Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Loving Spoonful’s Cooking Connections-Overcoming Stigma program will once again be running at the Napanee Area Community Health Centre later this month.
The free eight-week program is geared towards people with mental health and/or substance use disorders, using the power of cooking as a vehicle to bring people from all backgrounds together. The exact start date is still to be determined as they look to fill a couple of more spots in the program. It will run from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
“We use food as a means of connection in our community and building capacity within individuals,” said Tibrata Gillies with Loving Spoonful. “I’m the manager of community kitchens so we do a number of different, at no cost, cooking workshops, one of which is called Open Kitchen which is a drop in program. People can come, we have some social time, then we cook together and eat together and clean up together. It’s amazing to see community develop across social-economic boundaries and how people feel like it’s family.”
Food literacy and healthy cooking is an important part of the program, but so too are the social aspects.
“Not all people with mental health disorders living in isolation, but many do,” said Gillies. “The core materials of the program, the anti-stigma work, is written by a professor from Queen’s University, Dr. Heather Stuart who happens to be a world-renowned expert in the field.”
Each session begins with one hour of cooking followed by two hours of psycho-educational programs that help to identify what some of the stigmas are that are faced by individuals with mental health disorders while offering tools and strategies to help overcome those obstacles.
A key feature of the program is it is led by peer facilitators who also experience metal health or substance use disorders.
“They have lived and living experience with what it’s like to be in this society and in families, workplaces and have faced all kinds of stigma themselves,” said Gillies. “They’ve gone through this program and they’ve signed up to become peer facilitators and they’ve undergone peer facilitator training and so they are the ones who deliver the course. That makes it even easier for participants to feel a sense of safety.”
A woman who has taken the program commented on how much it meant to her.
“This program has filled my heart and soul with a purpose and a reason,” said the participant. “As a woman living with schizophrenia, I flourish in meeting people with obstacles similar to mine, bringing me to a brave place of truth and authenticity that I express each day in the group.”
“Cooking Connections has been a positive program in my life,” added another participant. “I am feeling comfortable with people and strengthening my skills like patience, compassion, and communication. I like the calmness of the room, the opportunity to share ideas and food.”
Upcoming sessions are also being offered in Kingston and Perth. Those interested in signing up can reach out to Ginny at
cookingconnectionsnapanee@gmail.com to register for a spot in an upcoming session. The Cooking Connections – Overcoming Stigma program has been made possible by a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.