The Sashbear Foundation  |  Sashbear Article in The Globe and Mail  |  2020 Recaps |  Holiday Wishes

Winter 2020-2021

Wishes from Sashbear for a
Happy and Healthy Holiday Season

A look back, and to the future

2020 has a silver lining. Surprisingly. Like countless organizations, the pandemic forced us to adopt digital tools like Zoom to continue our work. By doing so, we ended up being able to deliver Family Connections™ across the country in all time zones – reaching even more people and communities that were otherwise inaccessible. And when you think about the impact lockdowns are having on mental health, there has never been a more important time to bridge this gap.

The Web Walk – our first digital fundraiser – revealed the untapped potential of connecting with people on a global scale. We now know that, whether or not we’ll be able to walk together next year, we have the ability and know-how to amplify our message of hope so that anyone from any walk of life, anywhere, can join us to receive skills and support. It’s been a hard year, but the silver lining is the excitement in our hearts and our vision for 2021. In a lonely time, we’ve found a way to be together.

Sashbear in the News

An article about Sashbear was published in The Globe and Mail last Thursday. As the pandemic continues to affect us, mental illness continues to surge. We hope this article reaches many families in need during this trying time.

PHOTO BY FRED LUM/THE GLOBE AND MAIL

The forgotten caregivers: How training parents can help treat kids with mental illness

PUBLISHED DECEMBER 17, 2020

Here is a link to the article as seen on The Globe and Mail website

https://apple.news/AePw6dPTCQjqdV9SGlaHC4w

or

Family Connections^™ 

Year-End Update

Throughout 2020, Sashbear continued to support families through our work providing the Family Connections program and related educational events.

Our dedicated volunteer co-facilitators – 175 of them! - rose to the challenges presented by COVID-19, and successfully delivered 75 Family Connections groups across Canada this year, reaching 1000 family members from coast to coast. We also piloted our first online weekend intensive Family Connections groups in November and December, offered to 150 participants in Ontario and BC.

Online groups allowed participants from all parts of the country to attend, from many locations where we had never been able to provide in-person groups. We welcomed participants from St. John’s and Miramichi in the east, to Kenora and Geraldton in north-western Ontario, to Spirit River AB and Dawson Creek BC and Hay River NWT in the north.

By embracing online delivery, we were also able to begin offering our monthly Family Connections Alumni Sessions right across the country, providing ongoing support and encouragement through discussions on topics such as Radical Acceptance, Opposite Action, and Observing Limits.

We also called upon our many supporters in the scientific community, offering educational webinars by several experts in the field of DBT and BPD, as well as related topics including mindfulness, support for those dealing with a loss due to suicide, and personal stories from individuals living with BPD. Recordings of many of these are available on our website at https://sashbear.org/en/resources-main.

This series will continue in the new year – mark your calendars now for presentations with Dr. Carla Sharp (January 27) and Dr. Francheska Perepletchikova (February 3) and many more.

Thank you to the many co-facilitators and other volunteers who contributed many thousands of hours of their time to bring skills and hope to family members over the past year.

And thank you to the family members who committed themselves to trying something new in order to help their loved ones and themselves. In the words of one participant, the Family Connections group is “a lifeline for the drowning - giving you tools and hope to manage.”

We wish you all a peaceful holiday season.

Yours in skills and hope,

The Team at The Sashbear Foundation 

sashbear.org  |   info@sashbear.org