57 Ways To improve Mental Wellness

Today AYO Politix hosted a mental wellness brain storm and discussed mental wellness supports, what works and what we need to create. Storycatchers from Saskatchewan helped AYO with this list of 57 Ways To improve Mental Wellness!

 

1. Rest
2. Reading
3. Have a bath
4. play/practice sports
5. hang out in inter-generational spaces
6. ceremony / connection to spirit
7. learn about your family’s history
8. go to a sweat lodge ceremony
9. attend / organize a sharing circle
10. Pray
11. Meditate
12. Journaling
13. sharing with a safe person
14. “stop thinking just think”
15. medicine wheel road map (see image)
16. be kind to yourself
17. ask for help
18. go to a safe environment
19. get fresh air
20. reduce your screen time
21. be honest with yourself
22. be willing to be vulnerable
23. Exercise
24. visit family or friends
25. “shake off those A.N.T.s” (Automatic Negative Thoughts)
26. Help someone / be useful
27. compliment someone
28. compliment yourself
29. identify the people you want in your life & keep your eyes open for them
30. write letters to yourself and your helpers
31. listen to music you love
32. Dance
33. Honour your story
34. write down kind things about people on paper and give it to them
35. tell someone you’re thinking of them
36. learn from/spend time with CHILDREN
37. tell children you love them
38. tell children why they motivate you to do good work or live a good life
39. pet therapy
40. go out to the bush
41. scream therapy (with proper supports)
42. go spend time with water
43. hold medicines (like sage, tobacco, grandfather rocks, etc)
44. Sing
45. Drum
46. “forest bathing” / hug a tree
47. spend time around a fire or a sacred fire
48. learn something
49. watch/google the videos for “rat park”
50. learn or research about a topic you’re interested in
51. go to your favourite restaurant
52. learn your language
53. have hot chocolate
54. get a massage
55. get a pedicure
56. get organized
57. laugh

 

AYO to Release “SPEED ROUNDS” with Winnipeg North Candidates August 20th

AYO and our team have been busy connecting with people vying for the title of “Member of Parliament for Winnipeg North”. Last weekend, we met with LIBERAL Kevin Lamoureaux (7:09) and we met with GREEN John Redekopp and this (5:37) weekend. We are meeting with NDP Candidate Levy Abad, this Saturday August 15th 2015 at our usual Brain Storm. We have not yet confirmed a date or Brain Storm with CONSERVATIVE Harpreet Turka, if you see him, please let him know we are trying to connect!

Stay Tuned for some exciting announcements. We are hoping to begin a grassroots education campaign. We are hoping to engage with other Ridings as well. We are hoping to have an All Candidates Forum, including our infamous GET REAL segment of YES/NO Questions.

Our SPEED ROUNDS will be discovered on the PolitixBS Soundcloud Account:

Brain Storms Continue Every Saturday at Neechi Commons

The Brain Storms continue…

The AYO Politix Brain Storms that we held weekly in 2014 will return in 2015! Join us every Saturday at 12 noon at Neechi Commons – 865 Main Street to participate in casual discussions, sharing of ideas and respectful debate. We will also be routinely discussing the Politix Strategy for the upcoming provincial and Federal elections – as well as continuing our work on engaging with the municipal system more.

• Inter-Civics Cafes – these events happen twice weekly at GRACE CAFE at 510 Main Street (City Hall). Join young Winnipeggers as they discuss how we can build political literacy about the many inter-dependant components of our municipal government. Check out the Facebook page here.
• Trustee Tuesday – In 2015, we will work with several motivated community leaders to build a greater understanding in students and inner city people about the Winnipeg School Division. We will be organizing outings to WSD public meetings, exploring the concept of an Anishinabe/Cree Immersion school, Aboriginal Education for teachers and more! Our first Trustee Tuesday is on Tuesday January 13, 2015 at the Indigenous Family Centre – 470 Selkirk Ave at 6:00pm.

Anyone interested in getting involved in any of these initiatives, is encourages to send us an email at info [at] ayomovement [dot] com – or simply show up at one of the public events listed on our Facebook page!

