Welcome to Beyond the Bell podcast, where you will get an inside look into school life. We cover school-related topics that support your child's education and well-being. As you listen along, we hope you'll gain insights for navigating school with your child and leave with a deeper sense of connection between school and home. Here's your host, Chantelle Quesnelle.

Welcome to Beyond the Bell podcast where you get an inside look into school life. We cover school related topics that support your child's education and well being. As you listen along, we hope you'll gain insights for navigating school with your child and leave with a deeper sense of connection between school and home. Here's your host, Chantelle Quesnelle.

Chantelle: Hello, Simcoe Muskoka Catholic School Board Families and listeners. We are so excited to have another episode of Beyond The Bell. For our guest today, we have Noor Siddiqui. She works at CFS Counseling and Well-being as its newcomer outreach coordinator. As a relative newcomer herself, she moved to Canada from her native Pakistan in 2003. For the last year and a half, she has worked with newcomers, immigrants, protected peoples, Ukrainian nationals and international students who need help navigating life in their adopted community of Simcoe County. Noor says her approach is to be the resource person she wished she had for herself when she arrived here as a single mother with two young children and very few English language skills. Noor is here today uh to chat with us about the Spark'd Program at CFS Counseling and Well-being. The services provided through that program are offered to participants at no cost thanks to the generosity of the County of Simcoe with additional support from Catholic charities and Sharelife. Welcome to the podcast, Noor.

Noor: Thank you, Chantelle. Thanks for having me here. 

Chantelle: Oh, I'm so excited for, for you to, to join us today and for us to explore the Spark'd Program. What can you tell us, Noor, some information about the Spark'd program, maybe its its origin story, how it came to life and, and where it's taking off now.

Noor: CFS Counseling and Well-being started this uh took this initial because there was a huge need for newcomer, a newcomer, people, people in the simple country especially and they needed, we have some settlement services who are working amazing work. But we, this CFS saw a gap for social integration for the newcomer people. So that's why Spark'd was created not too long ago, actually---it's a fairly new program, but this program has done wonders so far.  

I was a newcomer to this country and I was isolated, I had no idea what, what Canadian lifestyle or culture or traditions are.

I had, it took me way longer than it should. So what I'm trying to do through my work is uh including all these newcomers families and uh teaching them or showing them how beautiful Canada is or how beautiful Canadian culture or traditions are. For example, we just had a harvesting season for strawberry. So I hosted strawberry social at the Barrie Public Library. It was an amazing program. We talk about harvesting. We talk about how community celebrate um such as onion fest is happening or potatoes, potato fest is gonna happen soon in Alliston area.

So we are talking about these things and that, those topics give uh because they're not extremely hard topic to talk to, so it's, it gives them some sort of comfort to practice their English skills...

Chantelle: Right. And sort of...

Noor:  ...and socialize, socialize with each other and make friends. And then they, they create some sort of similar uh dinner parties or outings for themselves. We did potluck and one of the families from Afghanistan, if, if I can say that I had no idea what potluck is and then potluck is such a common idea in North America or Canada.

Chantelle: It is.

Noor: But I hosted during Christmas and idea behind was because many families were alone. They don't have family or friends system support system here and I did not want them to be alone during holiday season so I hosted this potluck lunch for Christmas. And that was a, that was a huge success.

Chantelle: That sounds like this, this mix of um having a space to create community to come together and build relationships and connections, building English language skills and then also kind of learning about um local uh practices, local information um about what the local community has to offer and and what those kind of traditions might be, or experiences might be and then practicing them together or doing some activities that involve them together.

Noor: You got it. I'm planning the field trip now this month, uh, to take uh families, newcomer families to Simcoe County Museum. I want them to know, um, what is it about? Where are we living? I, it just create uh the sense for them to that they belong, sense of, you know, they fit in or uh kind of welcomes everybody. So if they have understanding, they will, it will help them to um settle in better. 

Chantelle: Absolutely, we know the importance of belonging and connection for um everybody's well being.

Noor: Absolutely.

