WHAT: 

You Be You Wellness (UBU) offers four streams of programming:

• UBU: Girls - Focuses on empowering young girls to move more, try more new things, connect more & become more self-aware in a multi-session format (annual spring/fall multi-week, out-of-school programs & can customize to fit into option blocks of school schedules, too).
  ***2020's Spring 8-week workshop postponed due to COVID-19 & need for social distancing. Keep checking in on UBU's Facebook Page for updates of when the UBU: Girls program will take place!***
• UBU: Sports - Works on team-building, leadership, inclusiveness & gelling on & off the court/ice/field for youth U10-U17 group-based sports or physical activities including gymnastics, dance for any gender or sport. Typically in a 2-3 workshop format per team/season.
• UBU: Schools - Offers variety for Gr. 5-9, co-ed, Sport For Life/ Sport Fit/ Sports Performance or Phys. Ed. classes by blending fitness and mindful activities. Help students understand the connection of social, emotional, and physical well-being.
• UBU: Adults - Creates an inclusive space to workout at your own intensity in a bootcamp/ circuit-style setting, indoors and outdoors.

Each program offers participants space to practice overall well-being as they create connections through physical activity and conversations with peers in small-to-medium-sized groups. Participants engage in fitness-related activities combined with mindful exercises like journaling that help them focus more intently on the present moment.

BACKGROUND: 

UBU: Girls launched a 10-week, weekly program for Gr. 6-8 girls in April 2018, with a focus of empowerment, active wellness, and a mindful life. It was followed up that fall by an 8-week program with the same intent, setting the precedent for a UBU: Girls program to run every following spring & fall in Sherwood Park (willing to expand into other nearby cities-please send ideas and requests). 

• Host locations of 2018 & 2019 sessions: The Spark Centre & The Bridge. 
• Follow UBU's blog for posts about previous sessions & programs. 

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UBU: Sports In Jan. 2020, worked with a U10 Girls SPDSA Phoenix Soccer Team to focus on courage, leadership, and positivity to encourage them to stay active and confident.

In January 2020, worked with a U12B Red Deer Ringette team visiting Edmonton during a tournament. We focused on grit, leadership, and effective communication.

Over the 2019/20 indoor season, UBU: Sports worked with a U15 SPDSA Phoenix girls T3 soccer team to assist in team-building, empower individual leadership skills & help players acknowledge the role their mind has in their level of effort, endurance, and emotional regulation.

Nov. 2019: Held a workshop for a U14AA Red Deer Ringette team to help with team-building, blending a team split in half of older and younger players by building communication tools, sharing positivity, and learning some leadership techniques.

Nov. 2019: Worked with a U10 SPDSA girls Phoenix soccer team to talk about girls in sport and inspire them to make activity a lifelong choice.

"When Michelle first brought the UBU: Sports session to our attention we knew it would be a great tool for our U10 girls soccer team to bond and learn more about girls in sport. Michelle ran an incredible session. Our girls were engaged, energized, and a spark lit within them. Our session was only 60 mins but you could tell the girls wanted more. This is a testament to Michelle's commitment and hard work to the UBU Program." - Irfan Karmali, U10 Girls Sherwood Park Phoenix Soccer coach.

Oct. 2019: Worked with U14A Red Deer Ringette team to help with team-building, building communication and leadership techniques.

Worked with a Sherwood Park-based U13 Phoenix T3 girls' soccer team for a team-building workshop before the team's provincial playoffs in March 2019. 

"Michelle adapted the delivery of the program to suit the type of group she was interacting with. The girls are active, competitive, and full of energy all the time. There was a good mix of activities that allowed the girls to be active and have fun but understand the lessons and tools being given to them." - Mike Tennant, U13 Girls Sherwood Park Phoenix Soccer Coach. 

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UBU: Schools led 2 of 4 scheduled UBU: Girls/Schools sessions for 15 Ecole Michaelle-Jean  Grade 7 & 8 female students between February-April 2020. Program is on pause as schools and the world figure out how to proceed with life during the coronavirus pandemic.

Led Gr. 7 Sport Fit students at Vimy Ridge Academy through two workshops early in the 2019/20 school year encouraging increased self-awareness and determining their "why". Why are they active? Why are they in Sport Fit? What are their goals and intentions? 

Worked with Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) Catholic Gr. 5-8 Sport for Life students Oct-Nov. 2019 with mindful fitness. 

Led an 8-week UBU: Girls/Schools blended program within Ecole Michaelle-Jean Oct. 2-Dec. 12, 2019 with Gr. 7-9 female students during the school day.

During the 2018/19 school year, UBU: Schools worked with St. Theresa Catholic School, Hillcrest Junior High & Vimy Ridge Academy. 

Sessions were held with Grade 5, 7 & 8 students in St. Theresa's Catholic School's Sport For Life program, which is based on the Canadian Sport for Life (CS4L) model that exposes students to a variety of sport and recreation activities to build athletic skill and leadership qualities and help create lifelong active and healthy lifestyles.
"From my coordinating position, the reason we had you in to lead some Sport For Life classes was that you provided a unique blend of physical challenges and activities, while also providing students with an opportunity to connect socially/emotionally with each other. You provided an environment and leadership presence that allowed the students to gain physical benefits while growing as individuals, partners, and groups. We will definitely be recommending you to schools in our division." - Kurt Davison, St. Theresa Catholic School, Sport For Life Program Lead 

Hillcrest Junior High welcomed UBU: Schools to lead mindfully active sessions with co-ed Gr. 8 & 9 Sports Performance classes.

