Community Resilience Learning Movement | North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit

Welcome to the Movement!

The Community Resilience Learning Movement is in full motion and the momentum keeps growing. Members of the Adverse Childhood Experiences and Resilience Working Group, including the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit, are excited to see how strongly the community has embraced it. Many organizations have already jumped in and taken part in the learning opportunities.

Our Aim

To foster a shared understanding across sectors of the science behind early adversity and resilience, and how these experiences shape lifelong health. By promoting evidence-based concepts and building a common language, we aim to support healing and resilience throughout our communities.

Who It's For

This movement is for service providers across many organizations and sectors who support children, youth, and families in the Muskoka, Nipissing, and Parry Sound Districts. Whether you work directly with people or help shape programs and policies, your role is key to building community resilience.

Ways to Engage

Host a Community Resilience Learning Movement presentation

Bring a one-hour presentation, What Shapes Us: The Science of Adversity and Resilience, to your organization to spark conversation and support further learning.

What Shapes Us explores how early adversity shapes lifelong health and social outcomes. Grounded in current research, the session highlights how stress and supportive experiences influence the developing brain and body, and it emphasizes the powerful role that safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments play in building resilience.

Learning objectives include:

Understand the connection between early adversity and health behaviours and outcomes over the life course.

Learn how resilience is supported through protective factors at the individual, family, community and societal levels.

Apply the resilience metaphor to a case scenario - tapping into your knowledge of community resources.

Become familiar with the Community Resilience Learning Movement and recommendations for further learning.

The presentation is currently offered in English only and can be provided in-person, virtually, or hybrid.

Submit a presentation request.

Complete online foundational training

Strengthen your knowledge of resilience and brain development with these core learning opportunities:

Community Resilience Core Training for foundation learning (available is English only)

Brain Story Certification for a deeper dive (available in English and French) – register anytime and aim for completion by November 30, 2026.

Community Resilience Core Training

This training provides essential knowledge to help promote resilience within communities. Our goal is to certify as many leaders, managers, and frontline service providers as possible across sectors that support children, youth, and families.

Cost and Registration: The training is offered on a sliding scale of $25–$100 per person. Organizations register through the Health Unit so that completed trainings can be counted toward this collective initiative.

To register, please complete this training request form to indicate:

Number of registrants

Email addresses of registrants

The cost per person that works best for your organization ($25-$100 each)

If requesting a facilitation guide, please indicate 1-2 staff to be provided with access

Target Completion Date: Organizations are encouraged to complete the training by November 30, 2026.

What’s Included: 

5 online, self-paced modules

Approximately 5-7 hours to complete

Certificate of completion

Flexible start date to support integration into existing training plans

6-months of access from your start date

Optional facilitation guide to support group or team learning

Access to free specialized training modules, including certificates, focused on resilience in:

- decision-making
- sports and recreation
- education and mentally healthy schools

Questions about training can be directed to community.health@healthunit.ca

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Why It Matters

When we build a shared understanding of early adversity and resilience, we lay the groundwork for more coordinated and effective action across all sectors that support children, youth, and families. A common foundation helps us move beyond isolated efforts and work together with clarity, compassion, and purpose.

Shared strengthens our collective capacity. When service providers across organizations speak the same language, use the same evidence-based concepts, and understand the same core science, we are better able to:

Recognize and respond to early adversity with empathy and consistency

Create environments that foster safety, stability, and belonging

Reduce stigma and support healing at the individual, family, and community levels

Align policies, programs, and practices across systems

Collaborate more effectively toward shared goals

By learning together, we build a foundation that becomes the catalyst for long term, community wide change, helping children, youth, and families thrive.

Join the movement and be part of the momentum!

Together, we can build safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments that support the well-being of children, youth, and communities.