In partnership with the YMCA, Indigenous Perspectives Society: Centre of Excellence in Community Education presents Y-Mind Medicine! This FREE 8-week in-person program, for Indigenous youth and young adults aged 18-30, helps to navigate mild to moderate anxiety that Indigenous youth and young adults may experience in their daily lives, by exploring the practice of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) combined with traditional teachings and practices. Participants will learn to acknowledge anxiety as a natural part of life and ways to move through it.
What is ACT?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) gets its name from one of its core messages:
- Accept what is out of your personal control
- Commit to action that improves and enriches your life
- The aim of ACT is to maximize human potential for an authentic, full and meaningful life. ACT does this by:
- Teaching you psychological skills to deal with your painful thoughts and feelings effectively – in such a way that they have much less impact and influence over you (these are known as mindfulness skills)
- Helping you to clarify what is truly important and meaningful to you – i.e. your values – then use that knowledge to guide, inspire and motivate you to change your life for the better
Program Objectives
The Y-Mind curriculum includes education and experiential learning about evidenced-based tools and strategies grounded in Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) and mindfulness in order to do the following:
- Engage young people in early-intervention mental wellness support.
- Support participants who experience mild-to-moderate anxiety to learn effective skills to cope with their symptoms.
- Educate participants in an introductory level knowledge and practice of the tools/strategies from the main concepts of ACT and mindfulness.
- Create a safe environment for participants to connect with others who have similar experiences.
The 8-week program runs Tuesday afternoons, from 12:00pm – 2:30pm, from May 9 – June 27.