Sun Life is donating $1 million to Kids Help Phone Indigenous Wellness Program. This milestone investment will bring life-saving mental health support to Indigenous youth across Canada. Together, Sun Life and Kids Help Phone will expand Brighter Days, an Indigenous Wellness Program, across the country. Over the next three years, Sun Life’s support of the Brighter Days Program will help reach 4,500 youth through the delivery of 300 mental health sessions. The sessions aim to empower youth with skills, tools and resources to support their mental health and well-being.
Brighter Days: An Indigenous Wellness Program by Kids Help Phone was developed by Indigenous educators, school counsellors and community program workers to empower First Nations, Inuit and Métis youth with skills, tools and resources to support their well-being. The program is offered to any group of Indigenous youth from six to 29 years old in both audio and video format.
Kids Help Phone launched Brighter Days: An Indigenous Wellness Program in early 2021. It equips youth with skills, tools and resources to support their mental health and well-being. It begins with a session to increase awareness of Kids Help Phone services. Then through a series of modules participants learn about wellness and self-care, healthy domestic relationships, and managing stress and anxiety. With Sun Life’s support, the program will:
• Expand nationally to deliver 300 sessions to 4,500 youth, ages 6-29. Sessions will be offered in schools, group homes, youth and community centres.
• Recruit and train 60 community-based youth and adult volunteers into the Weaving Threads: An Indigenous Engagement Program across Canada. These trusted leaders will promote the Brighter Days Program and support the mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being of the community.
• Increase awareness and access to Kids Help Phone’s life-saving mental health supports, including phone counselling, texting support, and local mental health resources.