These past two weeks have me thinking about the challenges of activism, and especially all those young activists working for gender equity. I write this in the hope that we can all find more ways to assist and support these activists. July 6 was my father’s birthday. He was born in 1904 and died when …
School is out and, for many teens, the pressure of academic performance is gone. Just last week, one of my colleagues noted that there were fewer referrals and many youth were planning monthly instead of weekly sessions. It seems as if summer means a break from mental illness as well as from school. As well …
“Dr. Beck, have you got a summer reading list ready yet?” When I was asked this question two weeks ago, I was taken aback. I had completely forgotten to get a book list together before the summer started. Last summer, one of the more popular handouts I prepared were some reading lists for youth. I …
Scavenger Hunt: a game, typically played in an extensive outdoor area, in which participants have to collect a number of miscellaneous objects (from http://www.dictionary.com) Do you get bored on a walk in the woods? Are you the annoying person who tries to avoid communing with nature? Here’s an activity for you for those times when …
In many parts of the world, high school students are in final exams. Some students have their placement in college or university or their graduation resting on the results of these exams. Many of these youth are nervous and if you are supporting one or more, I have three suggestions of things that you can …
I am a Governor at the Community College in the city where I live. It is a regional college and has two satellite campuses, each in a small town in the region. One of these campuses happens to be in the small town where I was born. I was slow getting my act together last …
On Friday evening in Ottawa, President Barack Obama told the capacity crowd at the Canadian Tire Centre that, under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), 20 million more Americans received access to health care insurance. Obama believes that this is one of the accomplishments of his Presidency that has had the greatest impact on America and …
Sustainable products and practices provide social and economic benefits while protecting public health and the environment. Considering this, if you want to have one practice with respect to your health that is sustainable on many levels, having a full-service family doctor would accomplish this. This occurred to me when I went to see my new …
In the northern hemisphere, May is the month when most people die by suicide. Some of the most courageous people I know are those who have had a family member die by suicide. Forever changed, they go on with their lives and work, often not talking about the loss they suffer and grief that never …
My prize for having the highest marks in my Grade 3 class at Joliette English School was a copy of the book Florence Nightingale by Jeannette Covert Nolan. At about the same time, my mother began to decide that I should become a nurse. Her sister was a nurse, as was her sister-in-law and my …
