♪ The ministry staff I work with at Inner City Youth Alive (ICYA) walk closely with many people experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma, addictions and other challenges. We are not mental health professionals, but we encourage our staff not to underestimate our role as “boots on the ground” ministers.

Living and working in the North End of Winnipeg for the last 18 years, I have learned it is easy to get consumed in the pain, trauma, loss and tragedy, and to lose track of gifts and strengths. But it is important to me to have an appreciative inquiry lens in the work I do in the North End community.

Around 2009 I realized I was pastor to a lot of people who didn’t attend church while the church we had planted was losing momentum.