Community Services

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Community Clinic

The Community Clinic offers clinical services to families with children and youth from birth through 18 who are experiencing significant emotional, behavioural, developmental and/or psychiatric difficulties.

The Clinic Staff, comprised of psychiatry, psychology, social work and child and youth work, believe in finding family strengths and promoting positive outcomes for children and adolescents through comprehensive assessment, consultation and treatment.

We offer the following:

• An emphasis on sound, clinical and evidence-based practice

• Assessment

• Education and advocacy for the prevention of mental health problems

• Educational workshops on topics relevant to today's family

• Individual, family and group therapy

• Intensive Child & Family Services

• Partnerships with other organizations serving children and their families

• Therapeutic groups for all ages

To begin,

Call the Intake Coordinator at 416-622-8833, extension 258.

The Intake Coordinator:

• Will invite you to describe your concerns regarding your child and family.

• Will schedule a telephone appointment with you to complete the Brief Child and Family Phone Interview.

• Will offer a range of group programs for children and parents.
  

• Will schedule, for many clients, a consultation interview within 2 to 3 weeks.

Toronto Preschool Speech and Language Services

This program is collaboratively managed in partnership with the City of Toronto, providing community-based speech and language services to children and their families before the children are eligible for senior kindergarten. The range of services includes assessment; consultation and support to parents and staff in child care settings; training for parents and professionals; and group or individual therapy. The services are provided by Speech and Language Pathologists, Communications Disorder Assistants or Early Childhood Educators. Please click here to read the Vision, Mission and Value Statements.

The George Hull Centre is the West Quadrant Local Coordinating Agency, overseeing the services in ten different sites.

Ontario Early Years Centre - Etobicoke Centre

The George Hull Ontario Early Years Centre offers free universal programming to the community, specifically for the birth to age six population and their parents/caregivers. Programs range from structured parent/caregiver education sessions to drop in programs for all to attend. Programs are offered six days a week, during traditional and non-traditional hours.

The services provided for children and parents/caregivers include:

• Early learning activities

• Parent resources and training

• Pre and post natal resources, support and information

• Information about links to other local early years services

• Outreach activities

• Program evaluation

• Volunteer coordination

• Tailored services to meet unique community needs

The Centre has formed strong links with the community and has a commitment to working with agencies and organizations across the riding to provide quality programs to our families.

Visit the Ontario Early Years website at www.ontarioearlyyears.ca

Special Needs Resourcing

This service strives to enhance the skills of childcare professionals and families in support of the healthy development of children within child care settings. The two components to this service are: Special Needs Resource Consultation and Intensive Resource Support.

The Special Needs Resource Consultant works with children who attend licensed group care settings and home child care. Consultation may include observation and program plans for individual children; consultation on programming; system consultation with staff and parents; customized workshops for providers and parents; larger information sessions on specific topics geared towards working with children with special needs. There is also an updated library (books, videos, audiotapes and other resources) available to parents and child care professionals.

The Intensive Resource Support Worker is available to licensed child care programs to support the inclusion of children with complex and/or intensive developmental, social, emotional or behavioural needs. This support may include direct intervention with children, modeling strategies for staff, coaching staff through the use of new techniques, and providing encouragement and assistance to parents.

Etobicoke Brighter Futures Coalition

The Etobicoke Brighter Futures Coalition is a collaborative group of more than 40 community partners that work together to plan, develop and deliver services and programs that enhance the healthy development of children ages 0-6 considered to be at risk and to develop an integrated, seamless network of services for this population.

The Etobicoke Brighter Futures Coalition serves as the Community Advisory Network for three Ontario Early Years Centres and for Toronto Preschool Speech and Language Services in Etobicoke.

The programs and services provided by the Etobicoke Brighter Futures Coalition include:
·     Home Visiting
·     Parent Relief
·     Parenting Education Programs
·     Parent and Child Programs
·     School Readiness Programs

The Coalition program and services are made possible by the significant financial and in-kind support of our partner agencies. We are funded through the Community Action Program for Children (CAPC) of the Public Health Agency of Canada, the United Way of Greater Toronto, The Ontario Trillium Foundation, and the Toronto Heart Health Partnership.

