A new online resource that features York Region residents’ lived experience to help lift up others gets its official public launch Friday, Dec. 13 at an Aurora Town Hall reception, complete with a flag-raising and a proclamation that the day be designated as Up Your Life Day.
Up Hub is an initiative of York Support Services Network and was made possible with an Ontario Trillium Foundation Grow Grant.
It is an online extension of the network’s publication, York Region on a Limited Budget, except with more tools to allow people to share their experiences.
“It’s all about uplifting York Region residents and raising awareness of the local resources that people may not know about and may be useful to them,” said Cathy Sampaio-Lepiane, communications supervisor for York Support Services Network and Developmental Services Ontario.
“It’s an exciting new project that will provide a directory of local resources created by peers,” Sampaio-Lepiane said.
Up Hub provides opportunities for individuals to share their personal stories in the form of blogs, poems, or by video collage, be a mentor or volunteer, or create a wellness tool for others that they themselves have found helpful.
The idea is that an individual’s experience can be an important part of another’s wellness journey.
“Up Hub is about peers recommending different services they’ve used, things that they’ve done to help themselves through different situations, and the website gives them a self-assessment at the beginning, then links them to things they’re interested in such as social service resources,” said Sampaio-Lepiane.
For example, the website is helpful in identifying times and locations when a food bank is open to help people plan their day, she said.
The storytelling feature on the site has already drawn submissions from residents.
This poem, written by Marc Culmone, was published on Nov. 26, 2019:
Trying to control my rage
Is like putting a lion in a cage
So I burn the sage to release some of these negative feelings
But I feel like screaming at the top of my lungs climbing up these rungs on this ladder to success
While thinking about my regrets causes my heart to beat faster in my chest
How do I forget those times
The minutes go by every second I try thinking about the loved ones that I've lost as I look up to the sky reminding me why I'm still here
I tried to be tough and it just wasn't enough addiction destroyed myself as well as the ones that I loved
It removed God from the picture because with the devil I got everything quicker
But I became sicker and sicker doing coke drinking liquor
Stealing from stores just to score when all I wanted was more
And after everything that I've seen now that I'm trying to stay clean
These people who haven't heard from me in a while they ask me how have you been
But I don't have an answer so I try to lie and say that everything is ok
But what's going on in my mind it's like a fight everyday
Should I go should I stay asking God for direction
Cause I'm tired of looking in the mirror and not liking my reflection.
Up Hub is still in the infancy stage and its success rests solely on the contributions from local residents.
“We need people to provide the content of their experiences, along with feedback and what they would recommend for others,” Sampaio-Lepiane said. “Sometimes people find that storytelling helps them in their own recovery stages, whether you’re going through cancer or painful parts in your life, you just need to talk about it with others, learn from each other and find resources together,” she said.
“It’s kind of a community-builder and we’re hoping it will spread out into in-person support groups.”
The topics at Up Hub are wide-ranging and can include everything from mental health and addiction and parenting to a newcomer’s view of helpful resources.
The Dec. 13 launch takes place at Aurora Town Hall beginning outdoors at 9 a.m. with the flag-raising.
Newmarket-Aurora MPP Christine Elliott will be in attendance, along with Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill MPP Michael Parsa, Aurora Mayor Tom Mrakas, York Support Services Network executive director Marie Lauzier, and Michael Diamond, chairperson of the Ontario Trillium Foundation board of directors.
For more information on York Support Services Network, visit here.
