This Week at TEAO Canada ♥️ Two opportunities to gather in trauma-responsive, community-rooted peer support spaces. Wednesday, February 18 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM Cambridge Public Library – Hespeler Branch 5 Tannery St. East, Cambridge, ON Trauma-Informed Care Circle A free, non-clinical peer support space for those navigating stress, overwhelm, grief, or transition. These circles are grounded in trauma-responsive care and nervous system awareness. There is no pressure to share, fix, or perform. You are welcome exactly as you are. Register here: https://lnkd.in/eZJAJRM2 Sunday, February 22 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM The Branches 9 Samuel Street, Kitchener, ON Collective Care Series An embodied, community-based space focused on relational care, regulation, and strengthening how we show up for ourselves and others. Care is not just something we talk about. It is something we practice together. Register here: https://linktr.ee/TEAOCanada or link in bio. At TEAO Canada, mental health support is relational. It happens in community, through consent, and with attention to embodied safety. If this feels aligned for you or someone in your network, we welcome you. #CommunityCare #TraumaResponsive #PeerSupport #CollectiveHealing MentalHealthSupport #TEAOCanada

We Find This Resource by @dashhudson_ So Useful TY ♥️ ⬇️ When you talk to your son about drugs or alcohol, don’t make it a lecture, make it a conversation. Choose a calm moment, maybe while driving or cooking, and let him know you’re not trying to control him, you just want him to be safe. Tell him you want to understand what it’s like for people his age, what kind of pressure he sees, and what’s real in his world. Ask questions, listen without cutting him off, and don’t make faces or react harshly. Once he opens up, tell him gently that sometimes it only takes one moment, one pill, one hit, one drink to change everything. Keep it honest but not dramatic. Let him know if he’s ever in a bad situation, he can call or text you with no judgment and you’ll come get him, no questions asked. Give him ways to say no that won’t make him embarrassed in the moment, like “I’m good” or “I gotta be up early.” Keep the energy relaxed and let him know you trust him, because when he feels safe with you, he’ll tell you more than you expect. Your conversation becomes his inner voice, so create a safe space for him to be excited to come to you and talk about anything. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 #education #resources #collective #youth #drugsandalcohol

What is Care❔ You can’t support mental health if your nervous system is unchecked. 🧠 Care is not just what we say. It’s how we enter a room. How we respond under pressure. How we hold power. How we regulate ourselves before trying to hold someone else. When we are rushed, reactive, or avoiding discomfort, harm can happen - even with good intentions. DO BETTER means slowing down enough to be safe to receive. Because regulated bodies create safer conversations. And safer conversations create safer communities. When you purchase DO BETTER, you’re helping fund trauma-responsive, peer-led care that prioritizes embodiment, consent, and relational safety. 🫶🏾 Support community-rooted care 🫶🏾 Wear the message 🫶🏾 Share with intention Shop here: https://www.teaocanada.com/shopteao or link in bio. #DoBetter #EmbodiedCare #TraumaResponsive #CollectiveCare

Reminder: Somatic Peer Support - This Evening (Online) A gentle reminder that our Somatic Peer Support space is happening this evening. A peer-led space. Offered biweekly on Wednesdays. When? Wednesday, February 11 6:45 PM EST and every other Wednesdays. Where? Online This is a trauma-responsive, non-clinical peer support space grounded in embodiment, choice, and nervous-system-aware care. There is no expectation to share, perform, or arrive feeling “ready.” You are welcome as you are. If you’ve been feeling stretched, overwhelmed, or simply needing a place to slow down with others, this space is here for you. Register here: https://linktr.ee/TEAOCanada #PeerSupportSpaces #SomaticSupport #TraumaResponsiveCare #CommunityCare #TEAOCanada

🫶🏾👏🏾🙌🏾 We’re grateful to Little Mushroom for hosting TEAO Canada to support our community care initiatives. This evening is about: • Joy and connection • Grassroots fundraising • Sustaining trauma-responsive programs ♥️♥️♥️ — come join us! Repost from @littlemushroomdininglounge • Lots of exciting events in the Lounge this month! 💘🍷 To make a reservation go to the link in our bio or email lounge@littlemushroomcatering.com. #funactivities #community #trivia #love #collectivehealing

