Profile - Partners for Rural Family Support

Partners for Rural Family Support is a support and referral organization for those in distress. Either by drop in, telephone or appointment, Partners for Rural Family Support offers supportive listening to those individuals/families experiencing crisis or simply do not know how to handle a situation.

Mission and Goals :

Our mission at Partners is to build healthy communities where individuals and families are safe from violence and abuse. Our goals at Partners is to formulate a coordinated community response focusing on prevention of family violence ; to educate the community to the dynamics and social costs of family violence and to offer safe and appropriate educational and informational awareness to rural communities.

Beyond referral and resources, Partners for Rural Family Support offers educational programs and workshops. Our in house programming include :

·Parents and Tots
·Self Esteem and Self Assertiveness'

·Parenting : From Frazzled to Fun

·Anger Management : Calm Down, Cool Off

·When a Relationship Ends

In addition to our in house programming, we also deliver a host of informational and awareness programs to the schools in our communities.

·Salvaging Sisterhood

·From Bully to Buddy

·Love is Not Abuse

·Healthy Relationships

Staff at Partners for Rural Family Support connect individuals and families with appropriate services in the area to assist them in their daily lives. We believe that we can build stronger communities one person at a time.

For more information:

Box 2741 Humboldt, SK S0K 2A0 Tel: 306-682-4135 1-866-682-4135 Fax: 306-682-4154

E-mail: partners1@sasktel.net

Rural Early Year's Coalition (REYC)

...an Action and Advisory Committee to the Saskatoon RIC

REYC is a working group of partners striving to improve the lives of families and children in the rural Saskatoon Health Region.

Principles:
~to understand the assets and opportunities for children aged 0-6 years and their families who live in rural Saskatoon Health Region.
to honour the context of children’s lives; understanding the influence of families and communities in their health and wellbeing.
~to work holistically.
~to recognize that the committee’s focus may change over time, based on an ongoing analysis of rural communities’ assets and opportunities.

Purpose:
Using an Asset-Based approach, the Rural Early Years Coalition will:

• collect and share information with various partners about assets and opportunities for children 0-6 years and their families who live in rural Saskatoon Health Region;
• Establish ad hoc committee(s) on rural targeted issues as identified.
• work collaboratively and support partners in the creation and implementation of service delivery programs for the target group;
• advise RIC and KidsFirst on rural issues;
• act as an advisory committee to the Saskatoon Regional Intersectoral Committee for rural issues for children for children 0-6 years;
  
  What we do:
• Accountable to the RIC and KidsFirst Saskatoon;
• support the strategic objectives of the RIC, but in a rural context
• facilitate establishment of Advisory Committee meetings on a semi-annual basis;
• facilitate the development of functional partnerships with REYC;
• identify methods to collect information (i.e. asset mapping);
• cause the creation, recruitment for, and implementation of ad hoc committees as required;
• present information to RIC and provide updates on initiatives and emerging policy issues affecting children aged 0-6 years and their families who live in rural Saskatoon Health Region;
• link REYC with urban coalitions (i.e. C4C Early Years Coalition)
• provide advise to other groups and organizations (i.e. Parent Mentoring Program);
• ensure that experiences inform research and research informs best practices;
• actively seek funding for projects and support funding applications, as necessary
• create and submit a yearly work plan and monitoring report that would examine the work of the Rural Early Years Coalition in accomplishing the strategic objectives in a rural context.
• creating annual or semi-annual communication or policy papers for RIC on issues that affect children ages 0-6 years and their families who live in rural Saskatchewan
• communicate to the participants of Advisory Committee;
• respective representatives are responsible to communicate with their organizations;
  individuals are accountable to identify their organizational mandates, and look for common interests that will foster collaborative projects that build assets and opportunities for children aged 0-6 years and their families who live in rural Saskatchewan Health Region.

Everyone has the power to help young people succeed

The secret to helping children and youth grow into happy, healthy, and responsible adults isn’t really a secret at all. Simply make a point to connect with young people: Get to know them, talk to them, understand them, help them, and build relationships with them. As a caring, trusted adult, you’ll be better able to provide the building blocks young people need to succeed and reach their goals. Adult role models, guides, and friends are very important to young people. With your help, young people can begin to understand themselves and the world around them. We all know growing up isn’t always easy. That’s why young people need adults like you in their lives.

