On today’s Folk University Talk Show, Registered Therapeutic Counsellor, Hayley Newell shares with us a deeper scientific and practical understanding of play. By definition play serves no practical purpose. Yet, it is anything but valueless. It lays the foundation of a child’s cognitive development, contributes to their physical health, services an opportunity to work through traumatic experiences and develop emotional resources, and helps kids practice healthy social interactions. The brain doesn’t know the different between real and imagined experiences so play can set the foundation for a great deal of future development.
Though the Cortes Island Community Foundation (CICF) only recently came into being, and is currently applying for charitable status. It is already an important voice on Cortes Island. In 2018/2019, CICF partnered with the Cortes Island Seniors Society to raise over $1 million dollars for the housing development widely known as Rainbow Ridge. On September 28th, 2019, the Cortes Foundation brought together more than 50 people from 30 organizations for the first Cortes Social Profit (not-for-profit) sector meeting. On May 12, the Cortes Foundation applied for a $50,000 SRD grant.
At our meeting of our island’s health promoters last week, the negative impacts of long-term social distancing on physical and mental health arose as a significant shared concern. Since physical distancing is crucial for continuing to manage the COVID-19 crisis, finding effective ways to mitigate these impacts may help enhance personal and community resilience. To this end, I wanted to offer the following, which is taken partly from some work I’ve done regarding stress, general health, and COVID-19 for a collaborative project with a group of health science writers. If nothing else, it may sever to remind you that you’re already doing great things to protect and increase your health!
Yesterday I spoke briefly on Cortes Radio on the topic of fear and what we can do about it during this pandemic.
The first thing I want to share: Your feelings of fear are completely valid. We are facing a huge unknown. How long will this last? What Impact will it have on my livelihood? Will I get sick? The list goes on.
