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Invisible Conditions Youth Conference

invisible conditions, conference, support

Goal $5,000

Raised $2,723

Invisible Conditions Youth Conference

Our project aims to bring teens and young adults with chronic health conditions together in a safe space to share their experiences and support each other.

Story Description

On October 14th at UBC Vancouver Campus, the conference will include dynamic and engaging activities, a keynote speaker, break-out group sessions, and learning booths.

Invisible Conditions Conference (ICC) aims to bring teens and young adults with chronic health conditions (ages 13 to 25) together in a safe space to share their experiences and support each other. Individuals living with invisible conditions face challenges and barriers beyond their physical symptoms such as navigating relationships, developing identity, facing stigma, and coping with diagnoses.

In our pilot year, we would like to invite those living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD; e.g., Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis) to the conference. This focus will help shape how we can support other individuals with invisible conditions, in particular those with rare and unique conditions that face similar challenges.

Challenges & Impact of your support

Support the Invisible Conditions Conference, and you’ll be supporting something bigger than a one-day event. You’ll be supporting an initiative that has plans to grow!   Your donation will help with the following:

  • FEED THE YOUTH: Help us cover the costs to nourish our volunteers and participants so they are ready to take on the day’s activities.
  • EQUIP OUR MENTORS: Help us purchase and create materials to enhance the experience of youth (e.g., survival handbook, lanyards, and activity materials)
  • SPREAD THE WORD: Help us share our message broadly through diverse and engaging mediums.
  • BUILD THE LEGACY: Help us expand our conference to support other rare and unique chronic health conditions.

About you

Many of our planning committee members either live with invisible conditions or have family and friends who do. This lived experience inspires our passion to run this conference, to share the knowledge that we have, and to foster supportive relationships between participants, mentors, and those of us planning the conference.

Simon, the project director, is a PhD student in School Psychology at UBC. He has lived with Crohn’s disease for over 10 years. He hopes this conference will allow him to give back some of the life lessons he has learned along his journey. His research examines how students overcome challenges they face at school and at home. Prior to commencing his graduate studies in school psychology, Simon worked as a middle school and high school teacher in the Yukon, Ontario, and British Columbia.