body with a walking meditation.
Session #5: Notions of "The Self"
The fifth session discusses notions of the “self” or ego and how beliefs, identities, and physical sensation have shaped this concept. We explore this more deeply through contemplation and meditation.
Session #6: Metta Meditation
The sixth and last session moves beyond the self to the other and discuss relationships with family, friend and foe, how we can better manage them and extend equanimity to all.
ASIST
Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is an evidence-based suicide intervention training program. ASIST teaches participants to recognize when someone may have thoughts of suicide and work with them to create a plan that will support their immediate safety. This program is designed to provide educational and first-hand training that will empower people to provide skilled, life-saving interventions. Throughout the training, you will learn how to prevent suicide by recognizing signs, providing a skilled intervention, and developing a safety plan to keep someone alive. Although ASIST is widely used by healthcare providers, participants don’t need any formal training to attend the workshop—anyone 18 or older can learn and use the ASIST model.
ASIST is a two-day face-to-face workshop featuring powerful audiovisuals, discussions, and simulations.
SafeTALK
SafeTALK teaches participants to recognize and engage persons who might be having thoughts of suicide and to connect them with community resources trained in suicide intervention. SafeTALK stresses safety while challenging taboos that inhibit open talk about suicide. The ‘safe’ of safeTALK stands for ‘suicide alertness for everyone’. The ‘TALK’ letters stand for the practice actions that one does to help those with thoughts of suicide: Tell, Ask, Listen, and KeepSafe.
Goals and Objectives
SafeTalk participants will learn to:
- Notice and respond to situations where suicide thoughts might be present,
- Recognize that invitations for help are often overlooked,
- Move beyond the common tendency to miss, dismiss, and avoid suicide,
- Apply the TALK steps: Tell, Ask, Listen, and KeepSafe; and,
- Know community resources and how to connect someone with thoughts of suicide to them for further help.
H.O.P.E. Learning Centre
The H.O.P.E Learning Centre provides free wellness development seminars to aid in your mental health journey. A Recovery College is a place of self-discovery where people come together to gain knowledge, learn new skills, and explore new roles for themselves in a supportive environment. Here a “student” is not a passive recipient of information or advice; they are actively engaged, valued and empowered within a culture of mutual respect. A Recovery College is a learning environment where people with lived experience are equal partners in developing and delivering learning opportunities that open the door to new aspirations and personal growth.
Recovery Colleges offer a new way to support recovery and can be transforming for both the individual and organizations. Within the Recovery College model, there is a focus on bringing together the expertise of both professionals and people with lived experience in a process of co-production, co-delivery and co-learning.
The virtual course catalogue (including lunch bites and free course offerings can be found here.