CONVERSATION SERIES
The Youth. The Work. The System.
YouthREX is celebrating the 10th year of a shared commitment supporting the important work of Ontario youth programs and youth workers in advancing the wellbeing of young people!
To commemorate #YouthREXat10, we’re hosting a CONVERSATION SERIES on the multidimensional theme: The Youth. The Work. The System. This theme has grounded and informed YouthREX since we launched in 2015 and recognizes that youth wellbeing is interconnected to what is happening with youth, within youth work, as well as within larger systems.
The CONVERSATION SERIES will host Keynote Speakers who will draw from their research, practice, and lived experiences to share insights on the experiences of youth facing multiple barriers (The Youth); stories from the frontlines of youth work (The Work); and an analysis of systems and policies that create and sustain inequitable outcomes for youth and their communities (The System).
The CONVERSATION SERIES will include research presentations from YouthREX’s community-engaged research project – the Ontario Youth Sector Compass, a project that is focused on understanding the distinct barriers, challenges, and opportunities that impact the wellbeing of Ontario youth and youth workers, including their vision of a ‘Good Life’.
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. Using an equity-based approach, the Ontario Youth Sector Compass merged quantitative data (from a survey of 3,670 youth and 423 youth workers) and stories from qualitative interviews (with 81 youth and 73 youth workers) to understand what kinds of supports and opportunities youth have or need to thrive; their mental and emotional wellbeing; experiences with discrimination; the impact of COVID; and access to mental health services; as well as the professional and personal experiences of youth workers.
Every conversation in the CONVERSATION SERIES will also include:
Spoken Word poetry and other artistic performances.
Opportunities for participants to engage in dialogue to explore creative and viable forms of transformative youth work practices that can support and strengthen youth wellbeing while paying attention to the contexts that shape young people’s lives, the challenges of youth work, and structural contexts.
The CONVERSATION SERIES will take place on Zoom.
In celebration of YouthREX’s 10th anniversary, this keynote will move through the joys, challenges, tensions, and opportunities of working with community to support diverse youth.
Dr. Nicole Ineese-Nash, a mixed Indigenous (Mushkego Cree, French-Canadian, Irish) scholar, researcher, and community worker, shares stories and insights from more than a decade of research and practice at the intersections of Indigenous childhood studies, disability justice, and community-led youth work. From her role as Executive Director of Finding Our Power Together and Assistant Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, Nicole will share findings from research alongside lived experience working with Indigenous youth across Canada.
She will reflect on the everyday joys that sustain youth work, the systemic challenges that continue to shape practice, and the tensions youth workers navigate in holding both care and constraint within a colonial context. The keynote will close with opportunities for transformation, introducing the Wiingushk Okaadenige (Sweetgrass Braid) framework as a way of imagining braided approaches that weave together various forms of knowledge for the promotion of culturally safe relational care. Nicole will be joined by Kaitlyn Wilcox, Research Project Coordinator, Finding Our Power Together.
The event will include a presentation from Adrienne Young, YouthREX Research Assistant and PhD Student at York University’s School of Social Work, to share findings from YouthREX’s Ontario Youth Sector Compass research project.
Spoken word artist Eddie Lartey will also be featured in a special performance.
This event will take place on Zoom; closed captions in English will be available and presentations and performances will be recorded.
Dr. Nicole Ineese-Nash (she/her)
Assistant Professor, Toronto Metropolitan University
Executive Director, Finding Our Power Together
Registered Early Childhood Educator
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Dr. Nicole Ineese-Nash (she/her) is a mixed Indigenous (Mushkego Cree, French-Canadian, and Irish) researcher, educator, and community worker. She is a registered member of Constance Lake First Nation with family ties to Mamawmattawa along the English and Kabikagami Rivers in Treaty 9 territory. She was born and raised in Tkaronto, where she presently lives and works. Nicole holds a Ph.D. in Social Justice Education with a specialization in Indigenous health and a Master’s in Early Childhood Studies. She is also a registered early childhood educator. She is an Assistant Professor in Early Childhood Studies and Child and Youth Care at Toronto Metropolitan University. She is also a registered early childhood educator. Her research attends to Indigenous childhoods, disability justice, madness and healing, drawing on participatory, land-based, and decolonial methodologies. She is also the founder and Executive Director of Finding Our Power Together, a national Indigenous-led charitable organization that offers mental health programming, cultural healing services, and community-based research with Indigenous children, youth, and communities across Canada.
Kaitlyn Wilcox
Research Project Coordinator, Finding Our Power Together
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Kaitlyn WilcoxResearch Project Coordinator, Finding Our Power TogetherKaitlyn is a mixed Bodéwadmiand settler Two-Spirit artist and registered social workerfrom Mississauga. Their ancestors come from Moose Deer Point First Nation. Guided by adeep connection to family, Land, and Spirit, their work bridges creativity and healing. As anIndigenous artist and social worker, Kaitlyn uses art as a tool for storytelling, resurgence,and wellness. Their practice integrates Indigenous knowledges, anti-oppressive care, andarts-based therapies to foster belonging, cultural pride, and intergenerational healing.Through creativity and compassion, Kaitlyn nurtures spaces whereIndigenous Peoples canthrive and be unapologetically themselves
Eddie Lartey
Wordsmith, Poet, and Spoken Word Artist
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Eddie Lartey is a Hamilton-based wordsmith, poet, and spoken word artist whose work delves into themes of love, devastation, and triumph within the Black experience. With a deep commitment to the poetics of world-making and world-breaking, he uses language as a tool for transformation and collective healing. As the founder of Hamilton You Poets, Eddie leads writing and performance workshops that welcome participants of all ages and stages. His work has appeared on both national and international stages for nearly a decade. His impressive achievements include winning the Toronto International Poetry Slam in 2019, the Canadian Individual Poetry Championship in 2022, the slam of the Americas in Brazil, and recently earned a remarkable 5th place at the World Poetry Slam. Additionally, he was recognized as one of the Top 40 Under 40 and his recent poetry collection barcode just won Hamilton Literary Award! Eddie's art invites and inspires us to build a more just and compassionate world, one poem at a time.
Revisit our Knowledge to Action (KtA) Exchange events from 2016 and 2018, and our In Conversation series from 2020!
