Heartwork and so much more

Nanaboozhoo (Greetings)! We are delighted to invite you to the May 9, Heartwork and so much more, Indigenous Opening Ceremony at 8am. Gichi Miigwech (A Big Thank You) to Dr.Hopi Martin, who will bring us together and lead our opening. Dr. Hopi Martin is of mixed Lenni Lenape, Briton, and European ancestry. He was born in Massachusetts and raised in Tkaronto (Toronto) where he belongs to the Ojibwe Marten Clan through his Auntie and Traditional Teacher, Jacque/line Lavallée from Shawanaga First Nation. In addition to earning his PhD in Developmental Psychology and Education by focussing on an Ojibwe Seasonal Pedagogy has a community responsibility as Gichitwaa Oshkaabewis (Sacred Helper, Messenger, Fire Keeper, Lodge Caretaker). edgeofthebush.ca

To support our learning through this professional development day, the team at Conestoga College, Professional Resource Center, has developed a beautiful and inspiring tool: My Heartwork Reflections. Please print out the document in French or English, and use on May 9 to capture your reactions, thoughts and so much more!

Reflection Guide-English: https://www.letstalkchatham-kent.ca/29111/widgets/123090/documents/80298

Reflection Guide-French: https://www.letstalkchatham-kent.ca/29111/widgets/123090/documents/80297

Heartwork and so much more has come to life because leaders across communities in Ontario believe in the fundamental value that child care and early years offers to children, families and community well-being. This is witnessed in statements from some of our partner community leaders, as they reflect on our professional learning day.

“The ability for communities to offer sustainable quality child care to our families, has become increasingly difficult over the last several years. Staff shortages, Covid fatigue, and the need for fair compensation, have all made recruitment, retention and growth in the child care and in the early years sector extremely challenging. The Ministry’s funding to support a child care and early years workforce strategy has been well-timed. It is responsive to the needs of families and the need to elevate the value of the early years profession. That is our number 1 priority for our first professional learning day, this May 9, 2022. After all, child care is heartwork, and so much more.”
- Kelly Emery, Director, Child Care, Early Years, Recreation Services, Municipality of Chatham Kent

“Registered Early Childhood Educators and early years and child care staff do incredibly important work supporting children at a critical stage in their development. They have worked so hard over these last two years under very challenging circumstances to provide essential child care services to families. We are excited to provide these PD Days for early years and child care staff to support their learning and well-being. We understand that making alternate arrangements for these PD Days may be challenging for families, and we greatly appreciate parents’ understanding and support of educators and their efforts to provide quality programming for their children.”
- Barb Cardow, Director, Children’s Services, Region of Waterloo

"Vibrant communities are built from the kids up. Each time that an Early Learning Professional sparks imagination, teaches compassion, and encourages curiosity they ignite the social, economic and academic potential of our community’s children.

We are delighted to be working with our colleagues across the province to recognize and celebrate the critical role that Early Childhood Educators have in the lives of Ontario children each day."
- Aaron Wallace, Director of Community Programs and Social Development, City of Brantford

When the province announced funding to deliver professional learning to support an impact on child care workforce challenges, leaders from the Municipality of Chatham-Kent, asked their members about learning needs. Conversations ensued on what professional learning we currently engage in - most of which was centered on what we call, ‘working in our business’. These learning topics include areas such as literacy, mindfulness practices, outdoor environment and self regulation.

We pushed ourselves to ask, would more learning in these topics really address some of the root causes of why we are having challenges in attraction, recruitment or retention? Our answer, sadly, was no.

The reasons we hear most often about why quality educators and staff are leaving the sector are more related to the value experienced by the profession. Being considered the dreaded 'b-word’ (babysitter), feeling exhausted by pandemic-related challenges to how we offer service, and a sense of ‘second tier educator status’ compared to our colleagues in the K-12 system, all added up to a desire for more learning on the value of the profession.

We realized, our learning needs that could most impact workforce challenges would be centered on ‘working on our business’. It was time to give back an inspiring day to our child care and early years colleagues for the incredible service provided throughout the last two years and beyond. And it was time to elevate the value of our profession and the impact it offers to not only our children and families served, but also the communities and local economies within which we offer child care and early learning.

Our work is heartwork. We give from our heart, soul and minds in every interaction with the children we are honoured to be with. And to better articulate the value we bring beyond the learning and growing we facilitate with each child, we know our work is heartwork and so much more.

As a result, Chatham-Kent developed our first professional learning day, Heartwork and so much more, with the primary objective of supporting our sector’s mental health and well-being by celebrating the service provided throughout Covid. Chatham-Kent was excited to share our May 9 vision with other communities, and as a result Heartwork is thrilled to have participation from...

Region of Waterloo, County of Oxford, the City of Brantford and County of Brant, County of Lambton, City of St. Thomas - Elgin County, County of Huron, County of Grey, County of Simcoe, Regional Municipality of Niagara, City of London - County of Middlesex, and Norfolk County.

A champion of early childhood.

A mentor for all.

The guru who reminds us, “We may not be there yet (in achieving our vision of the ultimate quality early learning system), but baby we will get there!"

There is no one more suited to ‘connecting the dots’ as we journey together on May 9. Through conversation and interviews, Dr. Clinton will help us explore the value of childhood, and the impact child care and early years practitioners have on our youngest community members. As we celebrate, reflect and re-boot our experience of child care, Dr. Clinton will remind us all that what we think, affects how we feel about things and that affects how we act.

The clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioural neurosciences of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine is a specialist in child psychiatry. Her expertise is in the development of young minds and she is recognized internationally as an advocate for children's issues. Her special interest lies in brain development, and the crucial role relationships and connectedness play therein.

For more on Dr. Clinton, please visit speaker bios and be sure to check out her books in our ’shopping tab’.

Check out Dr. Clinton using the link below:

https://api.vadoo.tv/landing_page?vid=zv2lHl7Dfrd6zyE1tVFxoiPxlmCSlwc5