#StartwithStrengths

Author: Karen Copeland

Last night it finally happened!

I have been collaborating with Chris Wejr for months to prepare a presentation called Start with Strengths: Change the Lens, Change the Story. We were building on the previous presentations Chris has created on this important topic. For this session, we wanted to include the parent voice and lens. Because really, we are all in this together for our kids.

We are so thankful to the Abbotsford District Parent Advisory Council who believed in our vision that the event should be open to everyone in our communities to attend. We so often do things in isolation from one another – parent evenings, educator events, professional events – when we need to be coming together to learn alongside of each other. We really accomplished that goal last night. We saw parents, educators, university students, community members and even three trustees in the audience.

One of the key messages of the evening is we need to change our lens and think about what we are looking for. I like to describe it as re-thinking the iceberg. Often, we see the challenges on the surface and when we go below to truly understand what is going on, we are looking for the reasons why the challenges are occurring. But what happens if we start looking for the strengths instead? What happens if we create the conditions for those strengths to be discovered and drawn up to the surface? We discover that we matter, we develop confidence and resilience as a result.

Chris and I were really pleased to unveil the latest Champions Top 5 Tips infographic last night, and of course it was all about how to Start with Strengths! (For more tips, please visit the Top 5 Tips page!)

Much gratitude to everyone who attended the session last night and especially to those who shared their learning on social media using the hashtag #startwithstrengths.

How are you going to #startwithstrengths today?

Chris and I would love to share this presentation again! If you are interested in learning more, please contact us via email at championsforwellness@gmail.com or chriswejr@gmail.com.