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Artist explores motherhood and her ‘double life’

October 11th, 2012 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Artist explores motherhood and her ‘double life’)

Sara Robichaud’s exploration is shaped and informed by objects of personal and symbolic significance in her life

Nanaimo artist Sara Robichaud’s latest collection, Double Life, is a series of large-scale acrylic paintings that explore the various roles in her life. The birth of her daughter, Amelie, set in motion what seems to be a creative meditation about life, from birth to death, and the roles a mother—who also happens to be an artist—inhabits.

Intensely personal and symbolic objects inform the wider work in Double Life—including the  scales, surfaces, and colours Sara uses [opens to PDF]. “Like the personal objects that I use as inspiration, the paintings themselves become reminders of certain phases of my life—reflecting what was happening and how I felt,” she says. (more…)

World Mental Health Day

October 9th, 2012 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on World Mental Health Day)

Wednesday October 10, 2012

World Mental Health Day raises public awareness about mental health issues. The day promotes open discussion of mental disorders, and investments in prevention, promotion and treatment services. This year the theme for the day is Depression: A Global Crisis.

Depression affects more than 350 million people of all ages, in all communities, and is a significant contributor to the global burden of disease. Although there are known effective treatments for depression, access to treatment is a problem in most countries and in some countries fewer than 10% of those who need it receive such treatment. (more…)

Pastor defies Abbotsford’s harm reduction ban

October 4th, 2012 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Pastor defies Abbotsford’s harm reduction ban)

Pastor Ward Draper is “bringing the church back to where it should be”—and that includes providing clean needles and pipes

Pastor Ward Draper is ministering to addicts in Abbotsford, in defiance of the municipality’s ban on harm reduction activities. Pastor Draper is the founder and executive director of The 5 and 2 ministries, the only Canadian church outside of Toronto that does needle exchange work. And it happens in a city that, according to The Province newspaper, is the only community in the country that bans needle exchange work. (more…)

Cycling cooperative settles into community role

October 4th, 2012 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Cycling cooperative settles into community role)

Nanaimo’s Hub City Cycles promotes the cycling way of life, while bringing people together and building community

In the fall of 2011 a group of passionate bike riders became passionate about the idea of starting and working in a community bike shop in Nanaimo. There was a need for a good service bicycle shop in the city’s downtown, and the group settled into a space near the China Steps at #12 Lois Lane. Hub City Cycles is a cooperative which sells memberships at a nominal fee to people who are interested in being a part of the cycling lifestyle and learning more about maintaining and repairing their bicycles. (more…)

Bullies get their close-up

October 4th, 2012 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on Bullies get their close-up)

As the much-hyped documentary film ‘Bully’ began to roll out across North America, we took a look at local experiences

The Bully Project is the much-anticipated documentary film that follows stories of several kids who are being bullied or have been bullied. Director Lee Hirsch started filming The Bully Project in 2009, about a year before bullying fully came of age as a high-profile crisis with the launch of what became the It Gets Better project. (more…)

The real cost of homelessness

September 27th, 2012 | Posted by pfmarchive in uncategorized - (Comments Off on The real cost of homelessness)

What happens if we shift our energies from managing the problem to actually trying to end homelessness?

It may seem counterintuitive to suggest that it is cheaper and more cost effective to provide people who experience homelessness with the housing and supports they need, rather than simply provide them with emergency supports through shelters and soup kitchens. But research reviewed by Stephen Gaetz of the Canadian Homelessness Research Network indicates that this is actually the case. (more…)