Big Announcement
Well, who knew what 2021 was going to bring?? I certainly did not. I knew that 2021 was focused on growing myself and growing my business but I did not know how that was going to happen. We are only 18 days into January and for me things are starting to take shape and opportunities are already bubbling to the surface.
To give some background, when I started collaborative Community Solutions, I knew that I wanted to do this work to continue to share my knowledge and experience to support tiny shifts in this world to making change differently. I knew my skills were in training, consulting and facilitation and my lived experience as well as work experience intuitively meant this was the space I needed to take up. I am so glad that I did. Little did I know in only a few short months, I would have facilitated 5 trainings, done in-services at 2 agencies, be working on curriculum for Med students and working with Universities and have a few other potential projects lined up. I am so overjoyed and bursting with gratitude and appreciation for this moment.
I just kept feeling like something was missing, that the message I want to share was getting to some really important places but there was a part of me that was still feeling a gap with the business. Then it happened. I was talking to my daughter (she is 14) and she has been such an inspiration to me and a real motivation to do what I do. We were discussing how challenging it can be for her to advocate for equity, feminism, inclusion and so many other deep issues. She receives a lot of resistance from her peers and has for years and it is hard. Particularly during our second round of lockdowns here in Ontario. Isolation is different for her than it is for me. Her friends are paramount for her wellness and having safer space to talk, destress and create is different and difficult during these times.
This connected with me so deeply and as a mom it is tough because I can’t take the place of that peer connection and all though I need it, I don’t need it in the same way, and I have a lot of choice and power of how I will access it because I have adult resources and choices. She does not have the same choices and access that I do. So, a plan sparked and I did some research. Then it happened! I decided to grow Collaborative Community Solutions to look at providing some prevention. Here comes the news……..
Collaborative Community Solutions has partnered with GiRLiFe Empowerment and will be providing virtual youth empowerment workshops!!! I am so excited! There are so many opportunities here to empower young folks and create safer spaces for them to land specifically during these overwhelming tough times! Because of whom Collaborative Community Solutions is I think its important to talk about who do we mean when we say “GIRL” and I want to express that we have a passion for inclusivity. And for me I think in my experience, language is super important. I want to acknowledge that there are many folks who don’t identify with a gender, there are folks who are gender fluid, there are trans girls non binary folks so many different ways of identifying! These groups are open to you. If there are youth in your life who struggle with connection and being empowered then we would be honored that you chose these workshops to show up to.
There are so many exciting things about to happen with this branch of Collaborative Community Solutions. The first thing to note is these groups will be branded with “GiRLiFe Collab” ß– see what we did there? We have a separate facebook group for empowering youth called “recognizing our Resilience this group is to serve as an empowerment group for girls and the caregivers in their lives. Please like, share and invite folks to join. Additionally, we are announcing two workshops in celebration of International Women’s day! Stay tuned for the posters. Finally, we have a separate Instagram page called GIRLIFECOLLAB that will have more and more information as time goes.
I think that is about all I have to say about that. I think its, enough don’t you?!? Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who has followed along. I can not wait to see where we are at by the end of 2021.
