Episodes
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In this episode, we are here with first voice advocates and Child Welfare professionals to have an informative conversation around the gaps and barriers in mental health provision for youth in care during the covid-19 pandemic. Lisa Tomlinson is the Director of Services for Toronto CAS and Dimple is a nurse navigator with expertise in mental health. With them here today we hope to increase our own understanding of trauma and how our current system engages in our recovery or how it furthers our experiences of trauma from a clinical and operative perspective. By doing this we hope to identify some of the problems to begin to bring about solutions.
Troy Elleston: https://www.linkedin.com/in/troy-bio-stu5/
Lisa Tomlinson: [email protected]
Website: www.torontocas.ca
Instagram/Twitter: CAS_Toronto
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/children%27s-aid-society-of-toronto/?originalSubdomain=ca
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Featuring the OACAS mental health advisory, today’s episode examines the vital intersection between mental health, youth in care and barriers to care. Today, Project Outsiders turns a new leaf by extending our dialogue to peers, social workers and advocates alike! Please welcome Kiana, Aiden, Bianca, Samuel and Rose in our thoughtful exploration as we bridge the gaps between Youth In Care and the complex systems we rely on.
Contact info for guests
Byanka: https://www.instagram.com/byanka.petrin/
Kia: Kia is speaking at the ocac engagement tomorrow morning at 1155 on the OCAC (Ontario children's advocacy coalition) Facebook page live! Its for youth in care day
● Instagram: spitkisses
● Facebook: kia maria lovegood
Christina: [email protected]
● christinaloc.co
● https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinaloc/
Rose: rosetwentyseven (on all socials)
Aidan: [email protected]
Samuel: [email protected]
Our Info
https://www.projectoutsiders.com
Socials & Podcast - @projectoutsiders / @project.outsiders
For all the links: linktr.ee/project.outsiders
Trailer Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65XZ5XQzacc&t=1s
Want to know how to get involved or support our mission? Subscribe to our patron to get exclusive content and discounts to our merchandise.
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/projectoutsiders
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Missing episodes?
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For our season finale, we sat down and had a conversation with Samuel Ashirbekov. He is a trans man and an aspiring advocate for youth in care. Samuel shares with us what it was like transitioning into his new identity while in the child welfare system. He shares the obstacles he faced before, during, and after encountering me (Chanice) in the group home we both lived in. Sam and I both lived in the same group home for a period of time and we reflect on our different experiences within the same space. In this conversation, we learn about what it is like having the system paint your identity and what are some of the current gaps when it comes to youth identifying as a part of the LGBTQ2S+ community. We hope you have enjoyed the first season and have taken something away from each conversation. We ask you to continue to support our movement and content by liking, sharing, and promoting it on your platforms. More is coming soon but until then, we hope you take care and stay safe.
If you want to partner with Samuel here is an email you can contact him by [email protected]
Check out the full episode on the CYC podcast available on Spotify Google play and many other platforms.
Follow our socials
https://linktr.ee/project.outsiders
Instagram
Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook
Want to know how to get involved or support our mission? Subscribe to our patron to get exclusive content and discounts on our merchandise.
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/projectoutsiders
Website – www.projectoutsiders.com
Want to know what programs are available in your community? Check out our blog. We are constantly updating our page with new local programs, news, and policy changes. You can also learn about your rights and supports that are afforded to you by the government. Click here to find out more. (here will be a hyperlink)
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Welcome back to Project Outsiders. If you are returning, thank you so much for coming back and tuning into our podcast. We really appreciate all of your support and joining us along on our journey to improving the foster care system. For those who are new here, Welcome to the Foster Care Experience Podcast. We are a youth lead social organization trying to bridge the gap between youth in care with decision makers. We are all youth from care who have been pushed by our experiences to ensure we see changes to a disconnected system. We are all incredibly passionate advocates and activists and want to create paths and opportunities for youth in care.
Today we are talking about permanency within child welfare. Youth in care experience abandonment, neglect, and isolation - this shapes their interaction in the world well after they leave care. The instability from moving around and the drastic feeling of abandonment youth feel once they turn 18 or 21 leave many youth feeling worthless. We want to learn how youth views the idea of permanency and its impact of attaining it even later in life. To help us with this discussion we have Vivian Patruno.
