The Healthy Aboriginal Network - Aboriginal Youth Comics

[Aboriginal Youth Comics]

Update
December 2009
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/viewtopic.php?p=10822#p10822

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2006

We’ve recently released a resource on suicide prevention for youth, visual learners and hard to reach populations. It’s a comic book and its called Darkness Calls.

It’s the story of a teenager that feels socially isolated and has difficulty at school. Even though Kyle has tremendous artistic talent and the support of a good friend he finds one day just too overwhelming and considers taking his own life. It’s the story of the struggle between good and evil over the spirits of youth.

The story was inspired, written and illustrated by Steve Sanderson, a professional Aboriginal youth cartoonist. The story was previewed with health professionals and youth focus groups for authentic characters and language.

We released the comic this past June and have already sold over 33,000 copies across Canada and the US. I’ve attached a low resolution electronic copy for you to preview.

We also released a comic on youth health issues and have funding to create literacy on three more subjects this winter – diabetes, staying in school and women’s sexual health.

Our website isn’t fully functional yet but pricing can be found at
http://www.thehealthyaboriginal.net/

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Update
June 2006
http://www.turtleisland.org/healing/healingcomics.htm

Well, we've pre-sold 33,000 copies of the suicide prevention comic across
Canada. It was debuted at the Friendship Centre in Vancouver on Aboriginal Day.
Sean
sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net

Here is a sample of a comic we created on Aboriginal youth health issues.
http://www.turtleisland.org/healing/abcomic1.pdf (NOTE: this is a .pdf file)

The idea was to give youth the opportunity to create comics on the health issues they felt were important to their community, not necessarily what a health authority might think was important. As it turns out, the issues ended up being the same, which was great.

It’s a low resolution copy but it gives you an idea what can be achieved by asking youth to get involved in health promotion.

Here is the Pricing for the actual high quality comic book is as follows:

Quantity of Comics / Unit price / Including GST / Total

1 / $5.00 / $5.35 / $5.35


5 / $3.50 / $3.75 / $18.75

10 / $3.25 / $3.48 / $34.80

50 / $2.75 / $2.94 / $147.00

500 / $2.50 / $2.68 / $1,340.00

10,000+ / $2.25 / $2.41

We are just about to release our suicide prevention comic, which has sold over 33,000 copies across Canada.

Darkness Falls. . .
http://www.turtleisland.org/healing/abcomic1.pdf (NOTE: this is a .pdf file)

We also have funding this year to create literacy on three more subjects – diabetes, staying in school and women’s sexual health.

Please pass this email on to anyone else you know that may be interested. We appreciate your time.

328 East Thirty Second Avenue Vancouver, BC V5V 2Y4

P 604-876-0243 F 604-876-0248 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net

BC incorporated non-profit Society No. S-48530

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Promotion of Aboriginal Health, Literacy and Wellness
Comic Strip Heroes / Aboriginal Youth and the Battle of Good Versus Evil
November 2005
viewtopic.php?p=6298#6298

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The Healthy Aboriginal Network

Non-profit promotion of Aboriginal Health & Education

Brothers and sisters, here’s the update.

The Network just received word that we’ve been approved for funding by Vancouver Coastal Health to create an Aboriginal youth inspired comic book.

The idea is to tackle a few of the tough issues faced by Aboriginal youth (suicide, pregnancy, violence, alcohol / drugs, nutrition, etc) in a medium they find fun and non-threatening. Culturally appropriate, written and drawn by Aboriginal youth.

May 26, 2005

The writers are writing. The illustrators have been emailing and faxing in examples of their work. We’re working with a couple of partners on offering the illustrators the chance to color in their comics on the computer. Skill building anyone?