Vimy Ridge Academy had UBU: Schools lead mindfully active sessions with co-ed Gr. 7 Sport Fit classes.

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UBU: Adults led "What's Your Story?", a 2hr mindful activity workshop on March 15, 2020 at NO MORE EXCUSES Fitness for participants to blend fitness, discussion, connection, and writing to become more self awarethe benefits of writing with fitness to experience the mind-body connection. 

In January 2019, led a 6-week, Women's only fitness program held in the Spark Centre for those just starting back into their fitness journey.

"I really like the fact that Michelle focuses on form over anything else. Getting the foundations right at the beginning is very important. Her approach is also very inclusive; I felt welcome in her classes, and did not have to concern myself with how I look, or what I saw in the mirror – because there were none! Although I am familiar with many of the exercises she taught, it was nice to have my form corrected – a good way to break some old habits." - Anna, participant in Jan/Feb 2019 Women's only adult 6-week session.

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WHO: 

The founder and lead instructor of UBU programs and workshops is Michelle Lindstrom: a mom of two girls (9 and 13), wife, long-distance runner, group fitness instructor, journalist, editor, and multi-sport enthusiast, including playing junior high and high school volleyball and competitive softball from youth into adulthood.

CERTIFICATIONS/COURSES: 

HIGH FIVE Sport certified, March 2020.

Michelle has her Mental Health First Aid certification of completion through the Mental Rescue Society.

She also has her Standard First Aid with CPR C and AED through Breath for Life (First Aid Education) Inc., June 2019

Michelle has her Alberta Fitness Leadership Certification Association (AFLCA) certifications in group fitness specifically in 

• Ever Active Kids (i.e., focusing on children and adolescent physical development; planning creative programming while being aware of physical, psychological, social, and moral factors of youth; using various positive motivational tools; and understanding physical literacy and fundamental movement skills)
• Group Fitness (i.e., lead group exercise classes with an awareness of trends, media, music, movement and cueing, exercise analysis, and special populations)
• Portable Equipment (i.e., specific to leading group exercise classes with non-gym-machine/portable equipment focusing on class structure and content; planning, leadership, choreography, movement combinations, safety, and providing alternate movements).

Michelle is a trained journalist (SAIT print journalism diploma) with more than a decade's worth of writing about many people and topics including youth and fitness, as well as interviewing local leaders, gathering research, and editing for publications including Avenue magazine (Edmonton), YEGFitness, IMPACT, METRO Edmonton, LEAP, Heroes, Calgary Herald, and more, giving her the practical knowledge of how journaling is a useful tool and taught a Next Step Continuing Education Mindful Journaling Adult course that she applies to youth UBU programs to help them express themselves and be mindful.

Links to some articles written by Michelle include:

• Just Show Up – Avenue Edmonton 
• Get Moving, Girl – YegFitness Magazine 
• Body Image Breakdown - new-normal blog

Michelle is also a trained Architectural Technologist (NAIT Architectural Technology diploma) with roughly 13 years experience of manual and computer-aided drafting (AutoCAD) and design for interior, exterior, commercial, and residential projects with home builders, furniture dealerships, engineering offices, and an interior design firm. 

STRENGTHS GAINED FROM DIVERSE EXPERIENCE:

• Attention to detail
• Ability to communicate/connect with various age & interest groups
• Innovative & flexible
• Ability to create & execute ideas
• Eagerness to improve on existing ideas/methods
• Willingness to collaborate/teamwork
• Ability to work alone
• Strong work ethic
• Effective time management
• Self-driven
• Desire to make the world better
• Always wanting to learn more & get better
• Continually setting new goals

 CONTINUED LEARNING/RESOURCES

• Fast and Female “Keeping Girls in Sport” webinar, August 2019
• The Sport Conference at the University of Alberta, May/June 2019
• Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sports and Physical Activity (CAAWS) “Keeping Girls in Sport” online course certification, April 2019
• “Power of Positive Coaching” with Jane King webinar, April 2019
• Health & Physical Education Council (HPEC) 2018 Fall Drive-in Workshop
• John Ratey, MD’s book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
• Shawn Achor’s books, Big Potential and The Happiness Advantage

HANDS-ON VOLUNTEER COACHING/LEADING GROUPS

• Run/endurance coach for U13 girls’ soccer team to train for a MEC 5K, summer 2018 
• Creation & facilitation of Walk the Talk Speaker School Series, Jan-March 2017
• Creation & facilitation of Girls Group, January-March 2016
• Creation & coach Lakeland Ridge Grades 3&4 co-ed Fun Run Club, spring 2016 & 2015 
• Creation & facilitation of “Girl Empowerment” program, spring 2015 & 2014
• Running Room Learn to Run Clinic Instructor, fall 2014 

"After speaking with Michelle about what the program could offer to the girls, I was really excited about having them exposed to the ideas and tools that Michelle could bring them. We had a new team that consisted of two groups of girls coming together for the new season... . This was a great way for them not only to get to know each other better but to gain valuable insight into how to handle different personality types in general."-Mike Tennant U13 girls Phoenix soccer coach

"For many women and girls, social acceptance enhances group performance (in contrast to men and boys, for whom performance enhances social acceptance)." -Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity (CAAWS).