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Compassionate listening: Straight from the Heart
Do you listen with your ears, or your heart? Is it possible to listen with both? The art of listening is not to be confused with hearing. We are always hearing, most of the time subconsciously. Listening is done by choice, but once you have made that choice what comes next?
Miracles rising out of tragedy
The summer of 2013 was exciting and filled with many blessings. My daughter Kaitlyn had just graduated from Teacher’s College at Western University and was about to start her career; Jeremy was entering his fourth year in the Criminology program with plans to go into law enforcement; Karl and I were comfortable in the lifestyle we had created and were anxiously waiting the completion of our newly built home.
Moving through the storm: From surge capacity to self-care
What if going through the motions isn’t an ability—but a survival mechanism rooted deep in our subconscious? Surge capacity is a collection of adaptive systems that allow us to “keep going” for short-term survival in acutely stressful situations.
Team Challenge Winners Rise for Families of Workplace Tragedy
Together, we met our goal!
Our fundraising goal for 2021 was set at $450,000, and together we all watched the Steps for Life fundraising thermometer tick higher and higher. By end of Steps for Life, thanks to fundraisers, donors and sponsors, we had exceeded our goal, and then some! The money raised will ensure that families struggling in the aftermath of work-related fatalities, life-altering injuries and occupational disease will have access to free peer support programs.
Volunteer Profile – Eleanor Westwood
Eleanor Westwood, Threads of Life’s longest-serving board member will retire from the board this summer, after 15 years of service to the organization. Occupational health and safety has been very important to Eleanor, who worked at the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) for more than 25 years.
Spirituality and Getting Unstuck
Join Roy Ellis for our next FamiliesConnect session: Getting Unstuck: How to make Friends with your Grief & Trauma on June 17, 2021 at 6pm EDT (3 pm in BC and 7:30 pm in Newfoundland!) You’ll learn practical steps to help yourself and your loved-ones take small...
United Nations – Sustainable Development Goals
It’s been 6 years since the United Nations General Assembly established the Sustainable Development Goals that were adopted by all 193 United Nations Member States, including Canada.
The goals set a timeline to end poverty, improve health and education, reduce inequality, spur economic growth and address climate change by 2030. There are 17 goals and a total of 169 specific, measurable targets that will help achieve the SDGs.
“You” Are Why We Walk Together
You did it again! Our volunteers, our participants, our sponsors, our communities. You are amazing.
We are floored by the fantastic work done by all of you who walked with us; who walked together.
FamiliesConnect to Benefit from Therapeutic Horticulture
You may have heard of Therapeutic Horticulture and thought “How can a plant give me therapy?!” Gardening promotes physical activity, mental acuity and both social interaction and solitude. All age groups can find something interesting to do in the garden.
Walk together with Emma
Steps for Life-Walking for Families of Workplace Tragedy events will fill the next two weekends, and the days between, with fun and meaning. Our big, passionate community across the country will meet in spirit to honour those affected by work-related tragedy, and to spread the word of prevention. Who could say it better than Emma? Emma takes part in memory of her grandfather who was killed on the job. Thanks, Emma, for contributing this poem that covers Steps for Life from A to Z!
Mourning together on April 28
For families affected by work-related tragedy, most of those dates are very personal: a last birthday, the date of the funeral, the day of a missed anniversary or graduation. These are their personal days of mourning.
But National Day of Mourning, April 28 each year, is a date everyone shares, when we can gather in community to honour and remember those killed or injured at work, and refresh our commitment to preventing future tragedies.
We can’t say enough about our volunteers!
How can we possibly thank our volunteers enough? They’re the driving force behind Threads of Life – as volunteer family guides, speakers, Steps for Life planning committees, trade show representatives, family forum support, workshop facilitators, and so much more. We asked our staff to share what our volunteers mean to them. Here’s what they had to say!