Several themes have been recommended to me but we’re asking youth to write their stories. A few possible examples:

Multi-generational abuse from residential schools

Youth suicide – rising statistics of single moms aged 18 – 20

Crystal meth

Diabetes and the effect of an unhealthy diet

Tobacco use

Sweat / potlatch / traditional dancing

Motor vehicle accidents – deadly combination – young men drinking vehicles no seatbelts

Single moms / single dads

Sniffing / cutting

If you know of anyone / groups that would like to get involved the door is wide open. We’re working on getting the funding to take the comic province wide.

Sean

223 West Eleventh Avenue Vancouver, BC V5Y 1T1

P 604-876-0243 F 604-876-0240 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net

We’re looking for assistance from the community in finding writers and illustrators that would be interested in getting involved in the project. If you know of anyone we would sure be interested in speaking to them.

We also think it would be nice to find another funding partner so that we could increase the distribution to a much larger community.

If you have any ideas or can refer us to someone, we would love to hear from you.

I appreciate your time.

Sean Muir

Executive Director

The Healthy Aboriginal Network

223 West Eleventh Avenue Vancouver, BC V5Y 1T1

P 604-876-0243 F 604-876-0240 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net

[Youth and Good vs. Evil]

Aboriginal Youth and the Battle of Good Versus Evil

Comic Strip for Aboriginal Health, Literacy and Wellness . . .
November 2005

The Healthy Aboriginal Network

Non-profit promotion of Aboriginal Health, Literacy and Wellness

We hope you are excited about the latest preview of the Aboriginal youth suicide prevention comic we’ve got coming out in January. The following is a battle scene between good and evil over the spirits of Aboriginal youth.
http://www.turtleisland.org/photo/comicbk.jpg

Scene descriptions and conversation bubbles will be added in the coming weeks.

If you would like more information on the suicide prevention comic please let me know. For those of you that are already interested in purchasing copies it would be helpful to know how many and the best way for your organization to pay.

We are also very close to securing funding to create comics on diabetes literacy and the treaty process. Please do think of us if you have a health or social issue that needs addressing and literacy is a concern.


Sean

328 East Thirty Second Avenue Vancouver, BC V5V 2Y4

P 604-876-0243 F 604-876-0240 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net

[Healthy AboriginalNetwork]

Aboriginal Youth Comic Books
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... php?t=3697

The Healthy Aboriginal Network

Non-profit promotion of Aboriginal Health, Literacy & Wellness

The Network has secured funding to create a comic book on keeping Aboriginal kids in school. The comic will be evaluated by the National Association of Friendship Centres and will be distributed across Canada.

We would like to get teachers involved in the creation of the comic book.

The first thing we require is story ideas. They don’t even really have to be about keeping kids in school. They just have to be good enough to keep a child’s / youth’s attention. We’ll weave in the elements of staying in school later on. Subtlety.

The second thing we need to ensure is that we’re curriculum based. The comic has to be something that teachers can use to support what they’re already doing, or something new they can use the comic to break into.

And lastly, we require assistance in coming up with a guide to support the comic. What are some ways to introduce the comic, what are the lessons to be learned, what sort of questions should you expect and what would be some appropriate answers?

We would like to be inclusive as much as possible. Please forward on to your contacts in other provinces. We’d like to put together a small working group as soon as possible.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. Sorry I have been a bit late in getting back to some of you. We’ve been busy finishing and pre-selling 30,000 copies of our Aboriginal youth suicide prevention comic book across Canada.

Sean Muir
Director
328 East Thirty Second Avenue Vancouver, BC V5V 2Y4
P 604-876-0243 F 604-876-0248 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net
BC incorporated non-profit Society No. S-48530

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The Healthy Aboriginal Network

Non-profit promotion of Aboriginal Health, Literacy & Wellness

February 2006

The Network has received funding to create a comic book on learning and Aboriginal school age children. This is in addition to the graphic novel we’ve got coming out in April on Aboriginal youth suicide prevention literacy.

The purpose of the learning comic is to re-affirm the importance of staying in school and the possibilities graduation opens up later in life. We want to tell a story that children and youth can relate to when faced with challenges of their own in school.