Chantelle: Um And that um there are circumstances like when we have newcomer families that um that belonging and connection, you know, sometimes is, is a challenge and the starting place to develop that sense of connection might be uncertain. So it sounds like the Sparks Program um helps create that starting place. 

Noor: You got that right. Doesn't matter where you coming from. If you are coming to Canada, no website, no immigration website or no settlement service provider can prepare you. They can help you do all the documentation and all the, you know, important stuff for you to be here. But how to survive a new community, how to survive, how to, what to expect in a new community. That's what I feel like Spark'd is able to do. You're a newcomer, I say, "Hey, double-double", what is double-double?

Chantelle: Right! What is a double-double? 

Noor: It comes naturally to, to Canadian people. But what is double, double to a newcomer? So all these -  and I tried to, I, I run a conversation circle on the weekly basis. I am not a teacher so I am not teaching them academic part, but I'm trying to, teaching is conversational English.

Chantelle: Right.

Noor: So they don't feel hesitant or, or frustrated just to go to Tim Hortons and order their coffee, or if they want to talk to their teachers or school teachers, their children teachers, they won't have any struggle to reach out, right? So I'm trying to, all these topics that I try to keep during conversation circle is for them to use it actually in their daily life.

Chantelle: Right. 

Noor: Because I've been there, Chantelle, I know and I speak a few language, but English is the hardest. I'm telling you. 

Chantelle: Right? Five I think. Is that correct? Five languages you speak, Noor. 

Noor: Yes. 

Chantelle: Yes, you're quite an amazing, quite an amazing woman. I think we could do a whole podcast um on, on you and your story. Um but we're talking about Spark'd today, so maybe that's a future podcast! I'm wondering um you mentioned the Strawberry Social and some and some of the kind of field trip examples. Um I think we've also talked about like a coffee and crafts or a Scrabble club. Can you tell us more about those? 

Noor: So this is the craft program, is, I, it's um happening every Wednesday in the morning for two hours.

We come here, we create some sort of crafts and I try to create some crafts that we can use it for uh maybe their home decoration, maybe to put their bathroom or to the kitchen or something useful. And then they feel proud about it that they created something. When they come here, they get to socialize with other people. They get to forget about their daily stressors their, you know, stressful life and the tensions in life and then whatever the worries and every person is dealing with these days.

So that get to give them a break from a their harsh reality I would say, and then make connections, and we always have food and snacks and coffee. And then it's just a fun little program which um people seem to love. Scrabble Club has been extremely famous amongst uh older newcomers. I would say they are like isolated too, our older adult population are, you know. So we try to provide a safe place for them to sit down with a newcomer and teach English or talk about their life or talk about their stories and they exchange, they exchange words and they learn from each other actually.

Chantelle: Absolutely.

Noor: And by playing struggle, they're proving their vocabulary. 

Chantelle: It sounds like um all the programs are so much fun. 

Noor: Yes, absolutely. They are extremely fun, extremely useful for newcomers families and at no cost.

Chantelle: Which is really important.

Noor: It is important.

Chantelle: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Um, are all the programs, uh group programs, Noor, or are there other services through Spark'd that um, that people sometimes access? 

Noor: Absolutely. They can make an appointment for one-on-one appointment and then I'm able to provide them um emotional support if they need it, and uh some referrals to other agencies. Like, we work with other employment agencies, other settlement service providers, the school board, um or some international students come and they have questions and they don't know how to navigate the community. So we are able to do that through Spark'd, absolutely. 

Chantelle: Right, right. So some, some kind of different group drop-in group programming, but also the opportunity for individual one-on-one support from somebody like yourself who could help with emotional support, or system navigation, referrals to other agencies. 

Noor: That's correct. That's what I do, yes.

Chantelle: Ok.

[sound cut out]

Noor: ...with us with standing by the Christmas tree and sending their back home countries to the family and friends. And I was just, it, it was, it was a sweet moment for me of realization that we just take so many things for granted. We don't realize that Christmas tree could be uh something extremely huge thing for somebody who is new to that. I met somebody as a gentleman yesterday and then um he's new to country maybe two months in and uh he was struggling, obviously, he is struggling. And uh he shared some stories about him being, having a good life in his home country. He was an engineer and now he, he's feeling like he's nobody and then he's struggling. I had to remind him that you're still an engineer.

