HYFC Brain Box

Sharing Recipient Stories

2021 Dufferin County Community Grant Recipient
$5,000 | Youth & Senior Services

Thank you for your ongoing support of the work we do. Our application this year had two distinct emphases: 1) direct programming initiatives and 2) communication and engagement. For the purposes of this report, we will focus on one element of each. 

Direct programming initiatives — Brain Box 

Imagine having a birthday four times a year. Stuck at home and studying online, when the doorbell rings and you open the door to receive a package for you. This package is called Brain Box . 

“We wanted to provide something helpful to teenagers who might be struggling or isolated, to make something they would be excited to receive,” said Mark Stromenberg, the Community Director for YFC Guelph. “COVID-19 has limited the ways we can connect with our students, many of whom already have mental health challenges, and this is one way we can continue to connect with and support them.” 

With the help of the Dufferin County Community Grant and Headwaters Communities in Action, Youth Unlimited YFC Highlands implemented this new program in response to concerns about adverse mental health in youth. 

Due to the pandemic, in-person programs shifted to an online format as much as possible. Brain Box extended the support and connection with youth by providing tangible items: clothing, mental health tools, stickers, and local resources, all carefully chosen to promote positive mental wellness, provide support connections, or inspire mental health advocacy. Interest in the program has been very positive, with a waiting list already growing for teenagers who want to participate. Brain Box has been sent out four times already this year now reaching up to 120 young people! 

From our recipients: 

“It feels like opening a present! The shirts are very comfortable to wear! It’s full of things to help with stress but the shirts are defo my favorite part :}” 

“I love the stickers and the shirts, I look forward to each Box” 

“It’s needed because youth and teens struggle with mental health and don’t ask for help. I believe that this box will help them know that they are not alone.” 

From one of our staff speaking of his interaction on-line after one of his youth received a Brain Box: 

“Youth were excited to open and share, read the things out, and wear the shirts. The box helped build genuine connections during a time of physical separation. It gave our youth something to look forward to.”

Dufferin County Community Grant 

Impact Report 

Communication and engagement — Volunteer Recruitment and Onboarding 

We will never be able to hire enough staff to achieve our mission of seeing “every young person living fully”. As we strive to reach youth in each community we serve, we can only do so if we successfully engage like-minded volunteers to assist us in that mission. 

COVID not only caused us to lose connection with many of the youth we have served over the years, it also severed the connection with many of our volunteers. In order to support the rebuilding of our volunteer teams, we completely overhauled our 20 year old Volunteer Recruitment and Onboarding Process. The paper-based application process was converted to digital process, reducing both the time it takes a volunteer to apply as well as reducing the administrative load of each application. In addition, we transformed our cumbersome, text-based volunteer policy manual into a streamlined, professionally printed, graphics-rich, easy to read “Volunteer Handbook”. 

We are still in the early stages of implementation but volunteers have shared how much easier the new system is to use and how clear and easy the content and expectations are to understand. 

Finally, training has been updated and radically improved. Traditionally held once a year and in person, our training program has been recorded and will be made available to volunteers at any point that they come onboard. The production of these easy-to-consume, modular videos has been enabled in part by the generous funding received from the County. (The videos are still in the process of being developed at the time of this writing). 

Organization Contacts 

Dave Armstrong, Executive Director darmstrong@highlandsyfc.com 

Teri Overton, Executive Assistant 519-941-690 office@highlandsyfc.com