The George Hull Centre is the coordinating agency for this coalition.

For more information, go to: www.ebfc.ca.

Highfield Community Enrichment Project

Background
The George Hull-Highfield Community Enrichment Project is one of eight Better Beginnings, Better Futures prevention demonstration projects in the province. The projects were created by the Ontario government in response to the 1983 Ontario Child Health Study on children’s mental health needs. The Study revealed that one in six children has an identifiable emotional or behavioural disorder and that children living in families that received social assistance or who lived in subsidized housing were at greater risk for these problems.

Communities were invited to apply to develop local prevention projects, targeting either 0-4 year olds or 4-8 year olds, that would address specific goals for the child, for the parent and family, and for the neighbourhood/community. The eight selected communities were announced in 1991.

The research component, run by Queens University, includes a 25-year longitudinal study with short term findings within the longitudinal study. The preliminary and mid-term results of the Project's impact on the participants have been released. The results for the George Hull-Highfield Community Enrichment Project project were very strong — the best in the province, in fact.

The School
The project is based at Highfield Junior School, which has an enrollment of about 1,000 students from JK to Grade 5, and up to 14 kindergarten classrooms! 90% of the children speak English as a second language. Common language groups are Punjabi, Somali, Tamil, Urdu, Hindi and Eastern European. Recess is largely incident free, with no bullying or violence — which is remarkable given the huge number of children

The Project Philosophy
The project adheres to the African saying that it takes a whole village to raise a child. The family, the school and the community have direct influence in the healthy development of children. Therefore, their involvement is critical. As an early prevention initiative, the project strives to offer integrated programs and services.

The project embraces the following beliefs and values in its operation:
• The child is central in the community.
• Prevention is better than treatment.
• We offer universally accessible programs within the limits of our resources
• We do not stigmatize.
• Collaborative partnerships are important to us.
• Parents need opportunities to grow personally and in their role as caregivers.
• We are strength-based.
• We embrace cultural diversity.
• Teamwork defines our success.
• We strive to be cost-effective in all that we do.

The Project
The George Hull-Highfield Community Enrichment Project project has three main components.

1. In-School Support includes work with all JK children and many SK children. Each kindergarten teacher is paired with either an enrichment worker, of which there are four, or an educational assistant. Other program components include a summer kindergarten program, family visiting, parenting workshops and a nutrition program. The nutrition program serves breakfast to up to 160 children three times per week, lunch to 200 and a daily snack to every child in the school.

2. Family Support includes a Family Resource Centre that runs drop-in programs daily for children 0-4 and their caregivers. This is often the first link to the school for many families. Resources include preschool programming, a 'Family Fun Day' a Mother Goose program, parent relief childcare, and a toy and book lending library. The Resource Centre also acts as a clearinghouse for other resources in the community.

3. Community Development: 100 volunteers from the community are involved in all aspects of the project, including the Steering Committee that serves as an overall advisory body and an In-School Committee that sets direction for school-based programs. Students from a neighbouring school and members of the Kiwanis Club also volunteer. Community events, such as community breakfasts, a community festival, a volunteers' appreciation dinner, community clean-up days and movie nights are held each year.

The Research Results (After 5 Years)

• The children showed a decrease in problem behaviours such as anxiety, depression and opposition, and an increase in positive behaviours, such as self-control and cooperativeness.

• The children and their parents showed improved health and well-being.

• Parents showed improved parenting practices.

• Parents experienced reduced stress and tension.

• Parents had a better relationship with the school.

• Parents experienced fewer health problems and led healthier lifestyles.

• The Highfield Community Enrichment Project neighbourhood became a safer place in which to live, compared to a neighbourhood with similar demographics, with fewer interventions by the police and child welfare since the project's inception.

• Although the research did not show higher rates of cognition, the results of the Grade 3 EQAO testing are dramatically up since the project began.