Wood's Homes Blog

I love to learn.

I’m often curious about what it means to be successful, and I enjoy researching and reading about many philosophical figures, doctrines, and religions that explore the way human beings think and find meaning in their lives.

At 23, I started to fully embrace the importance of my mental health, and working at Wood’s Homes two years later complimented this embrace.

With most children returning to school this week, parents are being tasked with yet another challenge in this ‘new normal’ world – how to prepare their children for mask wearing at school.

Read the full blog post for some quick tips and things to keep in mind when helping your child navigate some of the challenges they will face.

I took on the role of Communications Co-ordinator for Wood’s Homes about five years ago. That’s a fair length of time, but one that pales in comparison to many of my colleagues, some of whom have been here 10, 15, 20 and even 30 years dedicating their professional lives to improving the lives of thousands of struggling youth and families. In the long run, I’m fully aware that five years really isn’t a long time, but early in one’s career, I think it’s one of those numbers you hit and then reflect on a bit. 

Working with young people who struggle with their mental health can be challenging. And to fully commit to the work, counsellors, clinicians and all those with vital roles in mental health treatment need to be able to turn their skillset inward, focusing on themselves when it's time to re-engage with life outside of Work. I call this loving detachment. 

When I completed my undergraduate degree, I was excited to see what the world had to offer and passionate about my love for psychology. I knew that getting right into a master’s program would be a difficult task to do while working full-time, but I was determined to push myself and not waste any time. I began my journey in a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology program and was lucky enough to be hired as a Family Support Counsellor with Wood’s Homes Family Support Network.

It’s been 12 weeks since I stepped inside my makeshift home office. I’m keeping a calendar and marking it with X’s, and maybe you have been too. I’ve limited my social media exposure because honestly, it was hard enough to manage the reality of what is going on in the world without having to also manage conspiracy theories and the vitriol of what I can only describe as (in)human selfishness taken to the extreme. For some reason, I kept thinking of Dicken’s famous opening, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”  And indeed, if we look closely for the good in this, I think we might find some (granted, we might have to look really hard).

Wood’s Homes Lethbridge Emergency Youth Shelter (now known as THE CORE) first opened its doors in 2003, as a place to support young people who needed a safe place to stay and support with basic needs. Youth come to the shelter for various reasons, with the biggest being family conflict, which often results from past trauma, mental health, sexual orientation or gender identity, or substance use, among other things. Wood’s Homes’ Youth and Family Counsellors work with youth and their families to provide mediation and access to resources in an effort to help youth return to the family home with a more stable relationship.

An Acute@Home (formerly Emergency Room Outreach) family was asked to reflect on their personal experience with mental health and share their recommendations for families beginning their mental health journeys while navigating available supports. To protect the privacy of the client, the pseudo-name Becky is used below.

After a day of sessions on WebEx with the students from Wood's Homes' William Taylor Learning Centre (WTLC), and then a call to my son’s teachers to try and work out why he was struggling with his online school platform, I sat down and wondered why I was feeling so tired. Surely this feeling isn’t normal? After all, a pre-COVID-19 day at WTLC required a much more intense level of engagement and usually a lot more paperwork, so why was I feeling so tired?

I’ve read many articles recently about various facets of COVID-19 and mental health issues, so a further search began. I have to say, I felt an enormous sense of relief when I found information on a new buzzword: Zoom Fatigue.

The following is a testimonial written by a volunteer at Wood’s Homes FASD Program. This volunteer shares personal stories, and experience on volunteering in a virtual setting.

I’ll start by saying that I’ve never fit so perfectly well with something before. It honestly feels as though Woods Homes and its FASD community in particular has my back even though I haven’t been a part of it for very long. It’s been less than three months. I’m finally with people (of all ages) who have the same condition as me, so I’m no longer like a square peg in a round hole... not that I really minded being ‘different’ that much. Admittedly, my ego most likely enjoyed being different because it meant being “special.” There are times when being different doesn’t feel good.