Category: Blog

We hope that you enjoy your Thanksgiving Dinner!

Don’t let all those extra calories get you down – Burn the Bird with the Y on Friday, November 29th.
We have an amazing variety of classes planned throughout the day at all of our locations.

Glenwood
8:00am – Silver sneakers/Gilmore Gym w/ Curtis
8:30am – Restorative Yoga/Holistic Center w/ Julie
9:00am – Strength Training/Studio One w/ Heidi
10:00am – Body Blitz/Studio One w/ Jeremias
10:30am – Vinyasa Yoga/Holistic Center w/ Janet
11:00am – Silver sneakers/Gilmore Gym w/ Curtis
11:30am – Zumba/Studio One w/ Olga 

Eastside
6:00am – HIIT w/ Erin
8:00am – Muscle Pump w/ Shelly Miller
8:00am – SS Yoga Stretch
9:00am – Step w/ Shelly Miller
9:00am – SS Classic
10:00am – SoulFusion w/ Deanna
10:00am – SS Yoga Stretch
1:00pm – SS Boom Move
1:45pm – SS EnerChi

County
7:00am – HIIT w/ Robin
7:45am – Core and Stretch w/ Robin

YMCA360
Enjoy hundreds of on-demand classes: www.ymca360.org/home

In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month in May, the YMCA of Greater Erie is encouraging community members to care for themselves and others.

Mental health is how we think, feel and act. At the Y, we recognize that we all have mental health, and mental health is an important part of our overall health and social-emotional well-being, as well as a core component of our identity.

The Y supports the mental health of individuals and communities in all the work we do to help people reach their full potential—whether that’s teaching life skills to youth in our summer camps, supporting our staff, helping people achieve their best physical health or helping newcomer immigrants access services. This type of non-clinical support is called “community care” and includes:

• Understanding mental health as something we all have—it is how we think, feel, and act.
• Applying positive self-care practices routinely.
• Engaging in conversations in a genuine way, with empathy and the intent of building meaningful relationships.
• Understanding and applying trauma-informed guiding principles when interacting with others.
• Understanding the impact of social determinants of health, systemic racism, discrimination and marginalization on mental health.
• Modeling emotion regulation, co-regulation, and effective coping skills.
• Recognizing signs that someone may be struggling.
• Connecting individuals to primary and specialty support when needed.
• Providing initial response in crisis situations.
• Initiating dialogue and collaborating with others to embed mental health informal care support throughout the community.

All the above are informed by practices found in social-emotional learning, trauma-informed care and suicide prevention. Through this work, we can reduce the risk and impact of mental illness, provide early intervention, and support the process of healing and recovery. We also provide a critical bridge to formal mental health care providers when needed.

Everyone can play a role in mental health community care. In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, the Y encourages you to identify simple ways you can care for yourself and others, such as:

• Using your powers of observation to notice when someone may be struggling with a hard day, moment or situation.
• Intentionally asking “how are you?” and encouraging honest answers so others can share and feel heard.
• Bringing empathy, compassion and kindness to your daily interactions.
• When you notice someone struggling, connecting them to mental health resources like the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800-273-8255 or https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org).

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. As part of our commitment to protecting the children in our community, we’re participating in the Five Days of Action – a week-long campaign to increase awareness of child sexual abuse and empower and equip us all to prevent it. By taking part in this important campaign and implementing abuse prevention practices year-round, the YMCA of Greater Erie is committing to the safety of all children in our community.

The Know. See. Respond. campaign is back this year, and Childhelp, Common Sense Media, and Committee for Children have shared resources to support this campaign.

Know

KNOWing the facts about child sexual abuse can help adults better understand what to look for and how to prevent it. As parents, caregivers, and trusted adults to the young people in our lives, we play an important role in protecting them from abuse. Learn more about the different types of abuse, the signs and how you can help at childhelphotline.org.

See

Media and technology are at the center of children’s lives every day. With more of life happening online, what catches their attention isn’t always what’s best for them. As a parent or caregiver, you may SEE a child interacting with media daily, and you can be equipped with the tools and resources to make sure any environment (including online) is free from any abuse. Learn more at commonsensemedia.org/articles/online-safety.

Respond

How can you RESPOND to the call to help prevent child sexual abuse? As a parent or caregiver, you may know it’s important to talk about it, but you may not know what or when to say it. Committee for Children has created the Hot Chocolate Talk campaign, packing decades of research into easy-to-use guides to help you begin these crucial conversations – at any age, from toddler to teen. Visit cfchildren.org/resources/child-abuse-prevention/ to learn more and empower your child to report and refuse sexual abuse.

We take our commitment to child protection seriously and we hope you do too.