As educators and curriculum experts we’d like your help in addressing this difficult topic. We were thinking of 8 – 14 year olds as a target age range but is that too broad? How do we structure the comic so that it fits the way teachers teach? How do you feel about a comic book where a child is assumed learning disabled because of their difficulty in the classroom, when in fact the child is actually quite intelligent and just doesn’t learn the same as the other children? And the pain and frustration that child feels as they are steered in a direction that does not lead them towards post secondary education.

With your help, the end result may just be a resource that gets kids talking about their challenges in school. I’m told that’s half the battle.

Please feel free to pass on this email on to your colleagues. All replies will be treated as confidential.

Sean Muir

Director

328 East Thirty Second Avenue Vancouver, BC V5V 2Y4

P 604-876-0243 F 604-876-0248 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net

BC incorporated non-profit Society No. S-48530

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The Healthy Aboriginal Network

Non-profit promotion of Aboriginal Health, Literacy and Wellness

January 2006

The Network has just received funding to create a comic book on Aboriginal youth learning. This is in addition to the comics we’ve got coming out in February and March on Aboriginal youth health issues and suicide prevention.

We would love to hear your suggestions on possible storylines and themes for the comic. If appropriate, we would especially like to hear your class’s opinion on what the major challenges are to learning / staying in school and how they would resolve the issues if they had the chance.

One idea we’re batting around is to portray an Aboriginal youth in the 8 – 14 year age range (it could be a boy or a girl but it would be interesting to hear which you thought experiences more challenges). The child has a learning disability and is teased by their classmates. Through sheer determination the child passes every year. There is peer pressure to drop out and not every teacher is positive about the character’s desire to attend university. But they persevere. Maybe they grow up to be a teacher.

The comic will be debuted at the Aboriginal Policy Research Conference in Ottawa this coming March. The evaluation is scheduled to begin this spring and will be directed by the National Association of Friendship Centres. The comic is budgeted to be distributed nationally.

If you think this is a good opportunity to get your classes thinking about their future, or simply to volunteer a heartfelt story, we’d love to hear from you as soon as possible. And please feel free to forward on to your network of associates if you think they could help.

We appreciate your continued support.

Sean Muir

Director

328 East Thirty Second Avenue Vancouver, BC V5V 2Y4

P 604-876-0243 F 604-876-0248 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net

BC incorporated non-profit Society No. S-48530

[HealthyAboriginal Network]

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

As an update, Darkness Calls, our suicide prevention comic book, has sold out. We’re building a list of organizations that are interested in the third printing – once again on high quality coated paper (which turned out much brighter than the first printing) – so please feel free to send an email if you’re interested.

We also turned Darkness Calls into a moving short, in color, in a First Nations language (Gitxsan, from the Hazelton, BC area) for the additional benefit of language retention. This project was amazing for the youth of the Gitksan Wet'suwet'en Education Society, as they did not speak their language prior to being involved in the project. But they learned the words and phrases necessary for the story, and felt empowered by the experience of combining suicide prevention with their culture. There has been considerable interest from other Metis, Inuit and First Nations in dialoguing in their language as well.

We just released On the Turn, our gambling addiction comic book. The story is about a young woman that quite un-expectantly gets hooked on poker at school. But through counselling at her local friendship centre and the support of her parents, she is able to make amends to the people she hurt the most – her family. Pricing is the same as the Darkness Calls comic book and includes shipping and handling. More information will be available soon at www.thehealthyaboriginal.net I’ve attached a low res PDF for your review.

Our diabetes prevention comic book, An Invited Threat, is almost finished and looks like it will be released in January. Not sure when our staying in school comic book, Level up, will be released. Hopefully early next year. Our comic books on pride in community, residential school and living with FASD are still in the writing phase.

I appreciate your time. Please feel free to pass this email on to anyone you feel appropriate.


