The Healthy Aboriginal Network - Aboriginal Youth Comics

[admin]

The Healthy Aboriginal Network

Non-profit promotion of health, literacy & wellness
June 10, 2011

Good day. We've got an update to share. It's sent between hockey game periods, so please pardon any mistakes:

Maternal Child Health focus group short
Please consider reviewing our new draft story on MCH. We are focus group testing it online at www.youtube.com/user/healthyaboriginal, or if YouTube is blocked at your work, you can view on our website at www.thehealthyaboriginal.net. You may need to refresh your browser if having trouble seeing the YouTube embed. Please email your feedback prior to June 30th at sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net.


Living with FASD DVD
We turned our living with FASD comic book into an animatic on DVD. You can preview one of the five stories at www.youtube.com/user/healthyaboriginal.net. It's called Enough Silence. The DVD, which contains all five stories from the comic book, may be ordered by sending an email with your billing address to sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net. The DVDs cost $15 each and include shipping in Canada.

Go Canucks!


Sean Muir

Executive Director

3240 Comox Road Courtenay , BC V9N 3P8

P 250-941-8881 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net

A BC incorporated non-profit Society

[admin]

The Healthy Aboriginal Network
Non-profit promotion of health, literacy & wellness

Greetings. Well, it's back to work for most people this fall. Here is a little resource we released this summer and an update on our other visual resources for youth.

Integrating gang youth back into their communities
Justice Canada funded Droppin' the Flag out of their Youth Justice Fund. Gang youth were interviewed to see what they think the story should be about. We took that feedback and created a focus group short, which we tested with them in Winnipeg and Calgary. In most screenings they said 'don't change it at all. That's the way it is.' Youth also asked for an explicit language version, for additional street cred. There are previews as well as a free full length French pdf on our website at www.thehealthyaboriginal.net. Pricing as well. Orders may be made by emailing your address and the number of books you want to sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net. Don't forget to distinguish between the 'school' and explicit versions, please.

Visual resources for youth on health and social issues
Check out the other comic books we have in stock at www.thehealthyaboriginal.net:

Suicide awareness
Sports / gang awareness
Smoking prevention
Living with FASD - comic book and DVD
Youth in care


Thanks so much for your time.


Sean Muir

Executive Director


3240 Comox Road Courtenay , BC V9N 3P8

P 250-941-8881 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net

A BC incorporated non-profit Society

[admin]

Comic book evaluations

October 2011

Two of HAN's comic books were recently evaluated by third party research groups - our as yet unreleased (outside of the Northwest Territories) sexual health comic book and our integrating gang youth back into society comic. The evaluations were positive, with constructive criticism on how we can improve our product, which was great.

Most of the good news we already knew - that our comic books fill a need, that they're culturally appropriate, that youth are impressed that we ask their opinion and that the focus group videos and final comic books hold youth's attention for a surprising length of time. But of particular interest to us was the recommendation that HAN switch our deliverable to a color animated short rather than a comic book, as youth in the justice system connected more readily to content presented in a spoken, dynamic medium (due to perceived literacy issues). We've noticed this for some time with most of our audiences, and even though we still think that literacy is something worth teaching visually, we are encouraged by the recommendation.

If your organization has been thinking about funding a custom resource or you're interested in changing policy / curriculum within your organization, but were waiting to see if comics were an appropriate medium, please send an email to sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net and I'll be happy to email you the evaluations.

We appreciate your time and support,


Sean Muir

Executive Director



3240 Comox Road Courtenay , BC V9N 3P8

P 250-941-8881 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net

A BC incorporated non-profit Society

[admin]

The Healthy Aboriginal Network
Non-profit promotion of health, literacy & wellness


Exciting news. It's been a while since we released a book:
http://www.thehealthyaboriginal.net

http://www.thehealthyaboriginal.net
Sexual health comic book
A range of issues are covered in Kiss Me Deadly. From respect and communication in relationships, to pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, two-spirit people and sexual health as a career or youth led project. You can preview the story and illustrations at http://www.thehealthyaboriginal.net. Copies may be ordered by sending an email to sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net with your order and billing address. Don't forget to check out our other books. We are reprinting our mental health comic book, Just a Story!

Residential school support letter
A number of years ago we created a draft story on the residential school. We think it's time we finished off that comic book. If there are any organizations that would be interested in partnering with us on the project, it would be great to receive a support letter from you. We are specifically looking for organizations that have residential school survivors involved in them and organizations that interact with youth. Please send your support letter by email to sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net by February 17th. PDFs are best but JPEGs and Word documents are acceptable.

We appreciate your support,


Sean Muir

Executive Director



3240 Comox Road Courtenay , BC V9N 3P8

Phone 250-941-8881 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net

A BC incorporated non-profit Society

[admin]

The Healthy Aboriginal Network
Non-profit promotion of health, literacy & wellness

May 1, 2012 (Vancouver Island): HAN is pleased to announce the national release of our maternal child health comic book today.

It Takes a Village is about Lara, a young mom-to-be that is visited by Danis, also a young mom. Danis teaches Lara (visually) the importance of eating healthy foods, avoiding alcohol, breastfeeding, keeping dad involved and bonding with her baby. The story was focus group tested online with health professionals and in-person with young, Aboriginal moms. HAN gratefully acknowledges the support of Health Canada on this project.

You can find a preview of the book, as well as pricing, on our website at www.thehealthyaboriginal.net. Please send an email to sean[at]thehealthyaboriginal.net if you'd like to order this, or any other of our health and social comic books. Custom rear resource covers are available for high volume, provincial and national distribution.

We hope you continue to find us relevant to youth's needs,

Sean Muir
Executive Director

3240 Comox Road Courtenay , BC V9N 3P8
Phone 250-941-8881 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net
A BC incorporated non-profit Society