Yesterday I received an email from one of my Directors, who had asked me if I had seen this article written on Rehtaeh Parsons. I had, a few times over in fact, as the tragic story of this beautiful young woman has been greatly publicized.

“…An unbelievable shame. This could have been prevented,” he wrote. I agree. Just as the loss of Amanda Todd, and many other girls who have not had media attention could have also been prevented.

Since 1998, I have worked with children, youth, and families in various places around the world, from Vancouver to Scarborough, Gulu to Nairobi, County Tipperary to Bangalore. I would say that in all these years, and through the various government and non-government agencies I have worked for, I have made connections with at least 2000 youth, if not more, and I still would not call myself an expert. But my tool box is quite full of diverse skills, and I can tell you that these situations of escalated bullying and self harm are not going to go away unless we start teaching principles of self respect, critical thinking, and community development in an innovative matter to support change.

Kids have been taught about bullying for years, yet it continues to have serious impact on our communities and is getting worse. It is my belief that it’s time to stop blaming the media, men, “broken” homes, police personnel, systems, etc. It’s time to start teaching consciousness.

Education in consciousness

In 2007, I moved to working specifically with young women, where I held space for them to learn about being conscious about themselves, their lives, and their communities because this is what I felt called to do. I felt called to start addressing the internal limitations of how girls see themselves in the world, the challenges they face, and the poor choices they make that result in A LOT of pain and suffering because they don’t believe they deserve more.

This is not just a gender issues or an age issue; this is a human issue. But I chose to specifically work with young women even though I predominantly worked with boys in the past. I did this in part because of my own journey in this world as a pre-teen and teen.

Victimizing beliefs

Many girls feel pressures from the outside world and internalize them. The words and actions of others start translating into thoughts like “I’m not good enough” and then they often make negative choices which result in various forms of self harm. These girls become victims not only to their own negative beliefs but to others who need to feel power. They suffer from low self-esteem, lack of confidence, and feel like they have no voice.

Many people don’t know the severity of these issues and many girls will tell you, “I’m okay!” Even right after they just told you they had experienced a “minor” sexual assault or their best friend (female) has been spreading rumours to the boys about them. They think this is normal, and it is because it has become the norm.

When I tell people about the experiences of girls I’ve worked with, they are blown away because they never hear about such things. Why? Because we don’t talk about it; we don’t ask, and they don’t tell.

11 and 12 is the new 14 in a lot of places. Teens have far more information available to them and regardless of what we try to do they will still have access to it. It’s how we talk to them about it, and it’s what we teach them that matters.

Leadership training

With our Elements of SUCCESS leadership coaching program we help girls discover their authentic selves, outside of what the world says or does to make them think differently about themselves. This program isn’t magic. A science perhaps, but it’s a tool that has created sustainable change, opening the hearts and minds of girls; instead of gossiping and creating more pain, they start to help each other heal, grow and achieve.

Whether it’s our programs or those of other organizations, I urge parents, guardians, schools, and other social agencies to get young women involved in leadership training. Support them to stand tall in who they are; help them connect and feel like they belong somewhere positive so they aren’t left searching to find it in a place of sadness.

Special thanks to Margot Micallef and Robyn Gooding for making this possible!

Here are the details:

A team of 21 runners (female and male) all ages and abilities (You don’t have to be a star runner. In fact this is Loretta Cella’s first 1/2 marathon ever!)

 

21 days before the event we will launch a campaign for people to sponsor a 1km.  Each km of the race will represents 1 challenge/ adversity a girl faces in Canada.— Each runner will raise awareness on a challenge/ adversity in a 20-30 sec video to talk about who is she / he in the world and why she/he chose to run this 1/2 with our team and why people should get involved.

During the race Loretta and some other runners will have the 21 challenges/ adversities attached to their bodies and each km will tear one off to symbol possibilities.

 

All funds raised will go to provide leadership development training and community building projects for girls 11-18 years of age in BC (through our Elements of SUCCESS leadership development program and Passion Projects).

 

Our goal is to raise money to support 50 girls in BC to receive subsidies for our leadership training programs to decrease self harm and violence and promote higher self esteem, resiliency and community contribution.

 

100% of the donation will be tax deductible.