Vivian is undergoing permanency through the NeverTooLate program in partnership with PARC (Pape, Adolescent Resource Centre) She connected with her family when she was 23. What Vivian needs the world to know is that everyonedeserves permanency and stability.
Check out the full episode on the CYC podcast available on Spotify Google playas well as all other platforms.
Follow our socials:
https://linktr.ee/project.outsiders
Instagram
Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook
Want to know how to get involved or support our mission? Subscribe to our patron to get exclusive content and discounts to our merchandise.
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/projectoutsiders
Website – www.projectoutsiders.com
Want to know what programs are available in your community? Check out our blog. We are constantly updating our page with new local programs, news, and policy changes. You can also learn about your rights and supports that are afforded to you by the government.
Sponsorships: off for this episode
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Welcome back to Project Outsiders! If you are returning, thank you so much for coming back and tuning into our podcast. We really appreciate all of your support and joining us along on our journey to improving the foster care system. For those who are new here, Welcome to the Foster Care Experience Podcast. We are a youth lead social organization that is trying to bridge the gap between youth in care with decision makers. We are all youth from care who have been pushed by our experience to ensure we see changes to a disconnected system. We are all incredibly passionate advocates and activists and want to create paths and opportunities for youth in care.
In today's conversation we want to talk about mental health and the use of substances. For a lot of youth in care that is the number one tool we would resort to as a way to cope with our situation. It is not often that we have people in our life that are able to teach us healthy coping skills so we go with the ones taught to us by our peers who are also struggling. This becomes a complicated cycle to get out of once it has been habituated into your daily routine. When mental health becomes more of an issue the more easy it is for youth to fall deeper into an addiction. There are a lot of stigmas that come with having an addiction and today we want to learn more about how to prevent and overcome them. Here to tell us about her journey overcoming a global pandemic is Keona Sehmi.
(Keona’s Bio)
Keona Sehmi is a first voice advocate and participates in numerous committees as a youth advisor. Some of the committees she sits on includes the youth for change steering committee with OACAS, youth said through Halton CAS, She is an advisor for OACAS covid-19 mental health toolkit, and she is a peer mentor for the futures life skills and mentorship program. She plans to take a year off after she graduates for self growth and recovery, but plans to go to school for nursing to become a psychiatric nurse at mohawk.
Check out the full episode on the CYC podcast available on Spotify Google play as well as all other platforms.
Follow our socials:
https://linktr.ee/project.outsiders
Instagram
Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook
Want to know how to get involved or support our mission? Subscribe to our patron to get exclusive content and discounts to our merchandise.
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/projectoutsiders
Website – www.projectoutsiders.com
Want to know what programs are available in your community? Check out our blog. We are constantly updating our page with new local programs, news, and policy changes. You can also learn about your rights and supports that are afforded to you by the government.
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Children’s Aid societies are beginning to recognize the importance of the inclusion of youth voices and participating in conversations surrounding the barriers and areas of needed improvement within the child welfare system. We are seeing more collaborations between youth and agencies to develop a strategy to redesign Children's Aid, along with putting in place proper safety outlets for youth to safely advocate for themselves. First voice advocates are youth with first hand experience in child welfare who are driven to see changes within the system. One tool which was developed for the youth was the Advocacy office, which is closed (officially closed back in 2018). That impact weighs greatly on many people from care, especially current youth. Today we have Christopher Cottle who worked at the advocacy office as a youth Communications Amplifier and is here to speak on his experience and give his insight into what he feels needs to change.
Christopher’s plugs
http://www.cycpodcast.org/
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/risingyouth-podcast/id1494492980
rising youth and CYC
Check out the full episode on the CYC podcast available on Spotify Google play and many other platforms.
Follow our socials
https://linktr.ee/project.outsiders
Instagram
Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook
Want to know how to get involved or support our mission? Subscribe to our patron to get exclusive content and discounts to our merchandise.
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/projectoutsiders
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The last known residential home for Indigenous people closed down in 1996, “it wasn’t that long ago” says Kia Lesage. A lot of damage has been done on the indegenious community and we can see its reflection in the child welfare system. It may not come as a surprise to you but Child Protection Services look very different the further you go from the city or more densely populated areas. The programming and supports are very limited in rural areas and youth are heavily affected by its unavailability. Things like addiction and mental health programs are scarce and these necessary programs are more needed than children’s Aid intervention and separation of children from their community. Today we hear and learn from kia who shares her story and insight to solutions.