Ross Eadie Brain Storm Notes – August 9, 2014

 

On Saturday August 9, 2014 our Politix crew sat down with Mynarski Incumbent City Councillor Ross Eadie to kick off our MYNARSKI BRAIN STORM sessions. Ross and his constituency assistant AJ chatted with us and shared some campaign promises as well as some proud moments from the past 4 years as City Councillor.

Our conversations began casually and revolved around some of the current issues, namely transparency, community safety and political literacy. We were also excited to meet with Ross again – as in 2010 we met with Ross as our Politix initiative was just beginning.

Campaign Song: Vote for Mr Rhythm by Ella Fitzgerald

Politix Role Model: Judy Wasylycia-Leis

Do you believe Council should begin with a clean slate after the election?

No. Ross believes that new leadership is needed, but not a totally clean slate. There have been many examples of current councillors who have done great work in the last four years. He pointed to the many collaborations he has had with residents in the ward. Ross was fundamental in moving the Selkirk Avenue Banners Project in 2011/2012 to become a reality utilizing dollars from his Councillor Representation Allowance to make that project a success. Leadership means leading by example, and Ross believes he has set a good example the last 4 years on council.

Labour Council Endorsement

MC has had an ongoing concern about Labour Council endorsement and asked Ross to elaborate. Essentially, it was explained that the labour council is made up of membership from unions. Ultimately it is the members of those unions who undertake a process (within their union) to determine and select candidates that reflect their values. Participation in that process is determined by your membership in one of those unions, if you aren’t a member, you likely won’t be priivy to that info/process. He also emphasized that candidates who want WLC endorsement must reach out to that organization as well. Ross did agree though, that since the WLC makes its decisions public, it could be a good thing to make the process equally as public too.

Safety

Ross has an acronym called the 3 Ps that he uses to explain his position on keeping our community safe

• Prevention – means we must address root causes like addictions, also means we support community centres to get youth involved in proacitve and positive activities
• Policing – Winnipeg Police Board is going to be involved in changing WPS for the better, more police on foot can build face to face relationships with residents
• Punishment –  restorative justice when possible works best, must collaborate with different levels of courts

DID YOU KNOW? 56% of the City’s Annual Budget is dedicated to Emergency Medical Services (Police, Paramedic, FIre)

How will you engage youth in your campaign?

He will continue to meet with youth as they ask (as he was doing when answering this question lol). He also mentioned that he is taking time on the campaign to attend resident associations and other community meetings to engage with residents.

Participatory Budgeting – Do you support it?

Ross does support PB in principle, but wonders HOW we can make it work. For true engagement, Ross’ office would need more dollars and more assurance from residents that they would attend and bring forward their concerns around budget issues when they are or are not addressed. Perhaps what we need is a series of community meetings that educate the public about budgets and the budget process so we can look at this more in the future.

ROSS SPEED ROUND:

Check out the Ross Eadie Speed Round (part 1) below [Click here for Part 2]

Final thoughts

Ross is looking forward to working with a council that leads by example. He supported recent increases to office allowances in the wards because can use it at his discretion (ie. for community grant programs like the Selkirk Banners, or Bus tickets for North Point Douglas Womens Centre, etc). Ross wants the people of Winnipeg to know he loves his job and wants to be your councillor for the next four years!

AYO Politix Report Card Brain Storm Notes

On Saturday August 2nd, 2014 AYO Politix had a Brain Storm at Neechi Commons to do a recap of the Winnipeg Municipal election, make some plans for future Brain Storms and create a bit of a Mayoral Report Card to share with others so we could summarize our experiences with the candidates. We were joined atthis Brain Storm by 2 City Council candidates, Keith Bellamy (Daniel McIntyre) and Donovan Martin (Old Kildonan) who helped us prepare for our upcoming Councillor Brain Storms.

