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A little self-care motivation kicked off the opening of Dalhousie鈥檚 collaborative health conference on Wednesday night.

罢丑别听Healthy Living, Healthy Life Conference聽鈥� hosted by the Faculty of Health as part of聽聽鈥� brings together academics, researchers and community members from Sept. 19-21 at the Halifax Convention Centre.

"One of the main aims (of the conference) was to bring the partners together 鈥� bring all the different disciplines together, all the people who are involved in health, into one conference where people can see what the difference that collaborative approaches to health can make," says Lynn Shaw, director of the School of Occupational Therapy and chair of the conference.

The conference鈥檚 opening keynote was given by聽, bestselling author and creator of popular health podcast,聽The Model Health Show. The talk was centred around community health with a focus on self-care.

鈥淸Health of self] is what I really want to focus on because it becomes incredibly difficult to influence your loved ones, your family, your friends and to influence the community at large if you're not okay,鈥� Stevenson told the crowd.

鈥淚t really starts with us.鈥�

Stevenson鈥檚 talk was built around four pillars: exercise, sleep, nutrition and healthy living. He said he鈥檚 big on action backed by data, and throughout the talk he presented different ideas of how to improve the four pillars he talked about. Along with how these goals can be achieved, Stevenson referenced the science and research to highlight why he suggests the action items.

An interactive talk

As Stevenson stood on stage in a baseball hat, Henley shirt and jeans, he engaged the crowd with interactive elements. While talking about exercise, he got audience to stand up and do some stretching and chair squats. He also asked if people in the room did high-intensity interval training and used specific example from people in the room as he discussed exercise.

Later on in the evening, there was a brief moment where he encouraged everybody to write down two private health goals for the season. His tone throughout the evening was encouraging as he presented self-care tips.

The biggest laugh of the night came during the portion on nutrition, while Stevenson was talking about the younger years when people tend to eat whatever they want. Stevenson mentioned pizza and milkshakes 鈥� and someone in the audience mentioned 鈥渄onair!鈥�

As you might expect, Stevenson 鈥� who is American, and graduate of the University of Missouri - St. Louis 鈥� wasn鈥檛 familiar with the beloved Halifax food, proclaiming 鈥渨hat?鈥� to a huge laugh from the crowd. He proceeded to make reference to donairs throughout the night when talking about nutrition.

In closing, Stevenson encouraged people to show people that they care and to embrace their friends and family.

鈥淭his conference is really about taking control of our own health and from there having the trickle down effect into our families and into our community,鈥� said Stevenson. 鈥淭he world really needs you, it needs people doing great work. And it starts with you, taking care of you, because you deserve it.鈥�

A full schedule of events

Healthy Living, Healthy Life聽has a schedule full of breakout sessions, lectures, workshops and presentations.

For example, on Thursday morning, students participated in a 3 Minute Health Innovation Competition, presenting short presentations of innovative health projects. And on Friday afternoon, the conference hosts a moderated conversation titled 鈥淭urning Health Upside Down鈥� featuring Dr. Monika Dutt and Dr. Timothy Allen Caulfield. The session focuses on the conference theme of transforming health and features two health leaders that debunk myths and bring new ideas.

And it all concludes on Saturday with a community workout with Shaun T, a world-famous fitness expert, motivational speaker and choreographer. It鈥檚 his first trip to Nova Scotia.聽Tickets are available online.

For all the details,聽visit the Healthy Living, Healthy Life conference website.