In today’s fast-paced world, where we often feel disconnected from nature and ourselves, the vanlife movement is becoming more than just a trend.
It’s a movement that seeks to find balance, connection, and exploration! While vanlife invites us to rethink our relationship with our environment, our aspirations and even our emotions, other movements are unfolding to encourage this same process of taking responsibility for our lives. Such is the case of Le CIEL Foundation, the online Center for Emotional Intelligence. Deeply relevant to our modern reality, this foundation couldn’t be more timely.
The mission
Le CIEL Foundation was launched in October 2020 with a mission to raise awareness about the impact of screens on our health and well-being, both socially, physically, and mentally. According to Véronique Bolduc, School Relations Coordinator for the foundation, the goal is “to open up this conversation by presenting the issues of digital well-being and popularizing what the studies say on the subject, so we can better understand how screens can impact us”.
The foundation focuses on two missions: prevention and awareness-raising. “We’re very focused on popularizing science and nuances, so we don’t present alarmist speeches, and then, on discussions we have with young people. We want to give them a voice on the issues they face…” explains Véronique.
The foundation has an administrative team, a presenter team, and a group of expert advisors who lend credibility and notoriety to the content offered by the foundation.
Workshops – Prevention
From the start, the foundation has been hosting digital wellness workshops to clarify the impact of digital technology on mental and overall health. The goal is to acknowledge the effects of screens in our daily lives and suggest remedies or resources that foster a positive relationship with them.
“Since the beginning, we’ve been running workshops for 14-17 year-olds. Starting in the fall, we’ll also have a primary school workshop available across Quebec. This past May, we had our pilot project and it went really well. It’s aimed mainly at 5th and 6th graders, but also 4th graders,” explains Véronique. “It’s a workshop that focuses on healthy lifestyle habits in relation to screens, to immediately put in place good reflexes in relation to their well-being.” The facilitators establish a trustworthy relationship with the youth, fostering a non-judgmental environment that promotes open communication. Véronique shared that in the previous year, they conducted over 500 workshops, reaching out to more than 12,500 young individuals. Such numbers are truly inspiring!
Although its initial focus is on working with young people, the Le CIEL foundation is expanding its scope to include the digital realities of adults. They now offer an adapted workshop in the form of a conference for adult training courses. Additionally, they partner with municipalities, libraries, and schools to provide a conference for parents. The foundation strives to reach out beyond its original target audience.”We also go into professional environments, with adults, to address digital well-being at work, issues of availability, boundaries between private and professional life, performance pressure, etc.” adds Véronique. To complete its offering even further, the foundation has developed a training course for school teams and people working in organizations.
Social networks – Raising awareness
In addition to providing comprehensive workshops and training courses, CIEL has a intentional online presence through its podcast “The Connection” and social media publications.
According to Véronique, “The podcast is a great opportunity for us to connect with experts in the field and engage in conversations with them on a variety of topics related to digital well-being. We strive to give them space and time to delve into some of the challenges we face with digital technology.”
Their social media publications, on the other hand, aim to popularize science and make information about screen-related health issues accessible to the general public. These publications can be found on Instagram and TikTok under the username @fondationleciel.
How to get involved
Getting involved in emotional intelligence education online is something that concerns everyone! There are numerous ways to contribute to this cause.
If you have connections in schools that would be interested in attending workshops, you can put them in touch with the foundation. Their team of dedicated and enthusiastic facilitators travels throughout Quebec. You can easily request a workshop by sending an email to ateliers@leciel.ca.
Another way to make a difference is by engaging with the content published by the foundation. You can follow their social media accounts, listen to their podcast, share their message, or discuss the topic with others. These actions will have a significant impact.
Moreover, donating to the foundation, a charitable organization, is another way to support their mission. “Every donation we receive is invested back into our mission. Our ultimate goal is to offer free workshops to schools in underprivileged areas,” says Véronique.
Lastly, keep an eye out for the foundation’s fundraising campaigns. Recently, they organized a wonderful comedy show on May 31st. It was a fantastic event!
Le CIEL Foundation is our cause of the moment! We’ll be donating 1% of all our online sales from May to August 2023 to the organization.