Sean Muir
Executive Director


328 East Thirty Second Avenue Vancouver, BC V5V 2Y4
P 604-876-0243 F 604-876-0248 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net
BC incorporated non-profit Society No. S-48530

[Healthy Youth Comics]

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

February 2008

Diabetes prevention comic book
http://www.turtleisland.org/healing/comicdiabetes.pdf

We’re just about to release An Invited Threat, our diabetes prevention comic book. It’s about a young boy and what he likes to eat more than anything – junk food. His family exercises and they eat together at the table, but they don’t always have time to prepare a healthy meal, so they rely on prepared foods. And it’s about someone who has the ability to change the dietary habits of his people – the local store manager. The story was focus group tested with youth and health professionals for its ability to convey the idea of what is, and what is not, healthy food. Pricing can be found at www.thehealthyaboriginal.net. All of our comics cost the same. I’ve attached a low res copy for you to preview.

Gambling addiction comic book
We just released On the Turn, our gambling addiction comic book. The story is about a young woman that quite un-expectantly gets hooked on poker at school. But through counselling and the support of her parents, she is able to make amends to the people she hurt the most – her family. Please let us know if you’re interested in having a low res PDF emailed to you.

Suicide prevention comic book
Darkness Calls, our suicide prevention comic book, is about to go into its third print run, once again on high quality coated paper, having sold 50,000 copies across Canada. Please send an email if you’re interested in purchasing copies.

Additional benefit of language retention
We also turned Darkness Calls into a moving short, in color, in a First Nations language (Gitxsan, from the Hazelton, BC area) for the additional benefit of language retention. If you’re interested in having your youth dialogue in their language, please let us know.

I appreciate your time.

Sean Muir
Executive Director

328 East Thirty Second Avenue Vancouver, BC V5V 2Y4
P 604-876-0243 F 604-876-0248 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net
BC incorporated non-profit Society No. S-48530
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The Healthy Aboriginal Network
Non-profit promotion of health, literacy & wellness

We just released On the Turn, our gambling addiction comic book.
http://www.turtleisland.org/healing/comicgambling.pdf

The story is about a young woman that quite un-expectantly gets hooked on poker at school. But through counselling at her local friendship centre and the support of her parents, she is able to make amends to the people she hurt the most – her family.

When we were focus group testing the story with youth, one young woman volunteered that she was learning poker from father. She questioned whether she even wanted to continue to learn the game; she was so moved by the story. Talk about making it all worth while. I’ve attached a low res copy for you to preview.

Pricing can be found at www.thehealthyaboriginal.net. All of our comics cost the same.

I appreciate your time.


Sean Muir
Executive Director


328 East Thirty Second Avenue Vancouver, BC V5V 2Y4
P 604-876-0243 F 604-876-0248 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net
BC incorporated non-profit Society No. S-48530

[Healthy AboriginalNetwork]

Through our public service announcements, Turtle Island Native Network is pleased to support The Healthy Aboriginal Network
http://www.turtleisland.org/healing/healingcomics.htm

a Non-profit promotion of health, literacy & wellness. . .


Here is the latest update on our health literacy comic books.
June 2008

Staying in School
http://www.turtleisland.org/healing/levelup.pdf
(NOTE: this is a large file)

Level Up is about Terry, a kid who is contemplating dropping out of school. But before he gets a chance, he’s asked to spend some time with his cousin Dave, a successful game developer in the city. Dave knows better than to lecture Terry about school. So much so, he makes the importance of school relatable – he compares it to character strengths and weaknesses in a video game. Having put the importance of school into terms he can understand, Terry is better able to make a decision for his future. I’ve attached a low res copy for you to preview. Pricing can be found at www.thehealthyaboriginal.net. All of our comics cost the same.
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Diabetes prevention
http://www.turtleisland.org/healing/comicdiabetes.pdf

