HOCKEY TALKS, PROJECT 11 SHOW REMARKABLE GROWTH
BY SCOTT TAYLOR
RICK RYPIEN
PROJECT 11 STUDENTS
For Dwayne Green, the executive director of the True North Youth Foundation, the growth of Project 11 is somewhat difficult to fathom.
One of three major programs operated by the Youth Foundation, Project 11 was an undertaking inspired and then created in honour of former Winnipeg Jets and Manitoba Moose player, Rick Rypien.
As the Canadian teams in the National Hockey League set aside February for the annual Hockey Talks initiative-- a collective effort, with each of the Canadian NHL clubs dedicating one of their game nights to bringing awareness to the topic of mental health – Green and Project 11’ s Director of Educational Programs, Suzi Friesen, continue to provide Manitoba teachers with a remarkable program dedicated to educating students about mental health.
However, for Green, the fast, steady and significant growth of the program has almost become overwhelming and he quickly credits Friesen for the work she’ s done all over the province.
“ We’ re pretty excited about this program,” said Green.“ Last year, we piloted the program across the province and placed it into 86 grades 5 & 6 classrooms.
“ This year, we’ re involved with 36 school divisions and more than 400 classrooms. We’ ve spread to more schools in Northern Manitoba, along with some First Nation communities and Winnipeg private schools. We’ ve partnered with Healthy Child Manitoba to help us collect data on the program and analyze them and we’ ve found that not only do the lessons empower kids, but they empower the teachers, as well.”
Project 11 is an engaging cross-curricular prevention program targeting Manitoba’ s English Language Arts and Physical Education / Health Education outcomes. The project provides weekly lessons and daily activities that have been designed to help support both students and teachers while bringing mental health awareness, along with positive coping skills into their lives.