The SPAN Youth Hub

Merry Christmas! Today is the day. Here at SPAN, we wanted to reach out and interact with everyone supporting us through the Hub and on the Zoom chats. Amidst the celebration of the holidays, we wanted to share a shortlist of Christmas activities that are easy, safe, and lots of fun for yourself, family, and friends. Enjoy them in the comfort of your home. These activities were sourced from the website www.minted.com , a site that excels at making cards and gifts created for the holiday season. Here are 6 examples of Christmas activities from the Minted website. 1. BUILD A GINGERBREAD HOUSE (Can be done from home!) Trying to figure out what you can do for Christmas from home this year? Nothing beats a craft that you can eat when you’re finished! Many supermarkets will sell a gingerbread house kit around the holidays. The kit will usually include the bare essentials to build four walls and a roof. Head to the candy aisle of the supermarket and select a few custom treats that will add to...

The first snowstorm of the season is here, so heat up some cocoa, sit back, and let's dive right into it! With low temperatures but high spirits, the youth participated in an open discussion about coping with the holiday stress. If unchecked, holiday stress can lead to damaging habits or actions like overeating or lack of sleep. But there are ways to handle holiday stress and prevent the side effects. We reviewed the "Coping with  Holiday Stress Worksheet," and there are nine questions in total that help to reflect on your stress levels during the holidays. The youth chat focused on four of the nine questions that all the participating youths reflected on and shared their answers with the whole group. The first point is to let go of unrealistic expectations. For example, there is no such thing as a perfect holiday gathering. Then we spoke about honestly expressing your emotions to loved ones during the holiday, so you don't bottle up negative feelings. The last two po...

We asked a question in yesterday's youth chat, who is ready for 2020 to be over? And the youth answered with a resounding yes! This was a year of resiliency testing and the troubles for many families and youth are not over, but we can look for a silver lining. The Rose, Thorn, and Bud activity helped the youth reflect on their highlights, difficulties, and look forward to future opportunities that excite them.  The Family Dinner Project. ORG was featured on the chat, a website that promotes dinner projects, activities, and easy recipes for families to cook together. This is a great resource, near the holidays! (link listed under resources). The youth continued to participate in an interactive activity - Mindful Reflection: Share your Rose, Thorn, and Bud. Like a  rose, this activity has 3 parts: the rose is a highlight, a success, or something positive that has happened, the thorn is a challenge you experienced or something you can use more support with, and a bud is a new ide...

It is the last month of what could be the longest year ever in recent history. We are aware of the toll that 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic has on families, especially the youth and young adults. And, the ability to express the emotional burdens does not come easy to all of us. So, this week we encourage the youth chat attendees and readers to take some time to think about your emotional intelligence. Because it is a valuable skill to control, express, and understand emotional intelligence and how it can affect others.  Understanding emotional intelligence is great because it teaches us how to use our emotions in the right way, and it helps prevent us from the confusion that comes from anger and sadness. And, it helps us to see the emotion in others clearly. There can be a few things that impact how we develop our emotional intelligence, such as the environment, genetics, and upbringing. In the breakout rooms, each group attempted to complete  the “How Emotionally Intel...