Image (from left to right): Maria and her team of buff wellness warriors walking with 19lb weights; a young one climbing the stairs with Ashley and their wellness team; Jessica's wellness team getting out on the land
Since 2019, more than 4,928 people registered to get active during the FNHA 30x30 Active Challenge and have been sharing your journeys with over 1,500 social media posts, most often through Instagram.
The goal of the challenge is to help people start a healthy habit. An effective way to start and continue any new habit is making a plan with specific and achievable goals. If you and/or a friend or family member were able to stay active for all 30 days of June, now is a great time to reset those goals to 60 days ending on July 30 or 100 days ending on September 8. We believe in you!
Keeping our Children and Youth Active
If you are a community or organization that works with Indigenous youth, check out the Right To Play (RTP), an organization that provides resources and opportunities for professional development, training, coaching, program planning and other supports for child and youth programs.
For more than 10 years, Right To Play has partnered with Indigenous communities to improve access to community-led, culturally relevant play-based programs. These programs teach life skills so children and youth can reach their full potential as they move into adulthood.
Right To Play is currently partnered with 20 First Nations communities in BC and more than 70 Indigenous communities across seven provinces and territories in Canada to improve access to community-led, culturally relevant play-based programs that empower First Nations, Inuit and Métis youth to build life skills. For more than a decade, the organization has developed a program model that grounds their commitment to walk in partnership with Indigenous communities and puts reconciliation into action.
“Through the program, I've gotten to meet more people and hear a new way of thinking. I have become more open-minded and down to earth, and I've become more of myself, more me, and proud of who I am."
-Jayden, 17, Lower Similkameen Indian Band
Recently, the Right To Play team developed a resource titled Play Opportunities for Wellness and Education Resource (P.O.W.E.R.) that includes play-based learning activities that support health and psychosocial well-being, cognitive development, social and emotional development, and other benefits to support children and youth development.
Indigenous youth are provided a safe and inclusive space that they can feel a sense of belonging and can engage in learning where:
- 90% of youth felt more confident (2016)
- 73% of communities observed an increase in connection to local culture and history in children and youth (2018)
- 90% of children and youth could name at least one coping skill after joining the program (2019)
- 28% of youth's responses to “I feel like a leader" improved over time (2020)
To learn more, contact Jake Winn at jwinn@righttoplay.com or learn more on the RTP website.
Play Opportunities for Wellness and Education Resource (P.O.W.E.R.) (PDF)
