Christine Post says she is making her promise after participating in the ‘Coping With Stress’ workshop for the YWCA Month without Violence. “I realized that I needed to clarify my own core values in the midst of a hectic life. For me, this is the first step in contributing to peace building in my family and the community,” says Christine.

The Peterborough Peace Builder Campaign is running simultaneously along with October's Month Without Violence. It asks city and area residents to make a promise of action to reduce violence and build a better community.

The various community partners who are leading the campaign intend to build social capital through the exercise and create an inventory of the positive things happening in the Peterborough area as a way to measure their success.

Christine, who is a health promoter in the Injury and Family Abuse Prevention Program at the Peterborough County-City Health Unit, is also a member of the Peaceful Communities social marketing workgroup.

"Being busy at home, at work, and with community activities was making me feel overwhelmed,” says Christine. After participating in the workshop offered by Class Connections as part of the Month Without Violence, she learned through the facilitator that most stress is due to “our lives being out of sync with our core values.”

“Before you can identify your priorities you need to clarify those values. My hope is that by doing this I can create more ‘personal peace,’ and identify ways that I can build peace in my family and community that really mean something to me,” she says.

Christine says the workshop facilitator, Martha Jack, provided the attendees with a list of questions that need answers before they can move on. Her first job, she says, will be to answer those questions.

The health promoter sees the link between family peace and community peace in a couple of different ways. “Modelling compassion and community involvement for my children is important to me,” she says.

But at the same time, says Christine, “strong family relationships at home also provide energy and support for undertaking broader roles in the community.”

Although she says the workshop was an excellent place to start, Christine says the only thing left to do at this point is get down to business. “Now its up to me,” she says.

Send this page to a friend

Articles may be reprinted with permission. Contact us at peaceful@newsroom5.com or 1-800-294-0051