‘Healthy Kodiak’ focuses on how to keep our families strong

Experts on health and on how culture and families affect one’s health will gather on Wednesday for this year’s Heathy Kodiak, which is an all-day event held at the Afognak Center on Near Island.

The program is free and open to the public. It begins at 8:30 a.m. and runs through 4:30, with lunch provided.

The focus for this year’s event is Cultivating Resiliency Across Generations. Topics of discussion range from healthy children to healthy elders, family interactions, mental health and making informed decisions as you or your parent ages.

 

 

Some presentations, such as the mid-day break out sessions, tend toward Native culture with choices that include salmon skin sewing, an Alutiiq language bingo, and a salve making workshop. There’s also a session on movement for healing.

One concept that has wide ranging effects on physical and mental health is gaining traction in public literature is known as ACEs or Adverse Childhood Events. It is the idea that what happens to us as children takes a toll on us throughout our lives.

ACEs uses a series of questions to help you obtain a score. The higher the score, the more problems that can plague a person. The point, says KANA’s Matthew Kozak is to educate people about the effects of family and social events so that people can have better mental and physical health throughout their lives.

 

 

The day is set up as a drop-in, drop-out event so that people can attend the workshops and presentations they want as time is available to them throughout the day.

Again, Healthy Kodiak is free to the public and is being held at the Afognak Center on Near Island. A complete schedule of events can be found on the website healthykodiak.org.

For more information on ACEs go to the Center for Disease Control’s site.