Starlings Community

Starlings Community Supporting youth impacted by the stress and stigma of a parents substance use through youth programming, caregiver supports, and professional training.

Our team is at the Legal Representation for Children and Youth Conference next week hosting a workshop on centring yout...
06/03/2026

Our team is at the Legal Representation for Children and Youth Conference next week hosting a workshop on centring youth perspectives in the context of parental substance use.

Note: Like all our sessions, this session will not be recorded.

A few spots left so grab them and come say hi:)

What is our workshop about:

Parental substance use frequently appears in child intervention and family law matters. Legal frameworks often centre physical safety and the “best interests of the child,” yet young people’s lived experiences in these contexts are more complex than risk categories alone capture.
This session will introduce child advocates to a deeper understanding and practical tools to centre youth perspectives when parental substance use is present, through a relational understanding of how young people experience their rights.
Building on these insights, the session will identify practical and forward-looking strategies to strengthen child advocacy, enhance relational trust, and promote safety in ways that elevate youth voice and improve legal representation outcomes. (Not Recorded)

Learn more about the amazing line up at the link in our bio, our stories, or head to .

Our ‘pen pal peers’ are connecting tonight to write notes for our hope kits and our pen pals, all going out next week. T...
05/28/2026

Our ‘pen pal peers’ are connecting tonight to write notes for our hope kits and our pen pals, all going out next week. There is still time to sign your young person up to get in the mail for next week.

https://www.starlings.ca/penpalprogram

What is it and why does it matter?

At Starlings, our peer mentors bring both lived experience and deep understanding of the impacts of growing up around parental substance use, grief, loss, and stigma. Many of our mentors know what it feels like to carry big emotions, monitor the environment around them, or feel alone in experiences that are difficult to explain.

Through shared journals, letters, art, poetry, and written reflection, young people ages 8+ connect with someone who understands from both personal and relational experience.

This is a low-pressure way for young people to connect, share, and feel less alone and can make a difference to how the shape and seek out support as they grow.

Write as often or as little as you’d like.

To join our pen pal program:
Sign up through the link in our bio or send us a DM. https://www.starlings.ca/penpalprogram

Note: also open to adult children 🌱❤️

Take a breath /break with us 🌱 Hey YYC! Join us next week for an in person breath focused peer group for adult children ...
05/28/2026

Take a breath /break with us 🌱

Hey YYC! Join us next week for an in person breath focused peer group for adult children who have grown up with parental substance use challenges.

Co-facilitated wih Emilee (peer mentorship at starlings) and Paveena with wellness who will guide the group through a breath work exercise meant to provide rest and respite in a peer setting
Date: June 2
Time: 5:30-7:30 (last 30 min a snack break outside).

Link in bio or stories to register or click here: https://www.starlings.ca/event-details-registration/in-person-breath-work-peer-group-2026-06-02-17-30/form

Did you know that it is estimated that 1 in 4 youth are growing up with parental substance use challenges? Yet, in pract...
05/26/2026

Did you know that it is estimated that 1 in 4 youth are growing up with parental substance use challenges? Yet, in practice, our team hears ‘we don’t see youth like that here’.

This matters. Because we know that if 1 in 4 young people are growing up with parental substance use challenges, then statistically, they are already in your classrooms, after school programs, offices, clinics, and courtrooms.

We know they are there. The question is whether they feel safe to disclose, seek out and find support.

What youth tell us: they don’t.

That’s why our work matters. Learn more about how we can support you and your team to ensure all youth feel safe enough to seek out, find, or accept support through our community offerings including training, workshops, and tools.

Tonight join us at 6pm MST via zoom (link in bio) as we welcome a community of professionals passionate about creating ...
05/21/2026

Tonight join us at 6pm MST via zoom (link in bio) as we welcome a community of professionals passionate about creating SAFER pathways to support for youth growing up with parental substance use challenges, and their families.

We’ll hear from community members about the needs and experiences of professionals, youth, and caregivers supporting youth, caregivers in rural communities, and youth structurally vulnerable to overdose and how we can prevent harm and promote health in all the above. Our team at Starlings will introduce our SAFER framework, and we want to hear from you, our community of SAFER professionals, what YOU need.

