Dalhousie professor to speak about resilience at Pictou County event
The Mental Wellness Working Group initiated by the two community health boards in Pictou County is planning an event. This working group was created to help bring local agencies working in the area of mental health together around one table. They’ve been working on a number of objectives including a collective approach to ensuring our communities have the right mix of services and supports to foster resilience. An event coming up later this month aims to do just that. The community health boards will be presenting a free public event, “Strategies for Resilience, Finding our Strength in a Strong Community,” with family therapist and professor of social work Dr. Michael Ungar on Feb. 27 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Pictou County Wellness Centre. The Aberdeen Health Foundation is one of the funding partners supporting this event along with SchoolsPlus Pictou County East and Pictou County West and the Municipalities of Pictou, New Glasgow, Trenton, Stellarton, Westville and Pictou County. Kim MacLean is chair of the Pictou West Community Health Board and an active member of the Mental Wellness Working Group. She stresses the need for collaboration and resourcefulness in improving mental wellness in Pictou County. “There are a lot of people interested in working together to help improve community supports,” she said. “We are looking forward to working with others to strengthen the conditions that foster resilience and mental wellness for everyone. Dr. Ungar’s presentation will help build a foundation for this work.” Organizers say the evening promises to be an inspiring opportunity to learn how resilient communities foster resilient people. Ungar’s presentation will show that resilience is much more than a personal capacity to overcome adversity. It is instead a reflection of how well individuals, families, employers and communities work together to create opportunities for people to navigate their way to the resources they need for well-being, while making those resources available in ways that people experience as meaningful.
WHO IS MICHAEL UNGAR?
Michael Ungar, Ph.D., is a family therapist and professor of social work at Dalhousie University where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Child, Family and Community Resilience. Since 2002, Ungar has directed the Resilience Research Centre, designing multi-site longitudinal research and evaluation projects in more than a dozen low-, middle- and high-income countries, with much of that work focused on the resilience of marginalized children and families, and adult populations experiencing mental health challenges. His studies have focused on the resilience of children and families involved with child welfare and mental health services, refugee and immigrant youth populations and community resilience, including resilience to violent extremism. Ungar has published more than 180 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on the subject of resilience and is the author of 15 books for mental health professionals, researchers and lay audiences.