What teens want their parents to ask 
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What teens want their parents to ask 

Dear Parents and Caretakers,  Something needs to be brought to your attention: your child needs you. This might seem obvious, but I think more time needs to be spent contemplating this statement. It is well known that Gen Zs are significant recipients of mental health struggles. Increased pressures – both academic and societal – as…

When Mysticism Becomes Medicine
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When Mysticism Becomes Medicine

Trauma has become one of the most exciting areas of medical research and therapeutic treatment today. Revolutionary discoveries about the mind-body unity of the human person are bringing hope to many people living with deeply embedded emotional and psychological pain. Books like The Body Keeps the Score by the Dutch scientist Bessel Van Der Kolk…

Our theology of suffering
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Our theology of suffering

For 15 years I have been working as a registered nurse both in Canada and abroad as a missionary in Malawi, East Africa. Recently, I began studying to get my master’s degree in nursing as a primary care Nurse Practitioner. This is a growing field in Canada, and I am excited about the potential for…

The shadow of death
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The shadow of death

In May, an expert panel formed by Health Canada in 2021, in collaboration with researchers, stakeholders and clinicians, released a final report to the federal government recommending safeguards, protocols and guidance for providing MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) to persons with mental illnesses. This is in preparation for March 17, 2023, when the exclusion of…

Why virtual church needs to stay
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Why virtual church needs to stay

Attending church virtually became as common as mandates and rapid tests over the course of the past two years. Churches pivoted and adapted to the changing landscape that Covid-19 created, and many embraced technology to connect people virtually. This has been a saving grace for all of us. During strict lockdowns we were able to…

When death is part of the story
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When death is part of the story

Eight students died last year at the University of Waterloo. I should clarify that: eight students in the Engineering department alone. I don’t know the total number across campus. I don’t know much about the cause of death, either, though I understand only one of the eight was by suicide. It feels strange to say…

A well-planted life
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A well-planted life

At the age of 12 I got my dream pet: a tortoise, who required a specific herbivore diet. I knew nothing about plants. I researched vigorously, learning what safe plants I could feed him and what I could plant in his enclosure. At the local nursery they affectionately called me “Tortoise Boy” as I came…

Finding life in a cold-water companion
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Finding life in a cold-water companion

When South African documentary filmmaker Craig Foster fell into a personal Slough of Despond, he came close to drowning emotionally and mentally. Netflix’s 85-minute My Octopus Teacher records his year-long recovery with daily baptisms in the eight-degree Centigrade sea off Cape Town. There he discovered he was not alone. As baptism declares, he died to…

Build empathy, fight racism
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Build empathy, fight racism

Who catches your eye first – the boy or the man? Brian Liu put himself in this design twice, though his adult outline is almost eclipsed by his serious six-year-old face. That photo was used on his passport when he immigrated from Hong Kong to Canada in 1993. Adult Brian, partially obscured by the collage…

Healing in Colour
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Healing in Colour

Mental Health Week is May 3 – 9, and a new art exhibit is highlighting the intersection of race, faith and mental health. Healing in Colour features “Black, Indigenous, and peoples of colour artists from around the world, [and] the show highlights their experiences, wounds, and journeys of healing,” as stated on the event’s website….

Meet me at Boundaries Blvd.
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Meet me at Boundaries Blvd.

One year and one month. Fifty-six weeks; 396 days; 9,504 hours. That’s roughly how long we’ve been deep in the COVID-19 pandemic. Depending on where you live this timeline may be longer or shorter. I still recall where I was when I received the news. I was co-leading an “alternative spring break” trip with a…

Pandemic isolation
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Pandemic isolation

In Genesis, one of the first things God says about humans before the Fall is “it is not good that the man should be alone” (2:18). We are alone in many ways right now. Ten months into this pandemic, in the midst of a long winter, many of us are feeling the effects of social…