Check out the full episode on the CYC podcast available on Spotify Google play as well as all other platforms.
Follow our socials
https://linktr.ee/project.outsiders
Instagram
Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook
Want to know how to get involved or support our mission? Subscribe to our patron to get exclusive content and discounts to our merchandise.
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/projectoutsiders
Website – www.projectoutsiders.com
Want to know what programs are available in your community? Check out our blog. We are constantly updating our page with new local programs, news, and policy changes. You can also learn about your rights and supports that are afforded to you by the government.
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When an individual navigates the world with a physical disability they always need to be adapting to the obstacles put in their path in order to continue to survive. Today we want to learn about how people with disabilities experience the child welfare system. What are the barriers they face due to their disability, and do they have enough services and support in place to accommodate for their needs? Gabe Brokennshire is a former youth in care and lives with cerebral palsy. This was a very eye opening conversation and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
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Our journey has only begun and we want to learn about what step we need to take to create effective change. Cheyanne Ratnam educates us around the steps she took to become the successful advocate that she is today. Having the right mentality is important when wanting to create effective changes to the system. Although our experience in care was difficult and the actions of our legal guardian (the government) has been questionable over the years, at the end of the day they are our allies and we need to work together if we want to redesign the Child Welfare System. Cheyanne’s Story is a story of strength, resilience, and passionate commitment to change. We hope once you have listened to this episode you walk away feeling empowered to continue your path to growth.
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Education is more than schools and degrees. For youth in care, to be educated means to be prepared and equipped to handle complex life situations. When you have a time limit on the support given to you to survive you begin to experience a lot of pressure to make sure you are fully prepared once the support stops. For youth in and from care, life skills are a lot more important than math or biology and mentors are more valuable to us than teachers. Chistina Loc (our Social Media and Marketing Manager) is a leader, a mentor, an advocate, and a good friend who is here to speak with us about her journey with education.
Christina’s socials
instagram - https://www.instagram.com/_locc/
linkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinaloc/
website - https://www.christinaloc.co/
Her work with OECT/CAS: https://www.inittogetheryouth.org/
Check out the full episode on the CYC podcast available on Spotify Google play and many other platforms.
Follow our socials
https://linktr.ee/project.outsiders
Instagram
Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook
Want to know how to get involved or support our mission? Subscribe to our patron to get exclusive content and discounts to our merchandise.
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/projectoutsiders
Website – www.projectoutsiders.com
Want to know what programs are available in your community? Check out our blog. We are constantly updating our page with new local programs, news, and policy changes. You can also learn about your rights and supports that are afforded to you by the government. Click here to find out more. (here will be hyperlink)
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What do black youth need to put an end to generations after generations of poverty? Where did it all begin? Why is this still and issue? The overrepresentation of black youth in care in Ontario is staggering and the impacts on the family is detrimental to the health and wellbeing of the children caught in between. We sat down and had a very insightful conversation about what black families really need to be able to heal from our history. Troy elleston, an academic and business professional, educates us on the importance of having representation of black leaders within our communities and acquiring mentorship to pass on these skills and important life lessons to our youth.
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Youth need to know what their rights are. After the implementation of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989 nations across the world began to take child protection a lot more seriously. Governments were mandated to provide the basic necessities to children to help them reach their full potential. As a part of the child protection services in Canada it is mandated that children always know what their rights are. But how can children exercise their rights? Before the advocacy office was shut down in 2018, they were the essential voice for youth in care in Ontario before the Ford administration shut it down. The impacts are still affecting youth today. In this episode, we sat down with Jackson Gate, a former youth in care, and a current practicing paralegal. He gives us a break down of the essential information youth need to know on how to best advocate for themselves. He also is working with an upcoming organization to help educate youth in their rights in a way they can understand.
Please Check out our website for more details about the programs we have https://linktr.ee/project.outsiders
and for more information regarding the CYFSA please check out our previous episode https://open.spotify.com/episode/5w6lE50lE37CoVrwkw1EDj?si=tsmaG9PfT1y_CHe_hRJp9w
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Disclaimer *the following episode contains discussions around the topics of suicide and other potential disturbing material including abuse and violence viewers discretion is advised.