Trauma Informed Circles: Peer Support Spaces Our Trauma-Informed Care Circles are not support groups, therapy sessions, or spaces for fixing. They are collective nervous-system spaces—designed for people who are tired of performing wellness and are longing to simply arrive. In these circles, embodiment means we slow the pace enough for the body to catch up. We center consent, choice, and non-urgency so participants can notice what it feels like to be with others without pressure to speak, explain, or heal on demand. Presence is the practice. Witnessing is the medicine. As a collective space, the circle reminds us that healing does not only happen in isolation or in clinical rooms—it also happens when our bodies experience safety together. When we sit in shared humanity, our nervous systems learn something new: I don’t have to carry this alone. This is why the circle exists. 
For community members across Cambridge, KW, and beyond—anyone who feels aligned to travel—this space offers a return to self through community. A place where rest is allowed, silence is respected, and belonging is not earned. You are welcome exactly as you are. Reminder: Trauma-Informed Care Circle – Tonight in Cambridge and every other Wednesday’s! 
📍 Cambridge Public Library – Hespeler Branch
🕕 Wednesday, February 4 | 6:45–8:00 PM
♥️ Free • Community-based • Non-clinical Registration is stays open: https://linktr.ee/TEAOCanada or LINK IN BIO or drop in! #TraumaInformedCare #CommunityCare #PeerSupport #CollectiveHealing #EmbodiedCare

Learn Black History so We Can Unlearn the History You Were Taught ♥️🫶🏾: Collective Healing Edition TEAO Canada Educational Corner: If you were raised inside systems shaped by whiteness, the history you were taught was never neutral. It centered comfort over truth, omission over honesty, and control over humanity. To learn Black history is to unlearn the distortions that quietly shaped unconscious bias, stereotypes, and the narrow lens many of us inherited. Embodied Learnings: Unlearning matters because Black History Month was never meant to be a single chapter of pain or a 28-day pause. It exists because Black life has always been full, expansive, and alive—celebrated 365 days a year. When we unlearn, we stop relating to Blackness only through trauma and begin to feel the truth of Black joy, creativity, intelligence, wisdom, love, brilliance, dignity, resilience, and legacy. This is not about guilt. It’s about responsibility. And relationship. And becoming honest about what was kept from us. As shared and taught by Terence Lester (@imterencelester ): Black History Month is about Black joy, Black intelligence, Black wisdom, Black strength, Black creativity, Black love, Black excellence, Black hope, Black dignity, Black determination, Black perseverance, Black resilience, Black brilliance, and Black legacy. And no matter how much people try to erase it—this seems to remain true. Embodied Equity: Unlearning is not a loss. It’s a return to truth. ⬇️ #DecolonizeTheMind #EmbodiedEquity #SystemicTruth #CollectiveHealing #DoBetter

You are the Community. Community Care Happens Because People Show Up. ♥️ At TEAO Canada, our work is sustained by volunteers, peer support personnel, facilitators, and community members who believe that healing and care should be accessible, relational, and rooted in dignity. Each month, we continue to grow a network of individuals choosing to support others through trauma-responsive, community-based care. From peer support spaces to workshops and circles, this work is shaped by lived experience and collective responsibility. If you’ve been looking for a way to contribute meaningfully to your community, we invite you to explore volunteering with us or learning more about our peer support pathways. • Volunteer with TEAO Canada • Learn about Peer Support & Training • Complete an Peer Support Matching Intake Form to be matched for support to one of our Trauma Responsive Care Personnel (Free) *all link to register and find more information about in our bio https://linktr.ee/TEAOCanada ⬆️ This work is made possible through community trust and the support of our funders Waterloo Region Community Foundation; City of Kitchener and partners Cambridge Public Library who continue to invest in care that centers safety, choice, and compassion Together, we are expanding what community care can look like. #CommunityCare #PeerSupport #VolunteerWithUs #TraumaResponsive #CollectiveHealing TEAOCanada