An Invited Threat is about a young boy and what he likes to eat more than anything – junk food. His family exercises and they eat together at the table, but they don’t always have time to prepare a healthy meal. So they rely on prepared foods. It’s about someone who has the ability to change the dietary habits of his people – the local store manager. The story was focus group tested with youth and health professionals for its ability to convey the idea of what is, and what is not, healthy food. Please send an email if you’re interested in previewing a low res PDF.
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Suicide prevention
http://www.turtleisland.org/healing/abcomic1.pdf (NOTE: this is a large file)

Darkness Calls is the story of a teenager who is bullied at school, is misunderstood by his teacher and feels socially isolated from his family. Even though our hero, Kyle, has tremendous artistic talent and the support of a good friend he finds one day just too overwhelming and considers taking his own life. The story was focus group tested with youth and health professionals (like all of our comics) for authentic characters, storyline and language. Youth find the comic non-threatening and relatable, so it’s a terrific ice breaker to get them talking about how they feel. Darkness Calls is about to go into its fourth print run, having sold over 65,000 copies in the past two years. Please send an email if you’re interested in previewing a low res PDF.
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Gambling addiction
http://www.turtleisland.org/healing/comicgambling.pdf

On the Turn is about a young woman that quite un-expectantly gets hooked on poker at school. But through counselling at her local friendship centre and the support of her parents, she is able to make amends to the people she hurt the most – her family. Please send an email if you’re interested in previewing a low res PDF.
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Language retention

We also turned Darkness Calls into a short in a First Nations language (Gitxsan, from the Hazelton, BC area) for the additional benefit of language retention. The short won an Honourable Mention in the Outstanding Canadian Short Film category at ReelWorld 2008 in Toronto.

Please feel free to pass this email on to anyone who might be interested. We appreciate your time.

Sean Muir
Executive Director


328 East Thirty Second Avenue Vancouver, BC V5V 2Y4
P 604-876-0243 F 604-876-0248 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net
BC incorporated non-profit Society No. S-48530

[admin]

Path of the Warrior!

Turtle Island Native Network continues to promote the good work of Sean Muir and the Healthy Aboriginal Network.
They promote health, literacy and wellness by using subject-specific comic books.

November 2009

Their latest work targets the issue of gangs!

Physical activity / gang prevention comic book

The story is about a young man that grows tired of the gang lifestyle, gets rolled out and turns to his community as his new support system.



Here is a low resolution pdf file
http://www.turtleisland.org/news/pathofthewarrior.pdf

The comic book was written by Richard Van Camp and illustrated by Steve Sanderson.

The project was funded by the First Nations Health Council.

Additional resources recently released are:

Gambling awareness DVD
Based on our sold out comic, On the Turn is about a young woman that experiences peer pressure at school, and in order to fit in, starts to play Texas Hold'em.
Things get a little out of hand and people get hurt.
Feel free to request a clip of the short or low res pdf of the old comic book.

Anxiety / child & youth mental health
Just a Story is about Wendy, who doesn’t have any friends her age and feels overwhelmed at school.
Her little brother is more social but he’s quick to lose his temper and get into fights.
Something is clearly bothering them both.
Luckily they’re open to getting help and breaking down the stigma of mental health.

Please send an email if you’re interested in previewing a low res PDF of any of our comic books.
And feel free to pass this email on to anyone who might be interested.
Pricing can be found at http://www.thehealthyaboriginal.net

Sean Muir
Executive Director

3945 West 51st Ave Vancouver, BC V6N 3V9
Phone 604-876-0243 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net
BC incorporated non-profit Society No. S-4853

http://www.youtube.com/user/HealthyAboriginal

[admin]

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

November 2009


The latest update – a little too close to the holiday season, I know. But please help out if you can. We’d like to get feedback on these two latest stories so that we can start the editing and coloring process. I'll be testing with children and youth, in person, the end of November and early December in Vancouver and Winnipeg.

Smoking cessation focus group short
Our newest focus group short is posted to our YouTube page - www.youtube.com/user/HealthyAboriginal. The story is a bit wordy and so we had to spread it out over three videos. The finished comic book story won’t be as long. We’re thinking this story might be good for girls aged 9 – 14. Please help us reach our target audience by providing critical feedback to sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net. If we could receive your comments before December 11th, that would be great.