Link in bio or below to register or DM us /comment below or email Tacia at [email protected].

https://www.starlings.ca/community-of-practice

Professionals, students and researchers have told us that they want a space to think together, ask real questions, and s...
05/19/2026

Professionals, students and researchers have told us that they want a space to think together, ask real questions, and stay grounded in safer, research-informed practice.

That’s why we created the Starlings Community of S.A.F.E.R Practice Professionals (CoSP). Why safer? Because stigma related to substance use creates barriers to safety, trust, and help-seeking for youth and families. Safer practice means actively reducing shame and systemic bias and prioritizing attuned, relational approaches that support trust-building, co-regulation, and healthy development.

This is a collaborative space for professionals and students in the mental health and substance use sector across the globe who are committed to strengthening advocacy and safer support for youth and their families. This includes counsellors, psychs, doctors, nurses, paramedics, researchers, social workers, child and youth care workers and more!

Inside the CoSP you’ll find reflective discussion, resources, research translated into practice, cross-sector connection, and member learning/training opportunities.

👉AND we have our first virtual event happening this thursday May 21st at 6 PM MST! We will be sharing more about our SAFER framework, and will have two amazing guest speakers sharing more about their work: Holly Mathias from the UofA and Atika Juristia from J Healthcare Initiative. This will be a laid back, reflective conversation.

If this sounds like the community you’ve been looking for, we’d be honoured to have you join us as a member, and also at our first event this week.

Learn more: starlings.ca/community-of-practice

‼️Join us:
1) Apply to be a free member of our Community of Practice by filling out the short application on our website: starlings.ca/community-of-practice
2) Register for our May 21st Zoom meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/80zH2EsMSMuA7os3-Xq9aw #/registration

Today is International Day of the Family, with the 2026 Theme: Families, Inequalities and Child WellbeingAt Starlings, w...
05/15/2026

Today is International Day of the Family, with the 2026 Theme: Families, Inequalities and Child Wellbeing

At Starlings, we know that the stigma and harm parents with substance use challenges experience impacts their child's access to safer resources, relationships and supports. That's why we work to transform the ecosystem of support so all families can access what they need, when they need it, without fear or harm.

As the United Nations acknowledgement of this day states:

'Families are central to social and economic progress, yet many face income insecurity, limited caregiving support and unequal access to essential services. Without adequate support, families with young children face higher risks of poverty, with lasting effects on children’s health, education and overall wellbeing. Income instability, limited caregiving support and restricted access to services can hinder children’s development, especially when compounded by gender, racial, migrant or disability-based inequalities.

This year's theme underscores how widening inequalities are shaping family life and influencing children’s futures. It calls for stronger investment in integrated, family-oriented policies to reduce disparities and support healthy child development.'

United Nations

If a young person and their family can’t speak openly open their mental health needs without fear of discrimination or consequences, safety doesn’t exist, and mental health is put at risk. So we must seek to transform the conditions that place families at risk.

Link in bio to learn more and register for programs this week. ✨✨🌱
05/12/2026

Link in bio to learn more and register for programs this week. ✨✨🌱

Young people are often supporting friends growing up with parental substance use challenges long before systems become i...
05/11/2026

Young people are often supporting friends growing up with parental substance use challenges long before systems become involved. Through our ongoing engagement with youth, we continue to see the important role peers play as natural supports.

As part of our Natural Supports Project in fall 2025, Starlings Community heard from caregivers across Calgary, including 50+ youth aged 12–24 about their experiences supporting friends impacted by parental substance use. What we heard was clear: many peers are carrying significant emotional weight, care, and responsibility, often without recognition or support themselves.

At Starlings, we support youth, families and organizations to strengthen relational, trauma-informed, and healing centred approaches for the 1 in 5 youth growing up with parental substance use challenges rooted in lived experience.

Why? So that every young person knows, ‘You’re not alone and it does get better. You have a voice!’

Interested in learning more about our work?

Join our free Starlings Community of S.A.F.E.R. Practice where our Edcuatir and Nutural Support a project lead, Tacia will share what youth told us: https://lnkd.in/ggqJpHYV

Learn more about our trainings here: https://lnkd.in/gdreYRby or the link in our bio.

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Calgary, AB

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