Chantelle: Right!

Noor: Maybe in different language, but you still are engineer. Don't forget that. 

Chantelle: Right! 

Noor: Don't forget like, yes, these are hard times but it will go away. You have courage. That's why you're starting a new life. It's not easy. So don't, like give yourself some sort of credit, credit that you're able to do this trouble one more time once more and, you know, maybe later in life, but you are doing it. 

Chantelle: Ah, I can only imagine the impact of that, um, affirmation and feeling fully seen by somebody else, um, for, um, all of their perseverance and abilities and, yeah, being reminded of that. And I guess, you know, that brings me to, you know, be curious, um, in, in your experience so far, what the impact of the Spark'd program has been on participants, on Simcoe County, on, on CFS? 

Noor: Um, CFS has been an amazing place to work with. I just want to start with that. I have learned so much about, about everything. I'm getting more and more skills on daily basis, basically because I'm surrounded by amazing people at CFS Counselling and Well-being. Through Spark'd, one thing I'm proud to say that I'm able to create a sense of belonging among newcomers and that's extremely rewarding for me, you know, creating CFS, creating this program which is, I'm thankful I will - this is my baby. I was there since day one basically and helped them create this and build this program. So I'm I'm extremely passionate about this program. 

Chantelle: Yeah. And it has, it has grown in, in such a organic and, and beautiful way um to, to hear about all of the participants of the different socials and events and the way that um they reach out to you for all sorts of support and connection and celebration and, and all of those things. It's really um created the community that, that you had hoped for.

Noor: You're right. Absolutely. There are students who would uh come to me, because I go to a lot of community events and I've seen a lot of students, youth actually, they asked about questions. 

Chantelle: Right? Students asking you!

Noor: Students asking you asking me, "What are you doing? How, how, how do you um how can you help our parents? How can you help my mom? My mom is alone. She doesn't speak English." Doesn't matter where they're coming from. I love that, that people feel welcome to approach me to, to, you know, this program. And then it's just um one of the families been here more than 10 years, but they're still not extremely comfortable around because of the language barrier.

Chantelle: Right.

Noor: So the mom was uh going through some mental health issues and then um I was, I was glad to see her. And then once uh when I see her, she did not speak a word of English. So I had a conversation, one-on-one, I booked her time off. But like, you know, just sat down with her coffee, make coffee and then I said, OK, we're gonna do this maybe once a week we'll come because I needed her to feel comfortable within herself. And uh the language where I understand because I did not speak. I still forget all the English words that I try to memorize - the big words. But I realized that this is killing her. She's a, she's a grown person. She has her life experience in other country and now she feels like she's nothing just because she's not trying, she's not able to express herself or seek, seek help that she needs. And I started to, she was one of my very first client when I started this program and I was not busy at that time. Um I used to sit down with her in my office and have conversation for practice. 

Chantelle: Yeah.

Noor:  And that impact to this day, I would receive to this day out of like nowhere are emails by telling me how many improvements she has. 

Chantelle: Sometimes I imagine it takes that individual connection first to even feel comfortable going to some of the group programs. Um whereas others might jump into the group programs right away. It just depends on what they're coming with, right?

Noor: Yes, it takes a couple of weeks to somebody to be comfortable around other people. But I, I'm aware of their, you know, comfort level and they're allowed to take their time. There's no rush to you. I am very much hon- I tell them openly and I sit down with them and I share, if I have to, I share some of my personal stories, some of my personal journey with them to make them understand that. Yes, they are not alone. I've been through some of the similar challenges as they are going through and they feel like nothing's gonna get better, nothing's gonna change. And I'm not, um I don't feel afraid of being vulnerable in front of my client if I have to, if I feel like that could help somebody and, and apparently it helps.

Chantelle:  It sounds like there's a lot of different ways that um somebody could reach out to join the program or get involved with you or, or with Spark'd, and so, um can we share a little bit about that with our, with the people listening today? About what are the ways to learn more about the Spark'd program or to, to join one of these activities?

Noor: It's word of mouth so great for me. Other agencies such as uh can I name some agencies like career center? 

