Parent/Guardian Advisory Workshop for School Mental Wellness Resources

Consultation has concluded


Update: August 20, 2024 -- Thank you to everyone who expressed interest and registered for our ongoing engagement. We appreciate your enthusiasm and are pleased to announce that the participants have been selected.


Update: July 26, 2024 -- Thank you to all who have registered. We are reviewing registrations and will let all registrants know the next steps for this engagement.


Update: July 17, 2024 -- We've revised the wording in the engagement opportunity posting to clarify that the advisory workshop is focused on gathering feedback about 'mental wellness' resources rather than 'mental health' resources.


What are we doing?

Vancouver Coastal Health is holding a workshop with parents and guardians in an effort to improve school mental wellness resources for our community.

Together, we'll create easy-to-understand resources for families about mental wellness. This includes topics that may help promote a child's positive mental wellness, such as resources about how emotions work, healthy habits (like good sleep), and using digital screens wisely. We want these resources to be easy to read and understand and consider cultural nuances. We are looking for a focus group of about 10 parents/guardians to help us do this.

For this project, we are focusing on mental wellness resources. Mental wellness and mental health resources both help with our emotional well-being, but they focus on different things. "Mental wellness" resources are about improving our daily emotional state and setting us up with the tools we need to achieve optimal health, balance, and resilience to handle life's challenges. These might include activities like getting a good night's sleep, meditation, having a healthy relationship with food and body, exercise, crafting and socializing, to name a few. "Mental health" resources are more often geared to helping people who are dealing with specific mental health concerns. These might include activities like receiving therapy or participating in support groups. Both are important for keeping our minds healthy, but they help in different ways. Other areas of work within VCH aim to provide supports to children and families who are dealing with mental illness, but this group will focus on mental wellness promotion.


How can you get involved?

  • You can provide your feedback on what kind of mental wellness resources would be helpful.
  • You can help us decide what mental wellness topics are most important to talk about.


Who should apply?

We are asking for parents/guardians who have children enrolled in school (Kindergarten to Grade 12) in Richmond, Vancouver, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Bowen Island, the Sunshine Coast, Powell River, Bella Coola, Squamish, Pemberton, or Whistler

We want to hear from all kinds of families, especially those who are newer to Canada or are English language learners. Your voice is important!


What is the attendance format?

Our workshop will take place online between July and October 2024. Please note that we may hold additional workshops, up to three, lasting 1-2 hours between that time. The workshop(s) will be held virtually.


Is there an honorarium?

An honorarium of $25/hour will be provided for the meetings you attend.


What is the deadline?

The closing date for this opportunity is July 26, 2024.


What are the next steps in my registration?

A team member will review your registration details. Due to high expected interest, not all registrants will be selected for the workshop. Diversity, equity and representation will be considered during the selection process. Selected registrants will receive follow-up information about the workshop, including details for the initial session. However, all registrants will be notified of their registration status, selected or not.


We would like to acknowledge that our places of work and the Vancouver Coastal Health facilities are located within the traditional territories of the Heiltsuk, Kitasoo-Xai’xais, Lil’wat, Musqueam, N’Quatqua, Nuxalk, Samahquam, shíshálh, Skatin, Squamish, Tla’amin, Tsleil-Waututh, Wuikinuxv, and Xa’xtsa.



Update: August 20, 2024 -- Thank you to everyone who expressed interest and registered for our ongoing engagement. We appreciate your enthusiasm and are pleased to announce that the participants have been selected.


Update: July 26, 2024 -- Thank you to all who have registered. We are reviewing registrations and will let all registrants know the next steps for this engagement.


Update: July 17, 2024 -- We've revised the wording in the engagement opportunity posting to clarify that the advisory workshop is focused on gathering feedback about 'mental wellness' resources rather than 'mental health' resources.


What are we doing?

Vancouver Coastal Health is holding a workshop with parents and guardians in an effort to improve school mental wellness resources for our community.