Youth in care focus group short
We’re still looking for feedback on the youth in care draft story. Again, critical is best. Some of the feedback we’ve heard from youth so far is:
- Jenny should walk out of the room as a baby with a bruise – more reason for police involvement
- Jenny screams at arrest – ‘Don’t hurt my mom!’
- Flashback scenes are a little confusing with one half of the youth
- Additional dialogue required about multiple placements & social workers
Check it out at www.youtube.com/user/HealthyAboriginal. We’ve extended the deadline to December 11th for feedback.

Sports & gang prevention comic book
In Path of the Warrior, Cullen gets rolled out of his gang and is forced to reconnect with his family and community. Team sports and his culture become his new support system. If you would like to preview a low res pdf, please send an email to sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net. You can also check out the focus group short on our YouTube channel.

We only have two comic books in stock – sports / gang prevention and our mental health comic book. Pricing is published at www.thehealthyaboriginal.net

Please send an email to sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net to request an invoice.

Unfortunately, all of the other books on our website are sold out – at least until the New Year.

We appreciate your support,

Sean Muir
Executive Director


3945 West 51st Ave Vancouver, BC V6N 3V9
Phone 604-876-0243 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net
BC incorporated non-profit Society No. S-48530

[admin]

The Healthy Aboriginal Network
Non-profit promotion of health, literacy & wellness
http://www.thehealthyaboriginal.net

YouTube is a terrific medium for youth to preview our focus group shorts. But it's not so hot if you work for a large organization and the site is blocked. Please consider using the links below to download the shorts onto your computer and watch on Windows Media Player, courtesy of the trusted file sharing service, Yousendit.

Also, if you're in Winnipeg or Vancouver and are interested in having me test our shorts with your youth, please send me an email. In person is always best. We provide youth-friendly food and beverages.

Smoking cessation focus group short
Our newest focus group short is posted to Yousendit and our YouTube page:
https://rcpt.yousendit.com/782226860/15b1ca98f8f573245d37a522f757fb77
http://www.youtube.com/user/HealthyAboriginal
The story is a bit wordy and so we had to spread it out over three videos. The finished comic book story won’t be as long. We’re thinking this story might be good for girls aged 9 – 14. Please help us reach our target audience by providing feedback to sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net. If we could receive your comments before December 11th, that would be great.

Youth in care focus group short
We’re still looking for feedback by December 11th. The target audience is indeed, youth in care. The short can be downloaded via yousendit or on our YouTube page:
https://rcpt.yousendit.com/782238354/6f2e3940481c1cf7b34600ff038e93e7
http://www.youtube.com/user/HealthyAboriginal
Again, critical is best. Some of the feedback we’ve heard so far is:
- Youth appreciate reality and grit but we have to be careful about reinforcing stereotypes
- Jenny screams at arrest – ‘Don’t hurt my mom!’
- Flashback scenes are a little confusing with one half of the youth
- Additional dialogue required about multiple placements & social workers

Sports & gang prevention comic book
In Path of the Warrior, Cullen gets rolled out of his gang and is forced to reconnect with his family and community. Team sports and his culture become his new support system. If you would like to preview a low res pdf, please send an email to sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net. You can also check out the focus group short on our YouTube channel.

We only have two comic books in stock – sports / gang prevention and our mental health comic book. Pricing is published at http://www.thehealthyaboriginal.net


Please send an email to sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net to request an invoice. Unfortunately, all of the other books on our website are sold out – at least until the New Year.

We appreciate your support,


Sean Muir
Executive Director


3945 West 51st Ave Vancouver, BC V6N 3V9
Phone 604-876-0243 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net
BC incorporated non-profit Society No. S-48530

[admin]

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

December 2009

We are re-printing our suicide prevention comic book, Darkness Calls, early January.
http://www.turtleisland.org/healing/abcomic1.pdf

As we are placing the order with the printer now if would be very helpful to know who wanted books and how many.