SUMMARY OF TOPICS DISCUSSED

• Lowering the Voting Age: We felt its appropriate for us to lower the voting age to 16 because at this time the largest expectation society seems comfortable placing on 16 year olds is driving a car. We feel if youth begin to vote, their issues will be heard, which will cause them to become engaged and aware of politics. We did also discuss the realness present in many 16 year olds being immature and the lack of political awareness. We take it as a challenge.
• Sustainability (Composting and Transit): We should be encouraging Winnipeg and citizens to compost, and manage our waste more responsibly. Imagine generating fuel/energy from our compost and waste. What if we used the compost energy to fuel our trransit fleet? What about solar energy for the city to harness? On the topic of transit – it was noted that BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) was being discussed in Winnipeg 45 years ago, and many don’t understand the difference between that option and LRT (Light Rail Transit). It was suggested we craft a non-partisan study to educate/engage the public and weigh the pros and cons of each option.
• Job Description of City Councillors: Donova Martin described the role of a councillor as a Life of Active Service, always engaging  with citizens and always available. Keith Bellamy described the main  role of councillors as governance, representing constituents, advocate for $$$ for your constituents, allow city departments to do their job and finally to liaison between neighbourhoods and jurisdictions.
• Relationship between Mayor and Councillors: Mayor has to be diplomatic and respectful of councillors. EPC also plays a role in maintaining power and ensuring projects can move forward. If it is difficult sometimes for councillors to have their constituents heard however escalating tactics may need to be used. Main thing for each othe individuals talking with us were to move forward in their role to be realistic and open minded.

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE SPEED ROUNDS FROM OUR MAYOR/MYNARSKI SPEED ROUNDS!

Mayor Report Card Criteria

• Uses Accessible Language
• Helps Improve Political Literacy
• Visible Youth Engagement
• Effective Social Media Use
• Ability to Answers Questions
• Story Telling Ability
• Engages the disengaged

[OFFICIAL REPORT CARD – COMING SOON]

Robert Falcon-Oulette Politix Brain Storm Notes – July 26th 2014

This Saturday July 26, 2014 AYO Politix had a Brain Storm with Mayoral Candidate Robert Falcon-Oulette at Neechi Commons. It was by far our largest crowd, with close to 50 individuals coming to listen. He opened with a prayer and included stories in most of his responses. He also took the ‘unusual’ step of inviting many of his facebook friends to the event we created on our facebook page. I say unusual, only because it didn’t seem as if the other candidates went to those lengths, or at least were not successful, in engaging people outside of our AYO group. We also attracted a local videographer Paul Graham who has put together some cool video of the event, and it was also interesting because there were not many youth there – mostly adults and seniors.

Campaign Song: coming soon

Favourite Mayor: coming soon

Campaign Colour: Purple – because of the grandmother teachings

What is your vision for change? Robert has been studying the city for 5 years, and truly believes that we need long term city planning based on facts and science is the way to go. Robert’s vision is not hierarchical and believes ideas should be coming from the bottom

Executive Policy Committee: Rob says ‘it depends’ on EPC – if the council that comes in in October is cooperative with Robert’s vision he won’t need an EPC. But if the climate is divided, then EPC may be necessary to move some policies forward.

Golf Courses: We currently have 18 City owned Golf Courses and Robert says he is “in favour of green space”. In terms of accessibility, Robert thinks that we should always look at our city through “the lens of a child” since they are 20% of our City’s population.

Kapyong Barracks: This is an opportunity to create brand new neighbourhoods. We have to overcome racism and perceptions that people have of one another. It is an opportunity for housing, development, tourism and economic development for Winnipeg and First Nations.

Overcoming Racism: Our biggest mission has to be to overcome the PERCEPTIONS and it is the role of government to provide TOOLS for people to learn. As mayor he would champion the following initiatives (with an obvious youth focus):

• More youth engaged in Council and Committees
• Mayor’s Youth Council
• Including children as young as  8 years old
• LOWERING THE VOTING AGE!

Green roofs/roof-top gardens: Create an incentive tax for businesses to convert their roofs into gardens and food. We could also reuse the CO2 that is generated from these gardens and green roofs. It also helps with coolness in the summer and heating/insulation in the winter. We also discussed possibilities of using hydroponics or other non-soil methods of growing food as well.

+++WATER – SEPERATE POST COMING SOON+++

Stoney Mountain & Child Family Services: While both of these are federal and provincial in jurisdiction, the mayor must build political literacy in citizens so they understand those things and help apply pressure. As mayor he would advocate for increased communication among levels of government to address systemic problems like indigenous people in jail, the influx of kids in the child welfare system and the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women. Because Robert is not politically affiliated he would be able to talk across all parties. professional development of the Winnipeg Police Service to change the culture in the police force.

