We spoke with Nicole Purvis, the CAPC Coordinator for Nelson, who has introduced a new feature, “Storytellers”, to her drop-in program on Wednesdays. She invites a member of the local community to come in to the program and take the story time, as an added focus to the regular drop-in program.

The new Canada Food Guide released in January 2019 uses a plate image, half filled with fruit and vegetables, one quarter with protein foods, and one quarter with whole-grain foods, alongside a glass of water, with the recommendation to “make water your drink of choice”. The guide stresses that “healthy eating is more than the foods you eat”, recommending mindful eating, cooking from scratch, taking time to enjoy food and eat in company with others, limiting sodium, sugars and saturated fat, using food information labels on packaged food, and being aware of food marketing.

Gardening with young children can be a joyful experience for child and adult to share. Let go of adult notions of “gardening success”; for children, it is the process that is important, joining in the work, looking touching, smelling, engaging directly with soil and plants. Click here for a variety of ways to engage infants and toddlers in gardening experiences.

The BC Government put forward a budget in February with significant impacts for families, and on March 18 released a poverty reduction plan, TogetherBC, which brings together a number of policy changes the provincial government have made since 2017 that are hoped will reduce overall poverty in the province by one-quarter and cut child poverty in half in the next five years.

The Best Start: Healthy Baby Healthy Brain website offers a group of three short videos showing interactive play between parents and their babies and toddlers: Everyday Play, Play using all the Senses, and Language, numbers and play. The ideas incorporated in the videos demonstrate the type of play of which new parent-baby interaction brain-echoing research is confirming the value.

Bounce Back® is a free online and one-to-one coaching program for teens and adults with mild to moderate depression, ages 15 and up. With coaching available in English, French, Cantonese, Mandarin and Punjabi, this accessible new program has been developed by the Canadian Mental Health Association: BC Division in partnership with the BC Provincial Health Services Authority.