Chantelle: Yes, of course!

Noor: I hold a conversation circle every Tuesday, um there. We have a partnership with Career Center and I'm able to uh connect people for, with the Employment Center. Also, I receive lots of referrals from the learning center or even YMCA, Barrie Public Library, and now Innisfil Library is doing amazing because I go there now and I offer my services a,s as well. Uh including Alliston, I just started to go to Alliston area and try to build some connections and build, offer, you know, services in Alliston area for newcomers. It's pretty, pretty easy to reach out to me. I have my email address almost everywhere on the website. Um, just, I'm just an email away, or a phone call away and I'll reach out to you. I will come to you. I will make a phone call um and introduce myself if somebody is thinking about it, just say hello to me and I will, I will do the rest. 

Chantelle: Absolutely. So, um it sounds like there's, there's lots of community partners that have kind of shared the information, whether it's the, the Learning Center, the Career Center, the libraries around Simcoe County, the hospital, for example, that um sometimes there's connections that way.  There's also reaching out through um phone or email to you or to CFS Counseling and Well-being and they'll connect them whoever calls directly to you as well. Um and there's more information on the website, right? 

Noor: Yes. So our website has full uh um information. Also, I would like to add that we, we provide service in dedicated English, but we do have options to um arrange other languages if we need to...

Chantelle: Oh good to know, yeah. 

noor: ...for the service. 

Chantelle: Yeah, that's very helpful, that's very helpful to know. And the story you were telling a little bit earlier about the, the students when they saw you at a community event and were asking all these questions about the program thinking that it might be helpful for their parent. And so sometimes it's the, the youth that are reaching out to you to help make that bridge for parents that they, that they might be noticing or experiencing isolation or would benefit from some of the supports offered through Spark'd. And so if there's any youth listening um as well to know that they can reach out and get curious and that you can work with them to, to connect their families as well. 

Noor: Absotutely. And they can text me. My phone number is available on the website. They can, if they don't feel comfortable calling me, um they're welcome to text me. I'm able to receive their text through that number. 

Chantelle: Yeah. Is that a number you'd want to provide here on the podcast? 

Noor: Sure. It's 705-230-6172. I repeat, 705-230-6172. 

Chantelle: Amazing. And so they can call or text that number as a...

Noor: Absolutely! 

Chantelle: ...as a first step as well.

Noor: Mhmm, and I'll reach out to them. 

Chantelle: Well, I love that. Uh Noor, is there anything that um you had hoped we were going to talk about or that we, you know, chatted about earlier that we haven't kind of connected on yet that you think would be helpful for listeners to know?

Noor: Um, I just wanna, I just want everybody to know if you know anybody who are newcomer or you are a newcomer, please don't be, don't be shy to reach out even if this program is not for, you just come and say hi to me. Maybe it will help other person or maybe your neighbour or somebody that this program can help. 

Chantelle: Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for your time today and for being on the podcast and we hope our listeners got an inside look at Spark'd program, uh the Spark'd program through uh CFS Counseling and Well-being and, and can kind of see the connections between how a community program like this supports um parents and caregivers and families, which ultimately supports the children and, and youth within the families and in the communities um which when we create healthier communities, we, you know, create healthier schools, and so all of these things are connected. And so I think it's really important that as a school board, we are promoting uh these programs and sharing those resources because it, it does take a community um to, to raise um healthy Children. And then so we're doing that certainly together by supporting families as well. And so thank you, stay tuned for the next episode of Beyond the Bell. 

Thanks for listening to Beyond The Bell podcast. We hope you found today's episode helpful. 

Beyond the Bell is brought to you by the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board and our Catholic Parent Involvement Committee. It's hosted by Chantelle Quesnelle. Pauline Stevenson is our executive producer. Episodes are produced and edited by Portage Creative. You can find our show notes and previous episodes on our podcast website, beyondthebell.ca. 

If you like today's episode, leave us a review. If you have any suggestions for future episodes or any questions or comments about Beyond the Bell podcast, you can send an email to info@smcdsb.on.ca. 

Thanks again for joining us. We'll see you next time.