PREVNet’s National Youth Advisory Committee is passionate about creating resources to promote healthy relationships and prevent teen dating violence. They have created a number of valuable resources for youth, including podcasts, posters, animated videos on consent, and more.
Alice Gauntley (she/her) is a project officer with Wisdom2Action based in Toronto, on the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinaabe, and the Wendat, and part of Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit. Passionate about health equity, Alice has over a decade of experience as a public health researcher, advocate, and educator, with a focus on sexual health promotion.
Alice holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Gender, Sexuality, Feminist and Social Justice Studies from McGill University.
Nilanga (Aki) Bandara is currently a medical student at the University of British Columbia. He is passionate about youth empowerment initiatives and evidence-based research. Being a part of the National Youth Advisory Committee (NYAC), is an exciting opportunity for him because it is a space where two of his passions intersected, specifically public health and mental health. In his spare time, Aki enjoys going hiking, swimming, and running.
NYAC is the second youth council Phoenix (She/Her) has been apart of. Back in 2018 she joined Project respect, a youth council funded by the Victoria Sexual Assault Center, believing that the youth are the experts on their own experiences and can lead their peers to drive for change. She strives to be a voice for those who are unable to speak up or have been silenced, fighting against sexualized violence towards not only youth, but everyone who has been affected. She has since joined our team back in May (2022) to broaden her opportunities and make a difference in our community. Phoenix is 18 years old from a small town called Sidney in British Columbia. She has a love for animals, being outdoors, baking, and being an activist towards the common goal of changing this world day by day. It starts with one person, it starts with all of us.
Hi, I am Caroline! My pronouns are she/her and I am 18 years old. I live in a small town in Nova Scotia called Guysborough. This year I will be entering my first year of university at York and will be taking the Film Production program. For the past two years at my school I have been a member of the Healthy Relationships for Youth program, where older students educate grade 9’s on a variety of issues pertaining to teens. Through this program I was introduced to NYAC. NYAC has provided me with the opportunity to create connections with so many wonderful people and have real discussions about important issues. Teen dating violence is such a prevalent issue in today's society. I believe it is so important that we educate youth on this issue, as we need to have serious conversations about it in order to end it.
Hey I’m Thomas. I’m 20 years old. I currently do lawn care and plan on starting my own lawn care business in the future. I was brought to NYAC through a program called “Heart to Heart” run by a company called “Ndinawemaaganag” I’m passionate about teen dating violence because it is something that I have witnessed many times. It’s hard to see and I think awareness is important.
My name is Anabel and I go by any pronouns. I live in Victoria BC, attending Mount Douglas Secondary School. I am 15 years old and in my minimal spare time, I competitively row. I strongly believe that by educating youth on various consent, healthy relationships, and violence topics, we can create a safe and healthy atmosphere around teen dating!
Hello, my name is Jake Grady (he/him), I am 18 years old, and I am from Guysborough, Nova Scotia. I've recently graduated from Guysborough Academy and I will be heading to St Francis Xavier (StFX) University in the fall. I am currently working a summer job as a Day Camp Counselor, however, my future plans consist of studying Psychology to work as some form of therapist/Psychologist. I was first introduced to the NYAC from the Healthy Relationships for Youth (HRY) program at my school. Seeing that the HRY program surrounds teen dating violence awareness, it was right up my alley to join NYAC. I am passionate about ending teen dating violence because of the insane amount of misinformation within social media and society. We internalize many false beliefs about how relationships "should be", which often stem from sexist and heteronormative views, just to name a few. Youth and teens are the future of society, therefore it is important to thoroughly educate them!
My name is Maryam Rasuly and my preferred pronouns are she/her. I am 22 years old and I am from Vancouver. I am in my third year of the Bachelors of Social Work Degree Program at Douglas College. My goal is to complete my Masters of Social Work Degree to become a psychiatric social worker at a Vancouver General Hospital. I am a full-time Support Worker at Raincity Housing and provide support using a strength-based model for chronically homeless individuals living in the community, many of whom have concurrent mental illness, substance use and physical health. I am also a part-time Library Assistant at the Vancouver Public Library. I heard about the National Youth Advisory Committee from Mosaic where I volunteered for three years. It is a non-profit organization in Greater Vancouver that is dedicated to address issues that affect immigrants and refugees. Mosaic's mission is to enrich communities through services and advocacy. I highly enjoy volunteering with NYAC and I am very honored to learn and grow with the committee for almost two years. It is my pleasure to work collaboratively with the NYAC team to create meaningful and impactful work regarding teen dating violence. I volunteer with Douglas Students' Union at Douglas College which is a student-run non-profit that promotes advocacy to make education affordable and accessible. I am passionate about ending teen dating violence (TDV) because youth is a vulnerable population and TDV puts them at great risk. That being said, unhealthy, violent and abusive relationships can damage and deteriorate one's health and for youth to experience this, it can cause them to take part in suicide, exhibit anti-social behaviors, depression and even anxiety. Because of this, I strongly believe that advocating, raising awareness, and working towards ending TDV is a paramount step to take and this helps maintain youth's safety and reassurance that support is out there.
