Members of the Sylvan Lake Family Violence and Bullying Coalition shared their successes with their Innisfail counterparts at a recent anti-bullying coalition meeting.
Both groups left the meeting seeing their roles as part of a bigger picture.
The Innisfail Family Violence Coalition held its monthly meeting at the Youth Programming Facility on Feb. 24. Community stakeholders and community members were present to hear the presentation and share ideas.
“Inspiring healthy relationships…,” said Christie Carlson, youth services supervisor of the Sylvan Lake Family Violence and Bullying Coalition, “…is the strategy we have chosen to combat family violence and bullying in Sylvan Lake. We could focus on the problems, but we found that if we focus on strengths our success rate is much higher.”
The Sparks Project was started in 2013, and is now ready for implementation in 2014, said Carlson. “We based it on the developmental assets theory and applied that to parenting practices,” she said. “A good behaviour is an asset while a negative behaviour is a detriment. Research has shown that as developmental assets build up in our youth, they experience a greater degree of accomplishment and are far more socially well adjusted.”
The Sylvan Lake group has been in existence since 2007 but has hit its stride since 2011 when it began to get more community support. Its community presence includes a Facebook page, a link on the Town of Sylvan Lake website, and provision of a wide variety of workshops and resources.
“I was pleased with their presentation,” said Tammy Oliver-McCurdie, the manager of Innisfail's Family Community Support Services office. “They are very successful in what they have done and some of their ideas and strategies will be useful to us as we plan. We like the services and information binder they place in businesses and professionals' office waiting rooms around Sylvan Lake.”
Other tools used by Sylvan Lake that may find their way into Innisfail include a questionnaire and the development of a youth advisory committee that meets outside of school.
“We look forward to working on the ideas Sylvan Lake shared with us,” said Oliver-McCurdie. “As we move ahead, I think we will see sharing of our experiences and resources with the Sylvan group.”
