Posted February 3, 2006

By Kristina Davis

CF youth model promotional T-shirts and bracelets for the Connecting CF Youth Web site. Local youth advisory committees are encouraged to celebrate the launch of the site from February 20 to March 31.

No Web site? For the teens of Gen Y, you’re not even on their radar screen, much less their computer monitor. But CF youth are plugged in with the launch of the Connecting CF Youth Web site.

Now on-line, the site, developed entirely by youth, will be launched with a variety of local events from February 20 to March 31. An initiative of the CF Personnel Support Agency (CFPSA), with funds from National Defence Online (NDOL), the site is intended to connect youth and offer resources to those supporting them at the local level.

Elizabeth Binette, 15, from Victoria, B.C., says the Web site was a “cool way” to get involved with other youth. Plus, it offered her the opportunity to develop skills, like preparing and giving presentations.

“Originally I signed up because I thought that it would be a cool idea—a site by youth for youth—about the military—which I feel that I know a lot about,” she explains.

Her dad has been in the Navy for nearly 23 years and her mom works for Personnel Support Programs (PSP) at CFB Esquimalt so she has been part of a CF family her entire life. While Ms. Binette is much like other CF youth, she differs in one.aspect: her father has never been posted. But, she adds, he has been deployed a lot.

The reality of postings and deployments is just one.aspect of the information available on the site. Topics range from therapy, to anti-boredom, to a forum area where youth can connect and chat.

Ms. Binette says while deployments may be tough, it’s not the end of the world.“It’s hard to adapt when a parent leaves for six months or more. And then they come back, it’s not as if they were never gone. Everything changes again. ...I know that personally, I haven’t missed anything in my life because my dad is in the military.”

And it is exactly those kinds of ideas that youth can share on-line. In fact, she encourages other CF youth to join the site and to share their experiences.“They need to know that there are other youth JUST like them out there around the whole world. On the site we have articles written by youth in their positions, we have help articles, we have stories, and we have games.” Gregg Clark is another CF youth involved with the Web site. Unlike Ms. Binette, his family has been posted three times and he is currently living in Brussels.

While there are a handful of other CF youth in his overseas community, they are quite a bit younger. Having a virtual community on-line has helped Mr. Clark, 15, meet buddies from British Columbia and even Italy.

For him, postings have been both the most challenging and exciting.aspect of having a parent in the CF. And moving from Dartmouth, N.S., to Belgium has literally offered him an entire continent of possibilities.

“Even if it was tough to leave Nova Scotia, I’m happy to be here in Europe. ...This may be my only chance to live here [so] why go back to somewhere I’ve been for so long already? I spend all the school breaks travelling the rest of Europe.”

Lara Rooke is the National Recreation and Youth Services co-ordinator with the PSP division of the CFPSA. She says there are more than 20 000 CF youth—defined as teens aged 12 to 18—who could benefit from this initiative. She stresses that the site is both youth driven and youth focussed. In fact, more than 100 kids took part in the development. And while it offers a wealth of information and resources, she says the forum—where the free flow of information and ideas is encouraged—is truly the “glue” that holds it all together.

“The Web site allows youth to be connected in a way they never have before—giving them access to relevant and meaningful information in a youthfriendly package.”

To participate in the launch, local youth advisory committees are encouraged to express interest on-line. Launch kits, including resources and guidelines, will then be sent to the group. Interested committees must then officially register their event. Prizes are available to those committees who both register and provide feedback on their event before April 7.

For more information, visit www.connectingcfyouth.ca.