Cornwall Ontario – The Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) congratulates the Love My Life (LML) local youth project for being featured at the 6th Global Forum on Health Promotion held in Charlottetown, PEI. The documentary about the Cornwall-based project was one of 10 selected and presented at the international event for its innovative and collaborative health promotion practices.

The documentary about the Love My Life project showcases how cross-sector collaborations, such as those between arts and health, strengthen community action and allow participants to connect to the issue and feel empowered to further develop their personal skills and transform their own environments.

Locally, the Love My Life initiative has broadened public health channels as communities become aware that health is everyone’s business. On this occasion, the 10 young artists featured in the documentary became young health advocates themselves. “Each of the young individuals brought such innovation and expertise to the project and the field of health promotion in general,” says Jenna Chisholm, Youth Engagement Coordinator at the EOHU. “Engaging the youth of our communities brings initiatives to a higher level of relevance and impact. The selection of this documentary as one of the top ten is their success.”

This Love My Life project was created in collaboration with OBO Studios in Cornwall and aims to create tobacco-free environments through policy and cultural change to inspire a healthy mind, body and spirit. “Something that I really enjoyed about the LML project at OBO Studios was seeing everyone’s unique interpretation of the same message being brought to life,” says Emily Terriah, one of the young artists who took part in the project.

Emily MacLeod and Tracy-Lynn Chisholm of OBO Studios agree that it was a pleasure to see each young artist put a different spin on the same message. “It was with pure joy that we watched these artists reflect upon their unique talents, goals and beliefs, then visually express their desire to live in a tobacco-free environment.”

The arts-based initiative took place over two years ago and was the very first Love My Life campaign project. Since then, the campaign, which is taking place across the Eastern Ontario TCAN (Tobacco Control Area Network), has grown to develop policies such as smoke-free entrances, tobacco-free schools and developed film festival guidelines that prohibit submissions featuring tobacco imagery. Click here to watch the documentary about the Love My Life project at OBO Studios on Youtube.