motivating, educating and nurturing young parents and their children to become self-sufficient contributing members of society
Centre Youville Centre
Ottawa-Carleton Inc.
150 Mann Avenue
Ottawa ON Canada
K1N 8P4
Please e-mail us at:
info@youvillecentre.org
Phone/Fax
(613) 231-5150
Charitable Reg. Number:
11884 8456 RR0001
Our Student Support Program team provides programs and services to clients on our waiting list (70-80), current students (48) and former students (650+).
Caterina Pace is the Support Program Coordinator. Her 2008-2009 team included Brigit Davies, Kelly Connolley, Brianne Luckasavitch and Cathy Romano-Franzese, who worked in partnership with the teachers and childcare staff to provide support to our mothers as they study and parent at the same time.
Bookmobile Services: Jennifer Johnson, Librarian from the Ottawa Public Library arranged for the Bookmobile to come on-site for 20 weeks to promote literacy and use of community resources. Students were able to obtain library cards and borrow resources for themselves and their children. The program also provided opportunity for storytelling and circle time. The services of the bookmobile are also open to the local community;
Breakfast Program: A nutritious breakfast is provided daily before class to promote nutrition and facilitate punctuality and regular attendance, funded by Brighter Futures, OCRI, ACE Bakery and an anonymous donor;
Christmas and Easter Luncheons: These events were sponsored by the parishes of St. Philip, Richmond and St. Clare, Dwyer Hill and anonymous donors, who also provided gifts for our young families;
Intake and discharge procedures are the responsibility of the Student Support Program staff in collaboration with Childcare and Educational staff. Our mothers self-refer or are referred to us by former students, family members, clergy, medical personnel, or guidance and resource teachers.
M.F. McHugh Education Centre has four classrooms serving a total of 48 teen students at one time. Intake and discharge are ongoing as students enter and leave at various times according to their needs and individual progress.
Students arrive at varying stages in their high school program, some with no credits, others closer to graduation. The last school year saw a total of 91 students served. A waiting list is maintained and consulted when a spot in childcare becomes available creating a corresponding available spot in the school program.
Each student follows an Individual Education Plan designed to meet her special learning needs, studies at her own pace, and leaves when credit requirements for an Ontario Secondary Diploma have been achieved or when she turns 21 years of age.
At the time of intake the Brief Child and Family Phone Interview (BCFPI) is administered by support staff. The BCFPI is a standardized interview tool used by children's mental health agencies across the province. Last year, the BCFPI was administered to 95 young parents to gather information regarding: common problems of a behavioural and emotional nature; impact of presenting problems on client functioning; risk and protective factors; client functioning; barriers to service utilization; pre-service indicators and outcome estimates. The information gathered made it possible for us to tailor our group and individual programs and services to meet the needs indicated.
The Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS) is a computer-based instrument used by children's mental health centres and the Ministry of Health. The use of the CAFAS tool is mandated across Ontario. It measures the degree of impairment in youth with emotional, behavioural, psychiatric, psychological, or substance use problems. Cases are then assigned the appropriate level of treatment. We have expanded the use of CAFAS to include all of our clients and have used the information provided to individualize therapeutic care for our clients. All of our SST staff are trained to administer the CAFAS scale.
Both BCFPI and CAFAS assist us to design and implement an Individual Treatment Plan (ITP) for each student to fulfill the care and treatment component of the Youville/McHugh Section 23 partnership. We have implemented an ITP format which is now in use across Eastern Ontario
As part of the Section 23 / Day Treatment Program, therapeutic intervention is provided in conjunction with educational instruction. Youville student support staff offer advice and direction to clients on a daily basis for issues and concerns of a non-mental health nature. Short and long-term individual counselling services, along with outreach and crisis intervention, are provided on-site by accredited counsellors to address more serious mental health or addiction problems.
On average, 85% of our mothers avail themselves of these counselling opportunities. With counsellors on-site four days a week we observed: improved attendance and punctuality; more active participation in the school program; increased achievement of academic credits; higher number of successful graduates; fewer crises; and improved problem-solving and self-advocacy skills.