Please send an email to sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net if you would like to preview a low res pdf or order.

You can also see the short we turned it into, in a First Nations language, at http://www.youtube.com/user/HealthyAboriginal

If you know of any suicide prevention websites that are youth-friendly, or national toll free numbers in Canada and the United States, we'd love to hear from you by Tuesday, December 15th.

Also, there is still time to provide feedback on our youth in care and smoking cessation draft stories. Please visit our YouTube page if you haven't already.

We still have our mental health and sports / gang prevention comic books in stock as well. Pricing is published at http://www.thehealthyaboriginal.net. Our gambling addiction short, based on the sold out comic book, is also still available. It costs $15 including freight in Canada. Unfortunately, all of the other books on our website are sold out.

Thank you so much for the support this year. We have new books coming out next year on living with FASD, youth in care, smoking cessation and sexual health.


Sean Muir
Executive Director


3945 West 51st Ave Vancouver, BC V6N 3V9
Phone 604-876-0243 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net
BC incorporated non-profit Society No. S-48530

[admin]

Sexual health focus group story

We’re focus group testing a new story on sexual health. We are still using YouTube, but for those of you that cannot access it at work, we have embedded the players on our web page. That should make it easier. The story is split into two shorts of around 10 minutes each. The content also touches on bullying, sexual orientation and health careers. We’d like to hear your opinion as professionals and parents, but if you have the opportunity to show it to youth, we would be delighted to hear their opinion as well. We want to know what you think worked, but more importantly, what didn’t work and how should we change the story to make it more authentic and relatable to youth.


Please provide feedback before April 1st if you can. It’s easiest for me to receive feedback at sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net. The shorts can be viewed at www.youtube.com/user/HealthyAboriginal and www.thehealthyaboriginal.net

Try to use the YouTube channel if you can, as YouTube has a touch more bandwidth than we do. I’ll be testing the stories with youth in the Northwest Territories March 22 – 24th.

Domestic violence / HIV comic book pitches

We’ve got a couple of projects that we’d like to get off the ground. If you know of a government department or organization that is looking to fund the creation of a custom made comic book on domestic violence or HIV, please contact me by email. We might have just the story pitch for them.

Comic books in stock

We still have books in stock on suicide awareness, mental health and sports / gang awareness. Check out our website at www.thehealthyaboriginal.net for free previews and pricing.

First Nations editor

We need an editor in the worst way. Not a writer that likes to put their own spin on someone else's work (you'd think they could self-diagnose, but not always). We only require a couple of hours here and there, depending on the project, but when we need someone we REALLY NEED SOMEONE.

We appreciate your time,

Sean Muir
Executive Director
The Healthy Aboriginal Network
Non-profit promotion of health, literacy and wellness

3945 West 51st Ave
Vancouver, BC V6N 3V9
Phone 604-876-0243

sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net

[admin]

April 2010

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

Youth Re-integration Comic Book
We just received funding to create a comic book on re-integrating youth back into their community after contact with the justice system. It can be easy for them to fall back into old patterns, especially when there are gang, addiction, mental health and FASD issues to contend with. This book is targeted for those youth, their workers, family and friends.

If you're familiar with these challenges, please send me your strategies for making this transition easier. We want to create a 'how to' book, but illustrated and told in story. The deadline for feedback is April 30th, so we haven't much time.

The strategies will be focus group tested with youth May 3 - 5th. The youth will come from the same facility that helped us test our gang prevention comic book. There will be gang members present and many of the youth will have gone through this process already, so they will be the ones telling us what works and what doesn't.

Social Marketing Video
I rarely do this but the Canadian Cancer Society has created an exceptional social marketing video. I highly recommend you check it out at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crXaLu9Ecmg
As Carol from the Survivor Advocates listserv has said, except for the very end, this video could be about suicide. I think we could add diabetes and HIV to that list as well. Way to get out front, CCS!

