COMMUNITY GRANTS 2018-2019
The Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia administers a Community Grants Program to support individuals and organizations province-wide to undertake programs or services that will benefit the mental health of individuals throughout Nova Scotia. Examples of Community Grants Program projects include advocacy and anti-stigma programs, educational opportunities and wellness projects.
The following projects have received 2018-2019 funding:
COMMUNITY GRANTS
Read more about the Impact of Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia grants
10th annual ray of hope retreat
Ray of Hope Retreat
The Ray of Hope Retreat is an annual retreat created to provide a safe, nurturing environment for women in recovery to share their experience, strength and hope with one another. It is also a place where they can count on and look forward to each year to re-connect with old friends and meet new friends.
ADDRESSING needs of adult male survivors
SOAR Society
This will be a two day workshop - including an education day for male survivors, an evening two hour public session and an education day for people working/associated with male survivors, such as families, friends, partners, other survivors or anyone impacted by childhood sexual abuse. This will be led by Mike Lew, M.Ed. a renowned therapist working mainly with male survivors who has published several books on the subject.
COUNSELOR in the classroom: Teaching Kids about Mental Health
Kids Help Phone (website)
For the child who’s being bullied relentlessly. For the young person living with addiction. For the teen who spends summer break thinking about suicide. For young people in any moment of crisis or need, Kids Help Phone is always open, offering safety, support and trust. Yet, only half of kids and teens know who we are without prompting. We’re working daily to change this to ensure a future where every young person will access the support they need in the way they need it most.
Development of CIad service dog training
Canadian Intervention and Assistance Dog Society (website)
The development of the training manual will allow CIAD to provide standardized resource materials for the puppy raisers and future handlers. This ensures that all of the CIAD dogs are trained using the same commands, techniques and skills regardless of the location of their puppy raising home and this will also ensure consistency when the puppies are paired with their handler. The handlers will have a resource to refer back to throughout their working relationship with the dog. The information within the manual will follow the Assistance Dog International (ADI) requirements for public access testing and meet the ADI standards for the training of service dogs.
Growing the connection between healthy food and mental health
Partners for Care
Back to Our Roots Urban Farm is situated on the grounds of the Nova Scotia Hospital overlooking Halifax Harbour. It’s a community farm that uses gardening as a way to promote physical, mental and environmental health. This is done by offering skills training and educational workshops on growing vegetables without pesticides, making healthy food more accessible to hospital clients and staff, and creating a space for growing food that’s supportive and welcoming. Funding will support garden programming for clients of the Nova Scotia Hospital.
Headstrong anti-stigma summit
SchoolsPlus, Cape Breton Regional School Board (website)
The objective of this project is to a host a HEADSTRONG Youth Anti-Stigma Summit in Cape Breton. HEADSTRONG is a stigma reduction program aimed at changing the attitudes and behaviors among youth around mental health and substance use issues. Mental health and substance use awareness and stigma reduction has been a focus in our area for the past five years. HEADSTRONG involves a day long youth Summit where selected students and teachers from several middle schools come to together to hear first voice stories and engage with people with lived experience of mental health issues.
improving mental health through mentoring
Big Brothers Big Sisters (website)
This program will introduce and support mentoring relationships between 20 screened and trained volunteer mentors and 20 elementary students experiencing mild to moderate symptoms of depression and social anxiety. Mentoring activities will occur on school property, during school hours, under the watchful and able supervision of Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Mentoring Coordinators. In addition to serving as mentor, volunteers will also serve as advocate, that is, they will work with parents, school personnel and peers to facilitate a more informed and compassionate understanding of the experiences of their mentee.
Life Skills programs
The John Howard Society of Nova Scotia (website)
This project aims to make our Halifax Regional Office's life skills programs more accessible to community members by
offering them free of charge, delivering programs at various locations in HRM and offering bus tickets to help with
transportation. Our life skills programs include Anger Management and Emotional Intelligence Program (AM&EI),
Healthy Relations Program (HR) and STOP Program.
HALIFAX LEADERSHIP TRAINING & OUTREACH PROGRAM (HRM)
LOVE (website)
The goal of the Leadership Training Program is to provide youth who have experienced violence and mental health issues with the skills and knowledge they need to become leaders. It is also an opportunity to develop and/or strengthen confidence in themselves and their leadership abilities. The skills and knowledge they develop in LOVE's Leadership Training Program enable Youth Leaders to conduct and design Community Outreach activities for a broad range of audiences.
LOVE MI'KMAQ PROGRAMS - EXPANSION OF SERVICES (HRM)
LOVE (website)
This project would involve expanding our work with Mi'kmaq youth (ages 12-23) living on-reserve in the communities of Sipekne'katik and Membertou, in a way that focuses on helping individuals to think about healing and the effects of trauma and crisis. This work will be done through outreach, intervention work, and traditional healing. Specifically, this expansion of LOVE's programs in First Nations communities includes increased presence of a full-time Mi'kmaq Youth Worker, collaboration with two community Social Workers, and a bi-weekly sweat lodge ceremony.
Roots of Empathy: Building a foundation for positive mental health in nova scotia
Roots of Empathy (website)
Children will need enhanced skills to succeed in tomorrow’s world. This will include the social and emotional skills that will allow children to collaborate, problem solve and thrive in a global world. The foundation of those skills is empathy which fosters perspective taking, inclusion and pro-social behaviours and builds resilience and well being. Regulating emotions such as aggression or sadness is important and an inability to regulate one’s emotions is a factor in anxiety and other mental health problems. Roots of Empathy helps give children the tools to regulate their emotions.
Support Group for Parents
Annapolis Valley Families Caring For Loved Ones With Eating Disorders
The goal of the Support Group for Parents is to provide parents and caregivers of loved ones with an ED in the Annapolis Valley, a safe place to share their stories, learn from each other and support each other by hosting a support group meeting for parents and caregivers the third Tuesday of every month.
Then & Now
Chester Municipal Heritage Society (Website)
Working with youth and residents of a local retirement home, both able minded and those with various stages of dementia, we will take one of the original songs this group is creating now and turn it into a quality music video. Youth and residents will work together to plan the video, perform in it and celebrate its premiere with a public event. The music video will prove that no matter your stage in life, even some with advanced cognitive degeneration, you can still create a beautiful and entertaining video and contribute to the world “outside”.
Therapeutic woodworking
LakeCity Works (website)
LakeCity Works aims to provide a client-centred, therapeutic leisure activity on site for veteran's living with post traumatic stress disorder to develop and hone their woodworking skills while improving their overall mental health and well-being through supportive community integration. This project will directly support recovery by providing access to therapeutic recreational activities in the form of woodworking, wood carving and design. The associated gains in self-esteem and self-worth through therapeutic recreation are well documented.