Families Organized for Recognition and Care Equality
The F.O.R.C.E. Society for Kids' Mental Health is a provincial organization that provides families with an opportunity to speak with other families who understand and may be able to offer support or advice on what has worked for them. The F.O.R.C.E. also provides families and professionals with information, tools, and tips on how to support and assist children with mental health difficulties.
The FORCE mandate is to support and empower families and work collaboratively with professionals and systems in understanding and meeting the mental health needs of families.
FORCE offers "in the know" sessions twice a month, in Victoria. please refer to the link below, for more information:http://www.forcesociety.org/sites/default/files/Force%20%27in%20the%20know%27-Victoria.pdf
Your Victoria contact is Lisa Hansen, at islandforce@shaw.ca
Surviving the Teenage Brain
The Nature of Things special on the Teenage Brain
Click here to watch
Throw away all of your preconceived ideas about the behaviour and nature of teenagers. New research suggests that without our turbulent teen years the human race would be, as Dr. David Bainbridge puts it in Surviving:) The Teenage Brain, "short lived and stupid.”
In the past, when we put the words selfish, reckless, irrational, irritable and impossible together we could only be describing one thing: the teenager - that odd creature that invades our homes for what seems like an eternity and tests the limits of our reasoning skills and patience.
But what if teenagers are doing exactly as nature intended? Surviving:) The Teenage Brain looks at this critical developmental stage from a scientific and evolutionary point of view. The film combines cutting edge scientific research with YouTube clips of outrageous teen behaviour and a graphic novel approach to challenge conventional thinking about the adolescent years. It illustrates that our teens are doing precisely what they should be doing to finesse the development of their brains and ensure the survival of the human species.
This intriguing documentary features the knowledge and research of international scientists and experts like National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) neurologist Dr. Jay Giedd, who is one of the world's foremost experts on adolescent brain development; Cambridge evolutionary biologist Dr. David Bainbridge, author of Teenagers: A Natural History; adolescent mental health expert Dr. Stan Kutcher; biological anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher and innovation and technology expert Don Tapscott (author of Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing the World).
Together, these experts present surprising new research that explains the peculiarities and immense power and potential of the teen brain. This new perspective could change the way we school, parent and motivate these transitional Homo sapiens. It might even make them easier to live with : - )
Boys & Girls Club Services of Greater Victoria
runs a full continuum of programs that respond to the specific needs of youth and their families in Greater Victoria. Parents find support, and answers to their questions, and learn that they are not alone in raising their teen.
http://www.bgcvic.org/youth-family-and-parenting-programs/