Tuesday, September 13, 2011

CASEY Members Assist in Keeping Music Fest Safe

From July 8-10, 2011, thousands of people descended on the Comox Valley Exhibition grounds, many of them youth, for three days of good music, good food and great community. While festivals are a fun part of summer, the nature of the event can make it a space where youth and young adults can be at risk. People who attend festivals join a small group who are thrown together for a few days in a miniature version of community. Depending on who attends, what their motives are, and what the overall feel of the festival is, the predominant culture can be either positive or negative.

Music Fest has done an excellent job of ensuring that the festival has a caring, safe, and fun culture. The broader festival has used the motto ‘RUOK?’ (Are you okay?) to create a temporary culture where festival goers look out for one another. The festival asks that participants do no harm to self, no harm to others, and no harm to festival. CASEY members Kristine Klupsas, Isabel McKinnon, and Miranda Blomquist assisted a team of six local youth workers in ensuring that youth were safe during the festival. While operating on the harm reduction model, the Youth Outreach Team checked in on youth and offered local resources, safety information, and condoms.

“Our main message was one of safety. We constantly pressed home the point about making good choices and thinking about the effects of their behaviour,” said Miranda Blomquist. The team was utilized by both security and first aid as a first point of contact with youth before more extreme measures needed to take place. The team also built relationships with the youth so that if a crisis did arise they would be more likely to reach out.

“We’ve only been in operation for two years,” said Kristine Klupsas, Youth Outreach Team Co-coordinator, “but already we’ve had youth who remembered us from the previous year. It can only get better in the years to come as youth continue to build relationships with us and feel comfortable to come to us with any issues that may arise at the festival.”

The Youth Outreach Team took the opportunity to brand themselves by wearing pink tiaras, offering candy as incentives, and keeping the conversations focused on making sure youth were having a safe, enjoyable time. Isabel McKinnon, a first time Music Fest Outreach member, was very surprised at how well the youth received the team. “Whether it was the tiaras, the candy, or our names that they recognized, the youth were happy to see us and were open to engaging with us.”

The team was well received by all the youth, who were open to the information that the Youth Outreach Workers had to share. Look for the Youth Outreach Team and CASEY members at Vancouver Island Music Fest next year.

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