Housing for Students and Seniors? If we increase taxes for parking lots, as some cities have, we can discourage individuals from holding on to property in downtown or needy areas by charging them the same tax as they would for a 4 story building. We would need to work with the province and federal government because as the city we do not have the resources to address the housing and homelessness issue alone.

Will you develop a City Wide Energy Plan? He would like to look to other cities and hear from citizens like us on what they would recommend. The process would be citizens create a proposal, the city does a consultation and then council will vote on it.

AYO POLITIX SPEED ROUND: We asked Robert the same series of Qs we have asked every candidate so far. He has clocked in with the longest time, over 8 minutes. Listen to all the candidates and let us know what you think!

– Now on VIDEO! (thanks to Paul Graham for coming out!!) –

“Ideas for Our City” – A Series by Ken Mason

These posted were written in 2013 as an advance education from the blog by Ken. We thought this would be a great time to revisit these 5 ideas, check them out and let us know what you think!

PART 1 – Ideas for Our City

With recent troubling news from Winnipeg City Hall surrounding items like the Fire Hall Audit, Boiled Water Advisories, Police Headquarters Cost Overruns and Brown Water Concerns it is time to consider making changes to Winnipeg’s civic political landscape.

PART 2 – Ideas for Our City: Increase # of Councillors/reduce # of wards

Everyone in Winnipeg is currently represented by 15 city councillors. That is one representative for every 44,241 people according to recent census data. That is an incredible amount of people with diverse needs and views. When coupled with a relatively low population density in Winnipeg, the geographic area covered by each councillor is quite large. How can a councillor be expected to effectively advocate for their ward?

PART 3 – Ideas for Our City: Political Parties at Municipal Level

Currently Winnipeg operates in a faux belief that councilors are, and should be, politically unaffiliated. This guise only seems to serve to muddle issues and confuse voters. If Winnipeg were to adopt an open, party affiliated, electoral process it would provide voters a decent idea of where the competing politicians stand on issues during election campaigns.

PART 4 – Ideas for Our City: Rethink Executive Policy Committee

Eliminating the Executive Policy Committee is something often discussed and its dissolution is promoted by many. It would be cost neutral and could have a great impact on civic politics in Winnipeg. The EPC is a select group of councilors chosen on the whim of the mayor. This group is supposed to be an impartial body that “formulates and presents recommendations to council respecting policies, plans, budgets, by-laws and other matters that affect the city as a whole.”

PART 5 – Ideas for Our City: A totally different Municipal Model

 What if Winnipeg tried something different? What if instead of electing councillors and a mayor at election time people were asked to vote for a commissioner responsible for a portfolio? A hybrid approach similar to Portland, Oregon where they elect commissioners who are responsible for managing specific job duties. Having positions with a direct correlation to services could attract innovative and highly qualified candidates to the field who could provide Winnipeg with vision and purpose.

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AYO Politix would like to thank Ken for his awesome contribution and encourages any other young Winnipeggers to send us a message if you would like your words shared on our blog. For upcoming events, stay tuned to twitter tag #PolitixBS and the AYO Politix Facebook Page.

PS – check out this awesome video that also can help us rethink the way we engage younger voters.

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/89107673″>Y Vote</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/ukya”>UK Young Ambassadors</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

Brian Bowman Politix Brain Storm Notes July 5th 2014

On Saturday July 5th 2014, the AYO Politix group held a BRAIN STORM with mayoral candidate Brian Bowman at the Come N’ Eat Restaraunt on the second floor of Neechi Commons.  We were met there initially by 2 kookums and Joelle, the person on Brian’s campaign in charge of youth engagement. We began introducing each other, Brian going last, discussing living in Winnipeg his whole life, mostly Charleswood and has been disappointed in the tone/output of city hall is why he is running. Wants to focus his campaign on engagement. We were also happy to have Mynarski City Council candidate Greg Littlejohn also attended.

Campaign/Favourite Song: “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” Judas Priest

Meeting with Youth: BB has been meeting with youth the entire campaign – in colleges, backyards and kitchen tables. He also plans to draw on his experiences with the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce’s High School BOLD initiative where high school students shared their ideas for the city in business and non-profit.

