People First Radio – May 29, 2025People First Radio – May 29, 2025
People First Radio
A teen organiser explains how a youth giving circle in Oceanside channels small donations into big community impact, while Victoria’s CRCL team outlines a consent-based, community-led approach to mental health crises. Together, the conversations highlight practical ways people are reshaping local care and support.
0:00•30 May 2025
Youth Changemakers and Community-Led Crisis Care on People First Radio
Episode Overview
- Small, consistent actions – like a single $10 donation – can combine into significant support for local charities.
- Youth-focused groups such as 100 Kids For Change help young people learn about their community, money management, and public speaking.
- The CRCL team offers a consent-based, non-police response to mental health crises, prioritising care, respect, and de-escalation.
- Lived and living experience is treated as equal in value to formal education within the CRCL model, including pay and roles.
- CRCL teams follow up with personalised resource lists and support, reinforcing that no one has to face a mental health crisis alone.
“Just do something to be the change. It doesn’t have to be huge. It can be something small, but do something to be the change.”
What remarkable journeys have people faced head-on against addiction and mental health challenges? This edition of People First Radio brings two very different, but equally heartening, community stories together. First up, teen organiser Janel Van Dongen talks about creating *100 Kids For Change Oceanside*, a youth-led giving circle on Vancouver Island. Kids aged six to eighteen each bring a $10 bill, pitch a local charity, and vote by secret ballot.
The winning organisation walks away with a pooled donation that’s now topped $1,000 in a single meeting. As Janel puts it, “One $10 bill doesn’t seem like that much money, but when you pull them all together… suddenly we have a $1,000 donation.” Beyond the cash, Janel stresses the bigger lesson: learning about local charities, public speaking, basic money management, and the idea of being a “change maker”.
Their tagline, “be the change,” shows up again and again as she encourages young people to start small and “just do something” for their community. The episode then shifts to crisis response and mental health care, highlighting Victoria’s CRCL (Circle) team – a Crisis Response, Community Led service designed as an alternative to police-led wellness checks. Director Lacey Mesley, manager Danielle Hartnack, and experiential worker Jill Alley describe a calm, human-centred response built on consent, lived experience, and follow-up support.
They note most calls relate to suicidal thoughts and stress that crises rarely require force or uniforms. As one line sums it up, “There’s nothing abnormal about having a human experience that includes our mental health.” Together, these stories offer a gentle reminder that community care can start with a ten-dollar note or a phone call. If you’re looking for real examples of youth initiative and non-judgmental crisis support, this conversation might spark a few ideas of your own.
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.