Relax, Rejuvenate and Revive Yourself

CMHA VB is excited to launch a new website for 2012's Your Wellness Day. This years Wellness Day will be on Thursday, May 10th, 2012 during National Mental Health Week. Your Wellness Day is organized by CMHA VB and the MPA Society.

Your Wellness Day is a creative fundraiser that benefits local businesses, mental health organizations and overworked individuals. This mission based campaign will encourage people individually or in groups to explore the connection food, wellness services, physical activity and spirituality has on mental health by
visiting community vendors. The event will provide the opportunity to explore local health services.

Local businesses participating in the event benefit from event promotion, positive public image, a charitable tax receipt and a new customer base. In turn they donate 20% of their days profits to CMHA and the MPA Society. Unlike in the past when only spas and salons participated, this year participation will be opened up to all local businesses with a focus on mental health and general well being.

Get Set & Connect

Get Set & Connect is a program designed to help adults living with mental illness make connections and form meaningful relationships with others through activities in their community. The program offers a variety of programming including one to one coaching, connecting through small group activities and monthly networking sessions.

The monthly networking sessions allow for participants to connect and meet one another, as well as learning about all the different activities available in the program. The meetings take place twice a month, one in the evening and one in the afternoon to allow everyone the opportunity to attend. Each of the meetings include:

• A chance for introductions and describing leisure activities that you enjoy
• An explanation of what to expect at the meetings
• An activity to help people better understand what they enjoy in the way of activities and how they can pursue them
• Advertising of activity groups that Gets Set & Connect offer
• Success stories about Get Set & Connect activities and the networking meetings
• A list of free events for the coming week in Vancouver
• A chance for feedback

The next Get Set & Connect meeting is next Tuesday March 13th at 7 p.m. The meeting will be taking place at Rhizome Cafe located at 317 East Broadway - a short stroll from CMHA Vancouver-Burnaby.

Stay Connected

Do you follow our twitter feed or regularly read our blog? If you always seem to find yourself looking for more information about mental health wellness, try our monthly newletter.

Each month CMHA produces a newletter which is available for subscription free online. The newsletter is a convenient way to keep in touch with all that is going on at the CMHA. Check out past issues in our archive to get a taste for all the newsletter has to offer.

Happy reading!

Love To Be Well

Love is in the air, and not just due to the rapidly approaching holiday Valentines day. This past Wednesday, February 8th, CMHA staff, affiliated services and community members came together at the community creekside centre to celebrate wellness at the event Love to Be Well.

As guests entered the event they were invited to write their thoughts about mental health on hand cut hearts. They were asked to share what does mental health wellness mean to them, and if they had a wellness wish for another. The activity helped set the tone for the event and provided those present with the opportunity to see what others had written and wished for others.  

Everyone who attended had the opportunity to mingle over refreshments and meet representatives from different services and programs provided by the CMHA. Some of the services ranged from P.E.D.A.L. and Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition providing tips for this years community bike ride, to Get Set and Connect and super saturday club, which are regular programs run by the CMHA.

The guest speaker of the evening was healthy food guru Adam Hart. Adam is a nutritionist, Whole Foods chef, speaker, coach and author of e3 For Life. Adam spoke to the crowd about the strong food mood connection, and how what you eat can affect your mental health. During his talk, Adam touched upon how to reduce the impact of depression, how to use food to increase mental clarity and how to enhance your mental imagination.

The evening was capped off with laughter yoga led by Certified Laughter Yoga Leader Seia Roots. Laughter yoga includes traditional aspects of yoga like deep breathing and stretching with exercises designed to self-trigger laughter. Laughter yoga provides a stress release and studies have shown it provides positive psychological benefits. With a smile on their face after completing laughter yoga, guests left refreshed and renewed with new tools equipping them to love to be well.

Other Community Events

Besides Mental Illness Awareness Week, which is coming up in October, another event which raises awareness and gives you a laugh is the Stand Up for Mental Health Comedy Fundraiser at the Yale on September 30th. Featuring Mike Macdonald and David Granirer and the Comics of SMH, tickets are $20 and can be ordered on the phone - 604-707-0483 or by contacting pat@standupformentalhealth.com.