How can our next mayor address geographically specific issues without alienating other areas of the City? “Winnipeggers are looking for political principle” if we are open and honest with Winnipeggers they will understand we want all citizens in our city to be happy and healthy. Issues such as race, poverty and environment are not talked about enough.

Do you believe in the Housing First model? He championed the concept as chair of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce and believes the city must endorse the Winnipeg Poverty Reduction Council’s Plan to End Homelessness by 2024.

“Long Term Vision”, what does that mean? That means he will lead his days in office with the Office of Public Engagement, including the development of a youth strategy. Brian believes our city can be a “modern, inclusive, growing” city.

How will you improve Education: That is a provincial jurisdiction, but he can still show leadership and advocate for the education of citizens. Brian will visit every school if elected mayor to introduce the concept of service in higher office to students.

What is your desired relationship between Mayor/Council/School Trustees if elected? the mayor is a member of council, they should all be working collaboritaviely ith one another to further Winnipeggers. He wants to improve the relationship between school divisions and city council.

Winnipeg is a Winter City: The city’s primary winter focus is snow clearing. He believes we can plan around winter coming every year. Cpprdoinate tourism initatives and deliver improved services in parks and recreation. A good example of innovation is the RAW ALMOND restaraunt on the river – he would ease red tape for businesses like that that improve tourism He also mentioned homelessness needed to be addressed especially in winter times. 

Community Centres and the GCWCC: The GCWCC is lacking accountability. Each neighbourhoood must be healthy especially in provision of recreational opportunities. There will be an upcoming announcement related to improving community centres.

Bylaws against the homeless – there are some bylaws that fine and criminalize people for being homeless: He has experience with organizations like Kani Kanichihk and the CEO Sleepout and will repeal those bylaws. Brian wants to humanize homeless Winnipeggers and believes efforsts should be coordinated so individuals do not fall through the cracks. There is currently no mechanism that makes any one in theses systems accountable to that homeless individual. Brian WILL:

• support the WPRC’s new report on homelessness for the City
• Commit to helping end homelessness by 2024

Ending homelessness by 2024? He believes our city can end homelessness by 2024 and has been a participant along with MC for the last few years as part of the CEO Sleepout 

Transit – what is up? He wants a comprehensive transit plan (inclusive of Bikes, cars,busses) to determine the most logical next steps. He is a supporter of rapid transit. We asked if he was open to the idea of FREE FARE for all transit users and he said it ‘would be nice’ but we must look closer at what the would mean for the city.

Bicycled Police – will you implement more of them to improve safety? He would love to see more Police on Bicycles, he cycles regularly himself. He also believes that there may be situations where the use of the helicopter justify our use of it as a city.

Should Winnipeg become a “City of Reconciliation”? He s interested in the concept but needs to learn more.

SPEED ROUND: We shared with Brian 18 topics and asked him to respond honestly as a mayor. It took him 6:20 seconds, which is the shortest one so far (by 10 seconds).

Final 3 Qs from Markus

1. Will you revamp the winnipeg.ca website, its hard to navigate?
   Brian: YES!
2. Will you enhance city services by developing shared/measurable outcomes across departments?
   Brian: Yes, that’s why he led the campaign with a campaign promise related to public engagement.
3. What are your thoughts on OPEN CONTRACTING considering the challenges with transparency we are currently seeing? 
   Brian: He wants to examine and open up the process we are currently using for contracting in the city now. He also believes the procurement and request for proposals processesmust be redone – there is a campaign announcement lurking around the corner he will be releasing soon.

Mynarski City Council Candidates – July 12, 2014

The Winnipeg election has been going on for a couple of months, and now that the councillors have been able to declare for a couple of weeks, AYO Politix wants to begin to share with you details about City Council candidates. For starters we wanted to send a big Politix BS WELCOME to the candidates who have declared interest in representing the North End of Winnipeg AYO is most active in.

Candidates:

• Dave Capar
• Ross Eadie
• Greg Littlejohn
• Trevor Mueller

Riding boundaries: The riding actually goes all the way up to Riverbend on Main, the River on the East, the CPR tracks in the south & the McPhillips/the tracks in the West. Check out the image below we got from the winnipeg.ca website:

 

Stay posted to our WPG14 page on this blog for more info and one on one meetings COMING SOON!