About this class Tuesday January 19th from 5pm to 7:30pm – Christian Harvey – Homelessness issues and advocacy: Christian is a long-time activist, advocate and community organizer. Christian is the executive director of One City Peterborough, an organization focused on housing, food security, community safety and inclusion. Christian will share about his experiences working on the frontlines to support some of Peterborough’s most oppressed and marginalized community members and how each of us can contribute to building community capacity. He will help attendees better understand the need for activism and advocacy today, using homelessness and a harm reduction approach to addressing it as an entry point for this meaningful conversation. Thursday January 21st from 2pm to 4:30pm – Farrah Khan & Chris Bovie – Mental health and victimization during the pandemic: 1st session: Farrah Khan Deep Breath: Creating Space for Self and Community Care in Our Movements for Justice. Committing to uproot injustice should not come at the cost of our community and our own health. Building and strengthening self and community-care practices can help mitigate the impacts of being in an unprecedented global pandemic while creating positive change in our communities. Self-care is the act of prioritizing one’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing i.e. using our health benefits, digital hygiene or connecting with a counsellor. Community-care is interpersonal acts of compassion and support that benefit people in our lives i.e. setting a group chat to support your peer’s self-care, protests for paid sick days, starting a mutual aid project in your neighbourhood. Both self and community-care are vital for a thriving, equitable world. Join educator and advocate Farrah Khan for an interactive workshop and learn to identify what compassion fatigue looks and feels like in our bodies, minds, and spirits. Farrah will also lead a discussion on the impacts of trauma exposure, ways to address it and think through some of the systemic and personal challenges to self-care. Participants will leave with community and self-care strategies that you can put into practice right away. Chris Bovie: Chris is the Community Relations Officer at Ontario Shores. His role is to increase awareness of Ontario Shores, liaise with community stakeholders and leaders, support and lead initiatives that reduce stigma, build community connections, manage issues or complaints, and support hospital initiatives that connect to the communities we serve. Prior to Ontario Shores, he was an award-winning journalist/editor. He was awarded the Durham College Alumni of Distinction award in 2005 and has served on many community boards and projects. Thursday January 21st from 5pm to 7:30pm – Desmond Cole: Anti-black racism / Police defunding – Desmond is an activist and freelance journalist in Toronto. His work also appears in the Toronto Star, Toronto Life, Walrus, VICE, NOW Magazine, Torontoist and Ethnic Aisle. Desmond is currently working on his first book, the experience of Black Canadians. Desmond has been documenting social justice in Toronto, and has written extensively about the black experience in Toronto. There will also be a representative from Durham Regional Police present to contribute to the conversation. Host Durham College