I appreciate your time,


Sean Muir
Executive Director


3945 West 51st Ave Vancouver, BC V6N 3V9
Phone 604-876-0243 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net

[admin]

The Healthy Aboriginal Network

Non-profit promotion of health, literacy & wellness

Good day. One more update before the holiday season. Hopefully, something for everyone.

Smoking prevention comic book
River Run is the story of a group of youth that learn the traditional use of tobacco while on a canoe trip. One of the youth, who smokes, gets her world opened up by accident. Thank you to the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, Aboriginal Health Services for their support on this project. The first 15 pages may be previewed at www.thehealthyaboriginal.net.

Gang awareness comic book
We will be reprinting Path of the Warrior in January and are taking orders now. You can preview the first 18 pages at www.thehealthyaboriginal.net.

Tuberculosis comic strips
We created some comic strips for Health Canada on Tuberculosis. If you haven't seen them yet, check them out at www.healthcanada.gc.ca/tuberculosis. First Nations and Inuit youth wrote the stories.

Custom rear covers
If your province is looking to connect with youth on a provincial level, perhaps you should consider a custom rear cover on one of our existing books. There is no creative cost - just the printing. There is a minimum order of 10,000 copies but we do have a volume discount.

First Nations art
If you're looking for a special present this holiday season, check out Andy Everson's work at www.andyeverson.com. Highly recommended and he ships.

Thank you for your support this year. We are releasing new books in January on living with FASD, sexual health and youth in care. I'll let you know when they are available. From everyone here at the Healthy Aboriginal Network, please keep safe and enjoy the holidays.

Sean Muir

Executive Director

[admin]

Non-profit promotion of health, literacy & wellness

March 2011

Good day. We've updated our website with a bit of new information.
For those of you running Internet Explorer, you may have to refresh the page in order to see the changes.
http://www.thehealthyaboriginal.net/

http://www.thehealthyaboriginal.net/
Living with FASD comic book
Drawing Hope is a collection of five comics, based on stories told by members of the Whitecrow Village community. The stories are about struggling in school, the importance of friendships and receiving support from friends and family. A low resolution copy of the book may be previewed at http://www.thehealthyaboriginal.net. The project was funded by the Victoria Foundation.

Scared Straight
A & E has an interesting show on TV. They take at-risk youth and bring them into a prison, where inmates basically scare the crap out of them. I don't know if this type of intervention has been evaluated, but the show claims to have successes. You can check out some previews at http://www.aetv.com/scared. Haggerstown are the episodes that I am referring to.

Contact information
We moved our office last May to Vancouver Island and our phone number changed yesterday. Our new information is on our invoices. But for those of you that have us set-up with your accounting department, you just might want to make sure that they have our new info.

Thank you for 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]

March 2011 Update

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

Good day. Just a last minute update before fiscal year end. For those of you running Internet Explorer, you may have to refresh the page in order to see the new page addition.

Youth in care comic book
In Lighting up the Darkness, Jenny returns to her community after living in the city with her aunt and uncle. While visiting family, she has a series of painful flashbacks to when she was a little girl. Jenny's story is one person's struggle. But many youth will be able to relate to events in her young life. Pricing and a low resolution preview of the book may be seen at www.thehealthyaboriginal.net. Copies may be ordered by sending an email to sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net with your mailing address and order.

Financial literacy
We are interested in creating a comic book on financial literacy. I don't think we'll have any trouble finding creative partners, but our application will be much stronger if we can bring some financial partnerships to the table. If there are any First Nation or Aboriginal organizations that can make a financial contribution toward the project, we would enjoy hearing from you.

Thank you for the interest,

Sean Muir

Executive Director

3240 Comox Road Courtenay , BC V9N 3P8

Phone 250-941-8881 sean@thehealthyaboriginal.net

A BC incorporated non-profit Society