Where do the troubled youth who seem to have difficulty adjusting in the family-like home go? What if there are no available bed in foster homes? The group home is a structured environment that for a lot of youth closely resembles the prison system. In this myself and sadeqah talks about the violence that happens behind closed doors that is hidden from the rest of the world. This a very heavy episode which needs further discussion in the future.
https://linktr.ee/project.outsiders
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Please Check out Roses Performance from this week's episode!
Rose Jones is a twenty-year-old singer-songwriter from Toronto. Her genre is Alternative/Pop-Rock. Rose's influences are Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Nirvana, Ani Difranco, and The Front Bottoms. From a very young age, she showed interest in the arts, especially singing, writing short stories and poems.
Rose has played several places individually and more recently to name a few: The Smiling Buddha, Cadillac Lounge, D-Beastro, The Boat, Unit 2, and Handlebar. Rose also partnered with Talent Nation to perform with Canadian musician Tyler Shaw at the Hard Rock Cafe. Rose writes all the lyrics herself as well as the chords. Currently, she is working on more music. Being authentic and different is something she always strives for and she hopes to help others do the same.
And Be sure to check out Rose's Website and Social Media
https://www.instagram.com/rosetwentyseven/
https://www.facebook.com/rosetwentyseven
https://www.rosejonesmusic.com
https://music.apple.com/ca/album/swimming-in-a-bottle-single/1488708130
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“Religion is such a taboo topic” said Rose. She was right. Religion is something that is not really talked about to youth in care. Why would it be? Why would youth believe an all-loving God but still allow tremendous tragedy to enter their life? Why bother believing when your environment reflects darkness and not love?
Rose Jones, an aspiring musician, paints for us her story about finding her identity through spirituality and how her foster parent played such a significant role in her journey. We share with each other how foster care was the answer we were asking for before we entered and how it gave us a greater purpose. Spirituality helped her find her calling, and to give back, she now uses her talents to help others. At the end Rose shares her some sneak peaks for her up and coming album
Be sure to check out Rose's Music and Social Media
https://open.spotify.com/artist/23yJckP72eUInR0EKb57a2
https://www.instagram.com/rosetwentyseven/
For more information about us click HERE
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What does it mean to identify as a Black youth in care? This is a really special episode because our guest has two distinct point of view of what it means to be black. Not only that, but they also have had two vastly different experiences in care despite sharing the same social worker. In this episode we talk about identity, morality, and perception. We dive into importance of providing youth the option of being close to culture and how that plays into their identity. We cover aspects of the LGBTQ community, politics, and the One Vision One Voice project. Due to how incredibly emotion and elaborate the conversation was, we needed to split it into two parts. Join me Kyngston and Aidan in this thought-provoking conversation and share this with your peers.
https://linktr.ee/project.outsiders
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What does it mean to identify as a Black youth in care? This is a really special episode because our guest has two distinct point of view of what it means to be black. Not only that, but they also have had two vastly different experiences in care despite sharing the same social worker. In this episode we talk about identity, morality, and perception. We dive into importance of providing youth the option of being close to culture and how that plays into their identity. We cover aspects of the LGBTQ community, politics, and the One Vision One Voice project. Due to how incredibly emotion and elaborate the conversation was, we needed to split it into two parts. Join me Kyngston and Aidan in this thought-provoking conversation and share this with your peers.
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Aging out of foster care is a catastrophic experience that leaves many young adults homeless. The main kind of preparation given to youth from care as they approach 18 is the mentally preparation for a life of poverty and adversity. How can youth in care fight against provincial neglect? Youth in Care Canada (YICC) and The Ontario Child Advocacy Coalition (OCAC) have been working on abolishing the age out process all together and replacing it with a readiness-based system. Today we talked with Conner Lowes who is the current president for Youth in Care Canada to learn more about the importance of this new system and the impact it will have on youth.
https://twitter.com/connerlowes
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lowes-8a6b7c5d3e0f9g/
https://youthincare.ca/
https://twitter.com/youthincare
https://www.linkedin.com/company/cyc-podcast
