The Online Lunch Bites series from the Canadian Mental Health Association will continue through until March, with a new session list released this week.
Lunch Bites are short, 30-minute sessions with speakers sharing information on a variety of topics related to mental health and living a healthy lifestyle. The sessions are held weekly over Zoom on Tuesdays, from 12:15 p.m to 12:45 p.m., making them short enough to tune in over a lunch hour at work or at home.
“They’re just to provide some mental health information for people who are maybe sitting at home or in their office, so they can get a little bit of information over their lunch hour,” said CMHA representative Donna Bowyer.
The sessions will continue through December, with a session on Dec. 15 about Surviving the stress of the Christmas Season and on Dec. 22 about Facilitation Skills, before taking a break until Jan. 5.
Upcoming topics in the New Year include coping with change, the benefits of journalling, racism and anxiety, mental health and prison, self-harm and more — including a session on coping with loss on Feb. 9 with local grief support expert Della Ferguson from Jones-Parkview Funeral Home.
“The (sessions) are on topics that I get questions about on a regular basis, so things that people struggle with or are asking for more information on,” said Bowyer. “Some presenters are professionals, and some are people with experience on that particular topic, so people who have worked with others that struggle with it or family members or people with some knowledge.”
Lunch Bites are open to anyone in the province with access to Zoom, said Bowyer, and completely free to attend. Participants must pre-register by emailing hopelc@cmhask.com to receive the link to the session, and most presenters welcome questions at some point during the session.
The series is being offered through the CMHA’s H.O.P.E. Learning Centre — a recovery college that hosts numerous educational programs, meant to offer opportunities to people looking to expand their knowledge.
The Lunch Bites are something the program started up back in May, in response to the pandemic, and they have proven to be quite popular with regular attendees.
“We usually have between 10 and 20 people, which I think is good. People are taking time out of their day to be able to do this,” said Bowyer.
The H.O.P.E Learning Centre also offers longer educational programs, some lasting up to eight weeks, said Bowyer — who recommended checking out the upcoming sessions on the Art of Friendship as well as Building Boundaries.
Each program is delivered either online or in-person, with the appropriate pandemic-related restrictions in place.
Bowyer encourages people to reach out to the local CMHA branch at 1 (306) 692-4240 for more information about the sessions offered by the H.O.P.E Learning Centre, or visit the website.
For a full list of upcoming Lunch Bites sessions and dates, click here.
