A First Nations program coordinator and lecturer at a Canadian University shares their perspective on the field requiring new and unique ways to find solutions and common ground for what each individual youth faces.    Coming from a similar background as the youth they work with, they empathize with the myriad of struggles, barriers, and systemic obstacles youth face every day. Growing up experiencing the same cycles and barriers, to then helping others navigate their way thr

A Métis supervisor in a not-for-profit finds the field stressful, but also rewarding.   Families in Saskatchewan are facing struggles in mental health, poverty, addictions, and transiency. This supervisor has noticed an increase in support towards ensuring families are housed and receive the support needed to heal familial relations. Housing stability and transiency are major obstacles for Indigenous families right now.    It has been rewarding for this supervisor to witness

A Michif teacher in Regina has highlighted the significant lack of support for not only students, but educators as well.   When students are struggling at home for a variety of reasons (home and food insecurity), they have a more difficult time engaging in their education and creating meaningful relationships. This teacher feels that educators are also facing burnout from lack of support. This educator wants to go above and beyond for their students, but they barely have the

A First Nation director within early childhood education in central Saskatchewan has noticed family dynamics as a challenge to navigate within the system.    Addictions, family separations, and the foster care system have made it increasingly difficult to build strong relational support. Intergenerational cycles of trauma and lack of effective communication and coping strategies have made it especially difficult, as support can be mistaken for judgment. These perceptions, bot

As a First Nations coordinator for Social Services on a Saskatchewan First Nation, this social worker is creating new laws with Elders to make changes under An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Children, Youth and Families (Bill C-92).   The biggest challenge they have faced is trying to engage the provincial ministries to consider the best interest of the child over anything else. They also have found it to be a complex challenge to decolonize English-written la

With final exams for most high school students concluding last month, members of the CTRC team sat down with a secondary school teacher from within the Regina area to discuss the difficulties students and teachers have experienced due to continuous uncertainty from COVID-19; specifically the “5th wave” caused by the Omicron variant. Although it seems like we have figured out how to best normalize the situation the pandemic has brought us, everything is still in continuous red

Having struggled with negative mental health herself, a Saskatchewan youth, Kiah Holness, is concerned about the impacts of COVID-19 on children and youth in primary and secondary schools. As a result of her personal experiences, and her future dreams of being a secondary teacher in this province, she has begun working to advocate for a shift in the understanding of mental health within the education system. Kiah is currently in the process of advocating for a shift in school

A Child and Family Programs service provider in Saskatchewan has provided us with their perspective on what it has been like to work with children and families during COVID-19. They stated that the COVID-19 restrictions have made visitation and trust building with children and families difficult to say the least.  “Virtual visitation sets back the relationship one can have with clients; the rapport in several cases has been lacking,” the service provider reported. “Support se

A Victims Services responder in Saskatchewan has noted the challenges of working with clients during COVID-19, missing the face to face contact and experiencing screen fatigue.  “I do not feel as connected to my clients and files as I struggle to balance safety, restrictions, file tasks, rapport-building and client needs,” they reported. The service provider is also concerned about the impact that COVID-19 is having on children and families in vulnerable situations.  “Violenc

A child protection investigator with Child and Family Programs in Saskatchewan has noticed the hardships that the families they support are facing as well as the hardships of effectively supporting them during COVID-19. “Issues that families were facing are being exacerbated by COVID-19 and the ability to provide help is less. Community organizations are still primarily providing virtual services which isn’t a great fit in the child protection context … The demographic I work

A crisis response service provider working with children and youth mental health states that there has been difficulty in building relationships virtually with the children and youth they serve. It has been especially difficult to connect with people accessing services that do not have consistent access to technology. “As many big organizations push to work remote/virtual we are missing those valuable, difficult to obtain in person connections with children and youth, especia

A school social worker within the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division notes that COVID-19 has been challenging, frustrating, and limiting, but very rewarding when able to work around the challenges, frustrations, and limitations. “Not being able to give kids things to take home, not able to do home visits, and limited communication have been the top three struggles for myself … With the lack of community programs running there are a lot of families falling through the

A Child and Family worker in Saskatchewan has expressed that COVID-19 has been a heartbreaking experience for them, their coworkers, and the families they serve. “Right now we have very limited rooms to facilitate these visits. We are also only holding visits for children who are transitioning into the home, or into a family member’s home. With COVID rules only 4 family members can be in the room, and only if they are living in the same home, plus the child/children … We can

A teacher within the Regina Public School system has noted that it has been very difficult to contact families. They say that children are missing so much school they are becoming increasingly behind in their academics and it has been difficult to ensure the safety of all students. “Many children rely on the school for the lunch program and the security of school. Children are affected without any choice. Many have no technology to connect with their teachers over at home lea

A service provider with a transitional house for mothers and children involved with the child welfare system in Saskatchewan has noticed the emotional toll social isolation has taken on the mothers that reside at the home. Mothers are becoming more anxious, tired, and bored as isolation continues with limited accessibility to community supports such as Narcotics Anonymous meetings, parenting classes, and other peer support groups. The service provider is also concerned for th

A Child Protection worker in Saskatchewan has noticed the difficulties that COVID-19 projects. With not being able to make routine home visits, the service provider is concerned for the children they serve as virtual communications are only able to reveal a limited amount about the child’s home situation. “It is now becoming evident that with us not being able to see children in the home that there have been flaws and more incidents being found in the caregiver’s home that ha

A service provider within Child and Family programs in Saskatchewan shares the concerns of others working with children during COVID-19, and that not being able to go out into the community to visit the families they support has been difficult.  “I cannot go out into the community the same as before. It has made it difficult to connect with clients/children like we normally would,” they expressed.  The service provider is also concerned for the students finishing their practi

A social services manager in Northern Saskatchewan has seen COVID-19 exacerbate the already difficult work that is being done. “The work we do is always challenging but there are small wins, ways that workers can find satisfaction in their work such as a good meeting with a family, reunifying children, finding a unique and creative solution to a dilemma. During COVID the demand for creativity, unique problem-solving, alternate planning, etc has been so high that even when wor

A first-year University of Regina nursing student Callie Morhart has created Wellness toolkits, aimed at foregrounding how calm emotions can support better mental health. Currently, there are four toolkits – General Wellness, Sleep, Self-Harm Prevention, and a Kids Calm Down Kit. Each toolkit has a variety of tools, exercises, and ideas to help manage and improve these different issues related to mental wellness. Each kit is a prototype meant for places like schools, hospital