Alexis Holmgren (She/They) is a 22 year old volunteer, rare disease patient advocate, and published writer from Red Deer, Alberta. She has also been a passionate advocate for diversity, inclusion, and accessibility from the age of 12, drawing from her personal experience as a young person living with multiple life-threatening rare genetic disorders to create change for a more inclusive and accessible world. Alexis is extremely proud to serve as a member of the PREVNet NYAC for a third year and has greatly enjoyed the opportunity to create resources about healthy relationships and teen dating violence by youth, for youth alongside young people from across the country. She was nominated to join the NYAC in 2019 and represents both Experiences Canada and The Students Commission of Canada (SCC) through their national Be The Program project, which trains youth as Peer Influencers to help their peers make healthy decisions and think critically about their relationships.
Alexis is highly active in her community and was recognized as a 2022 Mayor’s Recognition Award recipient by The City of Red Deer as a Community Builder. In addition to the NYAC, Alexis also volunteers in a variety of roles including as a: Trainer and Area Council Adviser with Girl Guides (she has been a member of the organization for 15 years and is the recipient of the National Fortitude Award, National Girl Greatness Award for Courage, and the Chief Commissioner’s Gold Award), Facilitator and Research Assistant with The Students Commission of Canada (SCC), and member of the Rick Hansen Foundation School Program Youth Leadership Sub-Committee.
Currently, Alexis serves as the Lead Youth Facilitator for the “Sharing Youths’ Stories of COVID-19” study with Bishop’s University, SCC, and Brock University, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), focusing on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the physical and mental health of marginalized micro-populations of youth, as well as the ways in which youth-serving programs adapted to the pandemic. She recently travelled to Prince Edward Island to conduct her first in-person research data collection session with youth living in a rural community.
As a Youth Accessibility Leader through the Enabling Accessibility Fund with the Government of Canada, she successfully created a project and led a grant application that was completed in August 2020 to install ultraviolet light-blocking film on the windows of the G.H. Dawe Pool in Red Deer to make the pool more accessible to those living with sun sensitivity disorders. For her efforts, Alexis was named the Alberta Student recipient of the Rick Hansen Foundation School Program 2021 Difference Maker of the Year Award. One fun fact is that Alexis has visited all 3 northern territories, enjoying camping under the midnight sun in the Yukon, dogsledding and Northern Light viewing in the Northwest Territories, and visiting the Arctic Ocean above the arctic circle in Nunavut.
Wynter Mohsenzadeh-Green is 18, xey live in Victoria, British Columbia. Wynter is going into zer’s 13th year and final year of school, at Victoria High School. Wynter is often found working in various camps. Over the summer, often in a camp counsellor role. Xey have been involved in theatre and musical theatre for 9 years. Wynter is also involved in Project Respect a local sexualized violence awareness group, The Gender Generations Project a project involving trans and non binary youth engaging with trans and non binary mentors to create creative projects such as a book, an exhibit in an art gallery, a cabaret and a mural. Wynter is also involved in the Victoria Youth Mental Health Coalition a team of 12-24 year olds in greater Victoria with an aim to improve mental health services for youth and reduce stigma surrounding youth who struggle. all of these are based in Victoria, British Colombia. Wynter has earned several awards, such as the Young Exceptional Star awards in from Oak Bay, Victoria, Breakfast Of Champions from zer school, Grade 11 Math Award from xer school several honour roles from Wynter's school. Wynter is also an author and artist of a collaborative book, Xey have also had zer art displayed in an art gallery. Wynter found out about NYAC through Project Respect, Xey joined it because ze thinks ending teen dating violence is important because it can have a life long impact on mental health and wellbeing which can result to poor mental health which can end up being a life long struggle.
My name is Arlena Maytwayashing. I am nearly 18 years old and currently finishing up high school. I work full time for “SEED Winnipeg” where I facilitate one of their money management classes. I love my job very much. I recently received an “Excellence in Mathematics” achievement along with that I won 2 writing competitions run by my school. I was brought to “NYAC” by the coordinator of a program called “Heart to Heart” run by “Ndinawemaaganag Endaawaad Inc.” I am passionate about teen dating violence because I feel it’s an issue that isn’t discussed yet it is quite common.
