African Community Wellness Initiative

A fun evening with our crew getting fitted with some new skates! Our youth couldn’t be happier to have an opportunity to promote their physical wellness by staying active! Plus the off season is a great time for new skaters to get comfortable on the ice.

Many thanks to the friendly crew at Play It Again Sports Kitchener for their partnership and support today and for hooking us up with some gently used great gear!

Also always thankful for our community partners Camino Wellbeing + Mental Health for supporting our Youth Wellness Circle!

Another great Thursday night with our youth! This spring we are discovering together that doing our wellness work doesn't have to be boring. We get to enjoy some pizza dinner with our peers, check in and share back on our weekly progress, and fill out our personal wellness tracking tool! We're so excited to be on this wellness journey!

We're so EXCITED for our ACWI youth who have an awesome opportunity this spring to promote their own wellness as part of the Black Youth Mental Wellness Circle!

ACWI's Seven Wellness Goals is a great tool for youth who want to grow in various areas of wellness. The tool has been co-designed with our youth and Afrocentric Counslelling practitioners to guide our seasonal mental health circle work with youth. The tool includes an easy-to-use personal weekly tracker allowing youth to identify their own wellness goals and activities, and track their progress during the program weeks!

The Seven Wellness Goals are rooted in our understanding that youth mental wellness is deeply connected to youth wholistic wellness. We are thankful for community partners, our practitioners and mentours, parents, and all allies who are coming alongside our youth as they take this journey!

We are so thrilled to be reconnecting with the crew again for our Spring Black Youth Wellness Circles that launched during March Break! Thank you to Camino Wellbeing + Mental Health for partnering with us!

This March and April Our youth are engaging in fun play-based circle events in the community as well as dinner and conversation circles on Thursday nights at Camino's Charles St. E location.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Waterloo Region is now home to its first Black and Indigenous Youth Mental Health Practice Model!

On January 22, 2026, Kitchener Centre MPP Aislinn Clancy joined leaders from African, Caribbean and Black–identifying communities, First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities, and mental health partners to learn about the impact of this work.

Over the past three years, four lead partners — The Healing of The Seven Generations, African Community Wellness Initiative, Kind Minds Family Wellness, and AFRO-African Family Revival Organization — have worked together, with Camino Wellbeing + Mental Health as a support partner, to co-design a model rooted in culture, community, and the lived experiences of youth.

This work centres youth voices and creates more responsive, meaningful support for Black and Indigenous youth across Waterloo Region.

You can explore the full practice model on our website:
👉 https://www.caminowellbeing.ca/news-blog/waterloo-regions-black-indigenous-youth-mental-health-practice-model

Registration for tomorrow's in-person event is full! We are looking forward to seeing everyone! If you missed the in-person registration but are still interested in participating, there is still time to register to join us online!

REGISTRATION CLOSES TODAY!

We're looking for are looking forward to hosting community members at an open community meeting this Thursday evening to share Waterloo Region's first Black & Indigenous Youth Mental Health - Practice Model.

Register TODAY to ensure your spot! Dinner is included. See the flyer below for more details!

We are thinking about communities in Jamaica and praying for protection over lives. Please follow Caribbean Canadian Association of Waterloo Region for information on how to show support.

Yesterday we had a wonderful time at our Gardener's Picnic at Steckle Heritage Farm! Thank you to all the gardeners who made it out. So wonderful to experience the land with such a rich intergenerational community of grandparents, parents, children, youth and our beloved "garden babies" :)