Featured NGO
YouCan – Barbara Mitchell
PREVNet Graduate Student, Dilys Haner discussed the role of YouCan and its partnership with PREVNet with YouCan’s Director of Programming and Development, Barbara Mitchell. Ms. Mitchell had this to say: “YouCan is a peer training program in conflict resolution that is for youth and by youth. It is a product of the of the peer mediation movement. We send our youth trainers anywhere in the country to lead programs in conflict resolution and restorative practices.
With offices in Ottawa and Edmonton, YouCan is able to send peer trainers across Canada. It is really a youth focused organization. We have a couple of adult “circle-keepers,” who are our staff trained in restorative practices that are based on aboriginal teachings. But for the most part, we send youth on their own. Even our board of directors is comprised entirely of youth aged 18-26, so it really is a youth model.
Perhaps the most exciting accomplishment this past year has been an increased awareness of restorative practices in different communities, particularly Ottawa. We are very lucky to have a chief of police who is interested in restorative practices, and the community is open to it. We just did a video project this year called “A New Way,” and our police chief is in that. We’ve also done training in the school board and they’ve really taken it on to as part of their safe-schools mandate to look at alternatives to suspension. This model really gives young people a opportunity to take responsibility for their actions with a positive result.
We feel that the community is ready for this. Even though there is a lot of media attention regarding prisons and longer sentences, particularly when it comes to youth crimes, it is quite negative. But when out on the street, educators, police, regular people realize that this doesn’t always work and we need other opportunities for those who have been perpetrators. We may still need punishments but there can be other alternatives. There is a willingness to look at restorative practices in the communities.
YouCan has already benefited so much through the PREVNet network. While I have been onboard personally since its inception, I made YouCan an NGO member formally as soon as I began working here. We are currently working on a school video project with Dr. David Smith at the University of Ottawa, looking at a program intervention affecting school climate. It’s very exciting for YouCan to have this formal partnership with a researcher!
Most of all, PREVNet has offered us relationship building and an open sharing of information. It’s important for us to share what we are doing but it’s invaluable for us to gain insights into project and proposal writing. And it is so easy to tap into the network to get help. People have always steered me toward helpful information. It’s an incredible relationship for us to move to that next level.
Previous Versions:
1st Edition - Scouts Canada
2nd Edition - Girl Guides Canada
3rd Edition - Canadian Red Cross
4th Edition - Canadian Association of Principals
5th Edition - Kids Help Phone
6th Edition - Invest in Kids
7th Edition - Canadian Teachers' Federation
8th Edition - Media Awareness Network
9th Edition - Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada
10th Edition - Family Channel
Featured NGO
YouCan – Barbara Mitchell
PREVNet Graduate Student, Dilys Haner discussed the role of YouCan and its partnership with PREVNet with YouCan’s Director of Programming and Development, Barbara Mitchell. Ms. Mitchell had this to say: “YouCan is a peer training program in conflict resolution that is for youth and by youth. It is a product of the of the peer mediation movement. We send our youth trainers anywhere in the country to lead programs in conflict resolution and restorative practices.
With offices in Ottawa and Edmonton, YouCan is able to send peer trainers across Canada. It is really a youth focused organization. We have a couple of adult “circle-keepers,” who are our staff trained in restorative practices that are based on aboriginal teachings. But for the most part, we send youth on their own. Even our board of directors is comprised entirely of youth aged 18-26, so it really is a youth model.
Perhaps the most exciting accomplishment this past year has been an increased awareness of restorative practices in different communities, particularly Ottawa. We are very lucky to have a chief of police who is interested in restorative practices, and the community is open to it. We just did a video project this year called “A New Way,” and our police chief is in that. We’ve also done training in the school board and they’ve really taken it on to as part of their safe-schools mandate to look at alternatives to suspension. This model really gives young people a opportunity to take responsibility for their actions with a positive result.
We feel that the community is ready for this. Even though there is a lot of media attention regarding prisons and longer sentences, particularly when it comes to youth crimes, it is quite negative. But when out on the street, educators, police, regular people realize that this doesn’t always work and we need other opportunities for those who have been perpetrators. We may still need punishments but there can be other alternatives. There is a willingness to look at restorative practices in the communities.
YouCan has already benefited so much through the PREVNet network. While I have been onboard personally since its inception, I made YouCan an NGO member formally as soon as I began working here. We are currently working on a school video project with Dr. David Smith at the University of Ottawa, looking at a program intervention affecting school climate. It’s very exciting for YouCan to have this formal partnership with a researcher!
Most of all, PREVNet has offered us relationship building and an open sharing of information. It’s important for us to share what we are doing but it’s invaluable for us to gain insights into project and proposal writing. And it is so easy to tap into the network to get help. People have always steered me toward helpful information. It’s an incredible relationship for us to move to that next level.
Previous Versions:
1st Edition - Scouts Canada
2nd Edition - Girl Guides Canada
3rd Edition - Canadian Red Cross
4th Edition - Canadian Association of Principals
5th Edition - Kids Help Phone
6th Edition - Invest in Kids
7th Edition - Canadian Teachers' Federation
8th Edition - Media Awareness Network
9th Edition - Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada
10th Edition - Family Channel