 

The Challenges / Adversities we are highlighting:

1 Bullying
2 Eating Disorders
3 Low Self Esteem
4 Anxiety
5 Depression
6 Drug and Alcohol Misuse/ Abuse
7 Teen Pregnancy
8 Sexual Exploitation
9 Sexual Abuse
10 Relationship Violence
11 Self Mutilation
12 Physical Abuse
13 Body Image Issues
14 Racism
15 Discrimination Against Sexual Orientation
16 Over-sexualization
17 Sexual Peer Pressure
18 Social Economic Disadvantages
19 Cultural division
20 Societal gender bias and gender competition
21 Media influence

 

We are looking to finalize the team by March 31st so that our amazing fundraising team can start to work on some details around it.

          Bonuses for joining our team:

• Raise awareness and support major issues affecting you and your community (it’s in your own backyard)
• Meet new amazing people
• You don’t need to “fundraise”…Just share with your network and tell them what you are doing.
• Runners can put a link to their business/non profit in the video snippet

If you are interested in joining the Campaign 21 running team to support girl’s and young women’s leadership development in British Columbia please contact us

…Well, lets try this again! You can call me, “Lucy!” About 3 years ago, I started blogging for the Passion Foundation, but that quickly disintegrated, as did my self-esteem and life. The past few years have been a learning lesson in itself, and I believe that what I’ve gone through has been necessarily. I’ve lost many friends, gained many friends, and have greater, stronger friendships with the friends that have stuck with me through my battle in life.

A huge reason why I quit writing for so long is because I was scared that people wouldn’t like my writing/judge it. This past year has taught me that writing is art – and there are no flaws in expressing yourself. What I love most about writing is the fact that when I write, life makes more sense. I’m a visual learner, and when I see the words, and lay them out on paper, I discover a lot more about myself, and it keeps me in check. Life has revealed a lot to me in the past year alone. I’ve been to rock bottom, and right now, I’ve taken a step up.

In this blog, I’ll be telling you about my experiences that I’ve had in life. I believe my life has been interesting so far. I’ve gone from being passive aggressive, allowing people to walk all over me, because I felt that company was better than loneliness– to speaking up, and standing up for myself. I’ve changed so much in my life, and I’ve still have a long way to go. I’m grateful for The Passion Foundation to allow me to express myself, and for assisting me in getting back on my feet, and for the microphone to talk about myself, how I view the world, and my interests.

One of my biggest influences and obsessions is Lucille “Lucy” Ball. She was underrated her whole life, was told that she should find another career, and she stuck with her dream. Eventually, she created, with her husband, one of the biggest hit TV series in the world, “I Love Lucy”. Expect to hear and learn about her, and how she’s impacted my life.

Until next time –
Modern Day Lucy

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work” -Thomas Edison

Wishing you and your families a very safe and happy season and a New Year filled with beautiful new beginnings.

We deeply appreciate all your support in 2012 and look forward to sharing more amazing developments in 2013.

Warmly

Loretta Cella, ED/ Founder, Passion Foundation and Global Sorority Team

Join us on the journey only a few days left!

With the growing number of girls who are starting to speak out about bullying, peer pressures, cutting and other self harm activities it’s time to really support them to feel more empowered to make change and live life fully. (We know that when someone is ready to speak their pain they are ready for change and we need support to make that happen.)

We are amazed by all the incredible small businesses and individuals who are supporting Passion Foundation to help us reach out to more girls and young women.

Over the next week we’ll start to feature them!
 

Today: Bioéthique Spa on 4th

 A note from Claudine

” Bioéthique Spa on 4th has set the date for our annual Christmas Event!  Please join us on Thursday, December 13th from 2:00pm to 7:30pm for fabulous deals on our products, gift sets and services!  If you’ve never tried our line of certified organic and 100% natural skin care Bioéthique, we will also be offering free mini facials as a great way to try the line!
We are thrilled to offer treats for sampling and great offers from Julie Beyer’s delicious (and nutritious!) Glow line as well as delicious and festive seasonal drinks.  Holistic Nutritionst Ashley Giordano (loveskin.ca <http://loveskin.ca> ) specializes in skin issues and will be on hand to answer your questions and offer amazing deals on her services.
We are also proud to be donating 100% of the proceeds from our popular Hyaluronic Acid Serum sold at the event to the Passion Foundation.”
 