Counselling statistics and outcome tracking indicated the following challenges for our clients: mood and anxiety disorders, severe mental illness, trauma, suicidal tendency, eating disorders, domestic violence, anger management, low self-esteem, miscarriage/abortion issues, depression, physical and sexual abuse, dysfunctional home environment.
Sustainable, annualized funding for general counselling is not provided to Youville clients. Regular, on-site counselling services are needed to support our mothers and enable them to resolve issues which threaten the success of their education and parenting endeavours. In December 2009 our Ontario Trillium grant for $30,000 for each of the last three years for mental health counselling services will come to an end. We are actively pursuing a new sponsor in order to provide counselling services to our at-risk clients.
Addiction counselling is partially funded by the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care. Thanks to our partnership with the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre, we continue to enjoy the services of a qualified addiction counsellor on-site, one and a half days weekly.
Information sessions are an integral part of the student support program. They are presented weekly by former students, guest speakers, and experts in fields of interest to our student mothers. Topics, presentations, workshops and in-services included the following:
Anger/Stress Management
Budgeting and Money Management
Career Counselling and Assessment (funded by LEAP)
Healthy Lifestyles
Healthy Relationships
Housing Information
Job Readiness (interview preparation)
Nutrition/Collective Kitchen Cooking (funded by ACE Bakery)
Parenting
Personal Safety/Child Safety
Physical Fitness
Post-secondary Education Assistance (OSAP, college application, resume writing)
Pre-natal Information o Self-defence
Smoking Cessation
Yoga
Clinics held on-site:
First Words: This is a pre-school Ottawa Speech and Language Program to inform parents and screen children for language concerns. Of 36 children screened, 10 were referred to CHEO for hearing tests and 13 for speech and language therapy; in 2009, Youville Centre received a Community Partner award for supporting First Words in striving to help all Ottawa children reach their full communication potential. We are grateful to First Words for this dynamic and productive partnership.
Flu: This clinic was held to immunize our students and their children, staff, volunteers and any community friends wishing to avail of this opportunity;
Dental: This City of Ottawa Dental Service Program provided dental hygiene education and screening for students and their children;
Girls' Night Out: This evening is a community-wide outreach opportunity for young parents, including recreation, community resources, parenting resources, dinner and childcare;
Healthy Relationships and Violence Awareness: Students and Staff continued to be part of a committee entitled In Love and In Danger in conjunction with Ottawa Catholic School Board, Ottawa District School Board and Family Services Ottawa;
LEAP Fair: This annual event was hosted by Ontario Work s / LEAP (Learning, Earning and Parenting) to provide information and resources to youth accessing government assistance;
Lunch Program: Daily, a subsidized, nutritious lunch is available to our mothers. Nutrition information, recipes, and cooking lessons were spin-offs of this project. Additional funding is being sought for this program;
Nutrition and Cooking Classes: Grants from ACE Bakery and an anonymous donor made it possible for us to provide nutrition education to our students. We were also able to provide for "Mom & Me" cooking lessons in our kitchen classroom. Moms were able to prepare take-home food for their evening meal along with an additional meal for the fridge or freezer. Field trips were taken to local grocery stores such as Loblaws to promote economical grocery selections, how to choose healthy snacks, and other cooking hints;
Parenting Partnership: Caterina Pace has continued to co-facilitate pre-natal and parenting sessions in partnership with Invest in Kids;
Student Support Outreach: For the second year, Youville is able to access funding through the Social Outreach and Christian Education Fund at St. Bartholomew Anglican Parish. Because of the generosity and community outreach of this Parish, our Centre will be able to continue to employ a front-line outreach worker to provide short-term counselling and support services directly to our students;
University Student Placements: As part of their studies, nursing students from the University of Ottawa select Youville for practicum placement. Last year's areas of focus were Adolescent Depression and Healthy Sexuality.