Together, we'll create easy-to-understand resources for families about mental wellness. This includes topics that may help promote a child's positive mental wellness, such as resources about how emotions work, healthy habits (like good sleep), and using digital screens wisely. We want these resources to be easy to read and understand and consider cultural nuances. We are looking for a focus group of about 10 parents/guardians to help us do this.

For this project, we are focusing on mental wellness resources. Mental wellness and mental health resources both help with our emotional well-being, but they focus on different things. "Mental wellness" resources are about improving our daily emotional state and setting us up with the tools we need to achieve optimal health, balance, and resilience to handle life's challenges. These might include activities like getting a good night's sleep, meditation, having a healthy relationship with food and body, exercise, crafting and socializing, to name a few. "Mental health" resources are more often geared to helping people who are dealing with specific mental health concerns. These might include activities like receiving therapy or participating in support groups. Both are important for keeping our minds healthy, but they help in different ways. Other areas of work within VCH aim to provide supports to children and families who are dealing with mental illness, but this group will focus on mental wellness promotion.


How can you get involved?

  • You can provide your feedback on what kind of mental wellness resources would be helpful.
  • You can help us decide what mental wellness topics are most important to talk about.


Who should apply?

We are asking for parents/guardians who have children enrolled in school (Kindergarten to Grade 12) in Richmond, Vancouver, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Bowen Island, the Sunshine Coast, Powell River, Bella Coola, Squamish, Pemberton, or Whistler

We want to hear from all kinds of families, especially those who are newer to Canada or are English language learners. Your voice is important!


What is the attendance format?

Our workshop will take place online between July and October 2024. Please note that we may hold additional workshops, up to three, lasting 1-2 hours between that time. The workshop(s) will be held virtually.


Is there an honorarium?

An honorarium of $25/hour will be provided for the meetings you attend.


What is the deadline?

The closing date for this opportunity is July 26, 2024.


What are the next steps in my registration?

A team member will review your registration details. Due to high expected interest, not all registrants will be selected for the workshop. Diversity, equity and representation will be considered during the selection process. Selected registrants will receive follow-up information about the workshop, including details for the initial session. However, all registrants will be notified of their registration status, selected or not.


We would like to acknowledge that our places of work and the Vancouver Coastal Health facilities are located within the traditional territories of the Heiltsuk, Kitasoo-Xai’xais, Lil’wat, Musqueam, N’Quatqua, Nuxalk, Samahquam, shíshálh, Skatin, Squamish, Tla’amin, Tsleil-Waututh, Wuikinuxv, and Xa’xtsa.


  • CE Evaluation Survey - Engagement Participants

    The Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) Community Engagement (CE) team is committed to supporting the delivery of safe, quality health care programs and services. As an organization, we are also committed to continuous improvement, and invite you to share your experience with us from the recent VCH engagement you participated in.


    We have a few questions for you. The answers that you provide are anonymous and aggregated with other participants to give deeper insight into the engagement process. They will be shared with the project team so we can all continuously learn and improve. 


    You can speak to a CE team member at any time by connecting with the VCH team member you've already been speaking with or by emailing ce@vch.ca.


    To protect your privacy, we have put the following measures in place:

    •  As per our privacy policy, only VCH Community Engagement staff have access to the data.
    • CE team members have signed a confidentiality agreement. Visit the VCH Information Privacy & Confidentiality to learn more.  
    • The project data is password protected and under strict guidelines for access and use.


    The survey should take 5 mins to complete. Thank you for your time – we sincerely appreciate your input.


    We acknowledge that our places of work and the Vancouver Coastal Health sites lie on the traditional homelands of the First Nation Communities of the Heiltsuk, Kitasoo-Xai’xais, Líl̓wat, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), N’Quatqua, Nuxalk, Samahquam, shíshálh (Sechelt), Skatin, Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Tla’amin, Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), Wuikinuxv, and Xa’xtsa.


    Consultation has concluded