TIMES COLONIST | timescolonist.

com

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2016

ISLANDER

D5

V I TA L P E O P L E

PRODUCED IN CO-OPER ATION WITH THE VICTORIA FOUNDATION

A night to
have a vital
discussion

SANDRA RICHARDSON
sandra@victoriafoundation.bc.ca

Shauna Janz is the executive director of the group that educates how to counsel youth who have encountered loss.

BRUCE STOTESBURY, TC

Learning lessons through loss

PEDRO ARRAIS
parrais@timescolonist.com

n accessible and supportive

program for youth experiencing loss is reaching a
wider audience, thanks to funding from the Victoria Foundation.
In 1988, the late Sandra Elder,
a respected academic researcher
in the field of grief and loss, created Learning Through Loss, a
program aimed at providing grief
education and support groups to
youth ages 10 to 18.
Over the past 28 years, the

program has provided support

and healing to hundreds of young
people. The program is built on
understanding the strength of
youth peer support, belonging
and guidance by a qualified clinical counsellor.
Young adults between the
ages of 10 and 18 are in a unique
developmental stage, said
Shauna Janz, executive director
of the Friends of Living and
Learning Through Loss Society.
They are in identity formation
stage of their lives. It is a stage
where they are less likely to
reach out to family and have not
much understanding about grief.
She said that advice from
peers, who typically play a large
part in their lives at this stage, is
lacking because they might not
have experienced grief and loss,
either.
The Learning Through Loss
program offers educational workshops delivered in schools and

community organizations. The

workshops help develop an essential life skill by enhancing awareness and knowledge about grief,
teaching youth healthy tools to
cope and connecting them with
appropriate resources.
The program reaches more
than 4,000 young people a year.
A $3,300 grant from the Victoria Foundation will go toward a
community education project to
provide training to youth, parents, youth-workers and professionals.
These educational workshops
are meant to enhance the communitys understanding of youth
grief and loss issues.
We can now run a four-week
program for peer mentors, host
weekly educational training
workshops and offer full-day
training for professionals, said
Janz.
She said that even adults taking the workshops have gained an

insight and understanding of loss

in their own lives.
Its not just about death. Loss,
in a broad definition, comes in
many forms. It can come with a
move, it can be from a social relationship or family, she said. Its
a common thread of loss.
Loss often correlates to a persons mental health and addictions and family.
Loss often hits home. When a
person suffers, the whole family
suffers.
Thats why parents, youth
workers and teachers are taught
how to understand the language
of grief and taught how to navigate the confusion to connect
with young adults.
Our large vision is to see the
program eventually reach a
wider audience in schools across
the province, Janz said. Its
time to have this discussion.
For more information, go to
learningthroughloss.org.

Theatre gives volunteers a chance to hone skills

Langham Court Theatre is reenergizing its mandate to provide
theatrical learning with a Volunteer Learning Program, funded
by the Victoria Foundation.
The community theatre, home
of the Victoria Theatre Guild and
Dramatic School, has provided a
professional stage for performing artists since 1929. It typically
hosts six shows a season. In the
past 87 years it has staged more
than 2,800 performances, with
more than 4,000 actors, 3,200 set
builders, 3,000 lighting technicians, and 500 directors and stage
managers.
More than 250,000 people have
at one time sat in the theatres
177 seats to enjoy classics such as
She Stoops to Conquer or emerging plays, such as Escape From
Happiness, a dark comedy.
We are fortunate to be surrounded by people who love what
they do, said Tom McCarthy,
general manager of the theatre.
The Volunteer Learning Program is an opportunity for us to
invite the larger community to
the theatre.
People with different life experiences and abilities can join in
various theatre guilds (a group of
people with an interest in a simi-

Langham Court Theatre general manager Tom McCarthy: We are

fortunate to be surrounded by people who love what they do.
lar craft), such as: costume,
director, producer, tech, stage
management, set design, event
planning, box office and actors.
The program addresses the
many requests for learning
opportunities in each of the
guilds in the organization.
Its all about providing an
environment where we can sup-

port our volunteers in their experience, said McCarthy, a 45-year

veteran of the arts. We want to
take away any barrier to fuller
participation.
Funding from the Victoria
Foundation means there is an
opportunity to do things outside
the core business and cover previously underserved areas.

Langham Court will put on

24 workshops and lectures a year
for non-members as part of a
community outreach strategy.
The larger community will be
invited to use the theatres buildings between performances.
For the first time in its history,
the Victoria Theatre Guild and
Dramatic School will offer day
camps this summer to reach a
younger crowd. At the camps,
children and young adults, age
eight through 16, will be able to
write and perform in their own
plays.
In the Victoria Foundations
current Vital Signs report, an
annual checkup of the city, people
consistently listed festivals and
events and arts and culture in the
top half when asked to vote for the
best things about Greater Victoria.
Successful and prosperous
cities around the world all have a
vital creative component, said
McCarthy, late of Calgary. In
order to create an environment to
build a successful city, we need to
give citizens access to creative
pursuits. Our programs help
effect that change.
For more information, go to
langhamtheatre.ca.
Pedro Arrais

ow do you know when

youre spending your
time and money on the
right things? That youre putting your efforts in the right
areas, and not barking up the
wrong tree? These questions
are just as important for charities and non-profits as they are
for individuals, and its something we focus on a lot at the
Victoria Foundation.
Besides our ongoing work
with donors and grant recipients, one of the biggest things
we do is work with the community to support activities and
initiatives that help to improve
the well-being of residents. We
use a lot of intel to guide our
work, one of the biggest being
our Vital Signs report, which
combines public opinion with
statistics and relevant facts to
provide an annual snapshot of
livability and well-being in our
community.
Of course, there are many
other sources of information
and resources we turn to. One
activity in particular involves
public consultation engaging
with groups of interested individuals around an issue. These
kinds of dialogues we call
them Vital Conversations are
useful for delving deeper into
whats behind a trend or statistic. How are people coping with
an issue? Which existing supports are working and which
are not? Where is more support
needed and how can we collectively bring that about?
On Wednesday, March 23,
just such a discussion will take
place to look at inclusion and
well-being as we age. Sponsored
by Island Savings and co-hosted
by the Victoria Foundation, the
Eldercare Foundation and
Island Health, it calls on people
of all ages to participate in a
conversation about staying connected to our family, friends,
neighbours and communities as
we grow older.
Many people are concerned
that we are becoming disconnected from one another as we
age. Statistics indicate that
14 per cent of seniors on southern Vancouver Island do not
have someone to turn to for
help or advice, and that social
isolation affects nearly
40,000 people above the age of
55 across all three health
regions on Vancouver Island.
The event will take place
during the 11th annual Embrace
Aging Month, and attendees will
look at a range of questions
such as: How can we support a
community that is inclusive and
connected as we age? What are
the barriers to inclusion and
connection, and how are groups
working to overcome them?
What are the benefits to the
community as a whole when a
proactive approach to seniors
well-being is taken?
Join us on this evening to
share your ideas about staying
connected and building agefriendly communities where
everyone is included.
For more information,
including how to register for
one of the limited seats, visit
viha.ca/hshc/events.
Sandra Richardson is CEO of
the Victoria Foundation.