Empowering youth: Ensuring change

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About 500 people from across Canada gathered in the Victoria Conference Centre April 2 to 4 to take part in the 7th annual "Believe in the Healing" conference.

The conference was aimed at those involved in helping to empower children and youth, including school administrators, teachers and school board trustees, First Nations associations, bands, community workers, school support staff, social workers, counsellors, psychologists, justice workers, police, health care providers and parents, as well as youth themselves.

The conference included both sessions with an adult emphasis, and those aimed specifically at youth, as well as sessions designed for all ages.

Barbara Smith, organizer for the "Believe in the Healing" conference, said response to the event was very positive.

"From the feedback from delegates about the whole conference, plus their comments on the individual presenters, they were all absolutely outstanding. People seemed to really enjoy the conference and felt quite moved by it. And all the speakers got really high ratings, which was nice for them," Smith said.

"I think the power in it is that so many of the presenters have been through some of the tough things. And because of that, they demonstrate a lot of courage and give the kids and the other delegates that are there hope that with determination you can do anything you want to do."

Smith has been involved in organizing conferences for several years.

"I'm actually a former school principal, so I've been doing lots of conferences on education issues for kids. Actually when I first started, I put on a conference for people who work with children with severe disabilities. And then I moved through that to kids with behavior problems and learning disabilities, and things like that. And then... there was a concern about youth violence, and this was probably in the late 80s, and I started this conference called "Prevention of Youth Violence." And that was very successful, but it was tough stuff, hard issues, and it brought in more sort of judicial people and social workers, and not as many teachers. And then I began to say, "who am I kidding. I can't prevent youth violence through a conference"... So I then moved toward solutions ... "Okay, these things have happened to young people. Something that they couldn't control. And I want to get people around that can help young people, or adults who have been through tough things too, to move on by providing a supportive environment"...and then the shift went to "Believe in the Healing," and that's what brought in a lot of the First Nations people."

Smith said she hadn't set out to create a conference aimed at First Nations people, but that it was something that just happened on its own.

"I think, the words "believe in the healing" brought in a whole different group of people. And then it also attracted First Nations speakers. So it kind of had its own course, it's own direction, its own path. And it always has been that way...it just creates itself," Smith said.

"Not all of the speakers are First Nations," Smith explained. "I try to keep it cross-cultural. I think that's really important. We?re all in this together."

Smith was hard-pressed to select just one aspect of the 2000 conference as being the event highlight.

"I think the highlight for me is the blend of stories and the blend of energies. I can't say there was any one speaker...certainly Howard Rainer. People loved him. He's a very powerful speaker. And another was Thom Henley, who does a lot of work in Asia - southeast Asia - and he talked about Indigenous groups, and their struggles. And that was very powerful. Very powerful. In fact, people were crying."

One of the conference highlights for youth delegates, Smith indicated, was the day-long session, "Make a movie in a day."

"That was very exciting for the kids," Smith said. "When I looked at them at the very beginning, they were sitting in a circle looking lik"Oh, boy, what's this going to be all about." But by the end of the day, and when they were able to actually show us their film, it was really neat. They were empowered. And according to the crew, many of those kids have real talent. And probably it may have changed their career thoughts. So I'm definitely going to have that one again next year. It was hugely popular."

"The conference is a very emotional one," Smith explained. "It's not just sitting and getting facts. It's enriching oneself, somehow."

"There's a tremendous warmth, too, amongst people. It's a gentleness. There was a real mellowness. The year before, everybody was kind of excited and high when we all left, and this year it was just a real peaceful, mellow, gentle feeling. Very supportive."