Welcome to Victoria Community Health Co-op’s monthly newsletter – the Co-op Connector!
The Co-op Connector will help keep you connected to your Co-op community by sharing news and updates about the VCHC, as well as providing information you can use (and share with your friends and family) to improve your wellbeing.
Feel free to share this post with your community. You can subscribe to this newsletter and other updates from the Co-op through our email subscription (see sign up form on the homepage) Read on for all we have to offer you this Fall (so far), including our new wellness offerings at the Cook Street Village Activity Centre (CSVAC), what it means to have a Curious Mind, and upcoming wellness sessions.
Wishing you all the best,
Your friends at the Victoria Community Health Co-operative
We, at the VCHC, extend our support to all healthcare professionals serving on the frontlines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are advertising for another Registered Nurse and will offer an enlarged range of Registered Nursing services, home visits, and health and wellness information. Click here to view an overview of some of these services.
Updates on Unit 2 – Health and Wellness Wing
Last month, we shared the exciting news that VCHC will have two permanent, exclusive-use, full-time rooms for our Community Nurses to see patients in the new Health and Wellness Wing of the Cook Street Village Activity Centre (CSVAC) – Unit 2, 380 Cook St. Our story was featured in an article by Capital Daily!
Below is a brief excerpt from the article:
In the darkened secondary unit of the Cook Street Village Activity Centre, where I see old carpet and yellowed paint, Vanessa Hammond sees nothing but potential. A seminar room, acupuncture, mobility aid parking, massage therapy, hypnotherapy, counselling—room after room of wellness services will soon move into this space, pending a renovation and one final go-ahead from the city.
It’s a dream come true for Hammond and the Victoria Community Health Co-op, which has worked hard to provide wellness services for people in the community since it was founded in 2008.
Currently, they have two registered nurses and a variety of programs focused on mental and physical wellbeing, but this new expansion will allow them to further partner with the Cook Street Village Activity Centre on additional health-focused initiatives.
Becoming ‘Mindfit’
Last month we introduced the Mindfit model. Here is a brief recap of what the Mindfit model is: Life is messy. Whether dealing with the many changes the pandemic has brought us, or personal changes in your own life, we are in uncharted territory. While this chaos and uncertainty in our lives can be daunting, one thing we know for sure is that our ability to thrive depends so much on our ability to positively navigate change. The Mindfit model (designed by author, Liggy Webb) offers us a pathway to prepare for the future and become aware of the behaviours we need to practice in order to thrive, and not merely survive. The Mindfit model highlights the ‘Five Minds’ – five ways of thinking and behaving that will help us embrace the daily challenges and changes of the world we live in.
Last month, we discussed the Resilient Mind. This time, we will focus on the Curious Mind.
Your ‘Curious Mind’ has the desire to explore and understand more by being open minded and asking the right kind of questions.
Curiosity is about possessing a strong desire to learn, know and understand something new.
Curious minds are active minds, and active minds become smart minds. Curiosity is linked with intelligence, creativity, and problem-solving ability. When we are creative, we have an ongoing interest in both our inner and outer worlds. Curious people cultivate interesting and creative environments for themselves by seeking out new experiences, overcoming challenges, and exploring fresh ideas and possibilities. Everyone exercises curiosity to some degree but we all differ according to our depth of curiosity and our willingness to act on it. Life is never dull or boring for a creative person!
- Embrace diversity and be inclusive. Our increasingly connected world offers us a great opportunity to learn and broaden our perspective. Being curious, rather than judgemental, about differences will help us to expand our minds, learn, and expose ourselves to fresh viewpoints, values and beliefs.
- Ask questions and listen with an open mind. A curious mind is a probing mind and there are many benefits to asking open questions, such as “why, how, where, what, when, which, and who?” Open questions create opportunities to gain further information and avoid shutting down conversations with closed questions. It is equally important to be present and to actively listen to the answers. Leave your assumptions at the door.
- Live well with uncertainty. As we discussed last time, having a positive attitude is not about burying our heads in the sand; we can still recognize the negative aspects of a situation while making a conscious decision to focus on the potential and opportunity that life’s challenges hold. Learn to get curious about the possibilities that may lay hidden in struggle!