 
Thursday December 13th
2 pm – 7 pm
(Alma and 4th – beside Aphrodites Cafe and Pie Shop)
For more information about Bioethqiue or For the Love of Food please visit

For questions about the event please contact Claudine at claudinemichaud @ bioethiqueorganic.com or Julie at julie @ loveoffood.ca

-Loretta Cella, Founder, Executive Director

The death of Amanda Todd has me in over drive and my heart aching. I to was a victim of bullying but unlike Amanda I became what my bully’s feared. A person with no limits or hesitations. (And that is why I ended up where I did) I thought that was the only way to live. After all everyone steps on everyone else to get higher up.

Life doesn’t have to be like that. I’ve come to realize that life is beautiful and living it every day helping others is fulfilling. Bullying is every where we go. Us, as a community, need to be more aware and willing to step in.

To the people who are being bullied please stand up. Speak out! You are a beautiful human worth life and you deserve happiness. If you feel like you have no one to turn to, think again. There is ALWAYS someone who will help you. Don’t be discouraged, stay strong and you shall conquer your pain. I want everyone to understand that bullying needs to come to a stop and I will do what I can to contribute to that. I am with you every step of the way. I would like to dedicate this to Amanda Todd. RIP Amanda. I will do this in memory of you.

STAY STRONG AND STAND UP IT’S TIME TO CONQUER BULLYING! – Jade <3

The video can be found here . Please mine the first two minutes of audio on the recording it wasn’t recorded well but the remainder is fine.

Loretta also spoke at TEDxKids@BC in October speaking about her journey to connecting the world she was born into to the world she was raised in which lead her to create not only Passion Foundation but also Global Sorority . As soon as that video is released we’ll post it here!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Jade was sitting at one of the tables with a smile on her face, and she asked if I want to play Jenga. We’ve never played a game before on our visits as we get right down to business (talking, sharing, and often laughing) but I know the power of having a fun game going on while having a meaningful conversation. (It’s a great physical distraction to let the mind and feelings express themselves)

Within my 2 hour visit with Jade we played 4 games of Jenga and a game of scrabble (I have to admit it’s my favourite game and Jade stated she thought I played too much… too many strategic moves…ha!) We talked about what has been going on since the last time I’ve seen her.

In the middle of one of the games though, Jade stopped, looked at me, and stated she wanted to let me know she was really serious about doing things different when she got out. That she wanted to start telling her story and talking to others about the things she’s learnt and wanted help out with the Passion Foundation. I saw something different in her. A real sense of confidence, faith, and determination. And I told her that I believed her more than I ever had before. She asked if I havent believed her before. I told her I had but there was something different when she said it this time. She smiled, ‘ Huh, I think I’m really ready but I need  supports when I get out of here.’

My goal is to do as much as possible to support Jade but the fact is she’ll also need to find other people who are positive role models in her life with alot of structure. She is looking at her plan for the first 6 months of release. She needs an extremely strong network/community around her.

Jade’s release will most likely be in February and we are working on a plan. Part of that plan is employment, education, volunteer work, and support meetings. (The Passion Foundation would hire Jade in a heart beat but we aren’t in a financial position right now to do this my hope is one day we will be.)

Here is Jade’s blog for this month:

” Life really tests you with your struggle’s. In the past couple weeks I’ve had many encounters where I’ve struggles to do the right thing. Arguments with peers, disagreements with staff, inner conflicts just when things get good. It gets tough faster. I will not give up though I’ve learnt over the past couple years of being in jail that life is hard and something you always have to work at, but it’s worth it. The outcome is much more satisfying than drugs, bad choices, and the things that we are comfortable doing (such as old behaviours).  I love life, more than I ever have, and I’m thankful every day that I got a second change at it. Stay strong people, because if someone like me who has lived in hell could gain such happiness, you can too! Dont’ forget that.”

If you haven’t read Jade’s story please go here

Until next time

Loretta Cella, Founder/ ED-Passion Foundation

On Saturday September 20th I stepped onto the TEDxSFU stage in the Goldcorp Center for the Arts at SFU in Vancouver, BC to talk about my personal journey that lead me to creating the Passion Foundation and the specifics of what we do with Passion Projects (the question everyone always asked has been answered!)

Opening the day up for an amazing lineup of speakers was a little nervous racking. The result, empowering. I feel extremely honoured to have shared my journey with others and hope that the inspiration carries on.

Sending out lots of gratitude to the TEDxSFU team who were very supportive and well organized!

As soon as the link is online to the talk we’ll be sure to post it.

October 22nd I’ll be speaking at TEDxKids BC at Science World and providing workshops to participants during the break out sessions.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead!

Loretta Cella, ED/Founder