Here are the facts:

Research from Search Institute identifies 40 Developmental Assets that have a powerful, positive impact on young people. Children and teenagers who have high levels of these assets get involved in fewer risky behaviors and are much more likely to exhibit the positive values, such as leadership, good health, diversity, and success in school. The bad news is most young people don’t have enough assets. About 59 percent of young people, ages 11–18, have 20 or fewer Developmental Assets, according to Search Institute surveys. The good news is we can change this because we all have the power to build assets in young people’s lives.


Understanding Developmental Assets:

The eight asset categories Search Institute has found crucial in helping young people grow up healthy include:

Support: Young people need to be surrounded by people who love, care for, appreciate, and accept them.

Empowerment: Young people need to feel valued and valuable. This happens when youth feel safe and respected.

Boundaries and Expectations: Young people need clear rules, consistent consequences for breaking rules, and encouragement to do their best.

Constructive Use of Time: Young people need opportunities—outside of school—to learn and develop new skills and interests with other youth and adults.

Commitment to Learning: Young people need a sense of the lasting importance of learning and a belief in their own abilities.

Positive Values: Young people need to develop strong guiding values to help them make healthy life choices.

Social Competencies: Young people need the skills to interact effectively with others, to make difficult decisions, and to cope with new situations.

Positive Identity: Young people need to believe in their own self-worth and to feel they have control over the things that happen to them.

Each of these categories involves several specific assets that help young people grow up healthy.


Tips for building assets:

In your home and family: Post a list of the 40 Developmental Assets on your refrigerator door. Each day, do at least one thing to build assets for each family member.

In your neighborhood and community: Learn the names of the young people who live around you. Find out what interests them, and ask them about those interests.

In your school or youth program: Plan asset-building activities as part of the curriculum or program. For example, engage young people in service-learning projects, social skills training, or reading for pleasure.

Want to know more about the 40 Developmental Assets and ideas for helping young people build them? Visit www.search-institute.org/assets.
-------------------------
Developmental Assets® are positive factors within young people, families, communities, schools, and other settings that research has found to be important in promoting the healthy development of young people. From Instant Assets: 52 Short and Simple E-Mails for Sharing the Asset Message. Copyright © 2007 by Search Institute®, 877-240-7251; www.search-institute.org. This message may be reproduced for educational, noncommercial uses only (with this copyright line). All rights reserved.

What does it take??

What does it take to build a community where all kids succeed?

….little things that EVERYONE can do! Simple Acts Make a BIG Difference.


YOU can make a difference. If you can Smile, say “Hi” or Wave, you can start building Assets for life!


…would you like to learn more????

The Rural Early Year’s Coalition would like to come and talk to your group about Developmental Assets.

~what are Developmental Assets?
o They are concrete, common sense, positive experiences and qualities essential to raising successful young people.
o have the power during critical years to influence choices young people make and help them become caring, responsible adults

Please contact Sydney Bell – 655-5383 sydney.bell@saskatoonhealthregion.ca

Powerful Parenting: The Asset-Building Way

It’s easy to get scared as a parent.
Watching the news, we see crime, drinking and driving, teen pregnancy, gang warfare, suicide. We wonder what’s going to happen to our children. In our fear, we may end up scaring our kids so that they live in fear as well. Or, we may look the other way, thinking that these things would never affect our families. Whatever the approach, most parents feel uncertain at times. We would like to know the secrets of healthy parenting in a world that often seems very unhealthy.
The idea of “developmental assets,” introduced by Search Institute in Minneapolis, gives a new sense of hope and practical direction for parents. Researchers at Search Institute have identified 40 assets that have a powerful, positive impact on young people.
Children and teenagers who have a lot of assets get involved in very few risky behaviours—the kinds of problems we worry about. And when young people have a lot of assets, they are much more likely to do the positive things we value.

Assets do make a difference. By incorporating them into your parenting, you can help your child grow up happy, healthy, and responsible. Future entries in this blog will explain further and give practical information on each asset.

Contact Sydney Bell for a presentation about Developmental Assets in your Community.
For more information, visit the Search Institute Site.