For Parents / Guardians - Here's How It Works

Ledge Leadership has received a grant from United Way to offer support to students as they wrestle with the challenges brought on by COVID-19.

The Challenge:
High school students and young adults have experienced personal and collective loss due to COVID-19. Our culture does not have rituals for processing these losses and how to transition to a new normal. Many aspects of their lives have been destabilized which can often bring up feelings of isolation, anxiety, sadness, and stress. Their attachments to family and friends, as well as places, routines, and protections, have rapidly changed. 

The Design:
COVIDsucks is designed to help high school students and young adults talk about their losses and move forward with optimism and hope. They may not feel comfortable or know how to talk to others about their current losses and challenges. As a result, this program is a unique opportunity to work through their struggles by:

The Program Overview:
Students sign up for two Zoom video meetings with their friends or in a mixed group to engage in a conversation. The meetings are a week apart. They will have opportunities to verbalize, write, or draw their responses to questions throughout the conversations. The identity and specific responses from participants are confidential and will not be used in any publicized report. We want to be clear that the program is not therapy or personal counselling; it is an opportunity to enter into a conversation with others who share their experience.

Our Facilitators:
The program has been created with a student focus group and is facilitated by Melri Wright and Mike Wright from Ledge Leadership http://www.ledgeleadership.com. Melri and Mike have 3 decades of experience working with youth and young adults in Canada and have experience helping students process complex emotions and developing strategies to navigate transitional change. As well, they have two university age children and desire to see them thrive through COVID-19.

We encourage you to check in with your student after our conversations to dialogue about their experience. Our hope is that their participation will also open doors for further family conversations.

If your student is under the age of 16, we require that you read and sign a parent/guardian permission form to ensure that you are aware of and agree to their involvement. The permission form will be emailed to your child after they register and we will be in contact with them to remind them of our meetings and send them meeting preparation information. The program is for high school and college/university students and is not intended for elementary school students. High school participants will meet with other high school students.

If you have any questions, please email us at info@covid19sucks.ca or call us at 705-606-0042.