At the George Hull Centre, our clinicians see this struggle in children diagnosed with anxiety and other mental health conditions. As a parent, I would encourage families to take time this summer to decompress after another difficult school year marked with continued uncertainty from Covid. If possible, allow your children to de-stress and unplug. Less structured days will often result in cries of “I’m bored” but they also allow for vivid imagination to take over and create new and exciting adventures. 

Parents can also benefit from down time; we know how important parent self-care is when dealing with difficult family situations. Take time to meditate, cook, exercise or whatever activity brings you peace.

Whatever your family situation is, I wish you all a happy summer.

Susan Chamberlain, MSW, RSW

Executive Director

The Ages & Stages Questionnaires identifies challenges early in a child's life!

A child’s healthy social-emotional development forms the foundation for lifelong learning. Early identification of social emotional challenges can make a significant difference in a young child’s life.  The Ages & Stages Questionnaires®: Social-Emotional, Second Edition (ASQ®: SE-2) and Ages and Stages 3rd edition (ASQ-3) offer families a strength-based focus that helps celebrate children’s milestones and identify social emotional strengths.

The screening helps trained staff at the EarlyOn Centre to identify and address any areas of concern that require further monitoring or referrals. Parents and caregivers play a vital role in their child’s learning and development, they know their child best and are essential to the screening process at every step of the way. 

When families actively participate in the screening program, the process is easier and more accurate. They can also boost their children’s development between screenings. Parents are provided with fun and age-appropriate learning activities to try at home, social-emotional development information sheets, topic-specific handouts based on needs and have access to a monthly newsletter. Staff also support families in accessing resources by making referrals to community programs and parenting groups. 

My name is Victoria and I attend the EarlyOn Drop-In program with both of my children. We are new to Canada. I felt very isolated here since we have no other family in Canada. We were very happy to discover that this program was provided in our building. The staff are very welcoming and made me feel comfortable in the program. 

 I was able to talk to them about the worries that we have about our two-year-old son. I have been to our new family doctor, and I told him many times that my son is different from my daughter who is five years old. He does not speak and does not focus very well. He has a lot of difficulty eating and sleeping. It is very sad for my husband and me that he does not recognise his name and does not look at us when we call him or talk to him. We knew something was different with our child, but the doctor told us not to worry.  

I spoke to the staff at the EarlyOn program, and they told me that we could do the ASQ developmental screening for my son Gabriel. We did the ASQ screen with the help of the staff in Spanish which was very helpful. I was given a lot of support and learned about my son’s development. The staff also helped us to get a referral to Speech and Language services near us, we now have an appointment. I also got information about sleep routines, nutrition, activities to try at home with Gabriel and other free programs near my house.  

What was the most important for me was that I was encouraged by the staff to go back to my doctor with the results of the ASQ and request a hearing test and a developmental assessment for my child. This is what I wanted the most. Having the results of the screening helped me feel more confident about my worries with my son. The doctor looked at the results and was able to send my son for a hearing test and gave me a referral to a developmental pediatrician. I am on a waiting list now to see them, but I am so grateful for the support that I received for my son. I feel good as a parent because I can help my child get the help he needs now.  

Thank you so much for this service, it is amazing!  

                                          -Program Client

To list all of Seana’s accomplishments these past ten years would take up this entire newsletter but here are some highlights: steering the I Love This Place Capital Campaign in 2013/14 and well surpassing its $1 million goal; securing the Centre’s first and several subsequent six- figure gifts; elevating our Laugh Out Loud event to new heights and record-breaking proceeds; securing four major donors to establish and grow the Institute of Childhood Trauma and Attachment; and most importantly, developing genuine relationships with incredible donors, staff and volunteers.   

Seana loves and embodies all that the George Hull Centre values and made it her daily work to support the children and families the centre serves. The client is always at the centre of everything Seana would work towards.  As a parent, Seana truly understands just how important access to mental health supports is. And she made sure that all the donors she worked with were also passionate about mental wellness.   

The George Hull Centre wishes Seana all the best and thanks her for her dedication, integrity, work ethic and loyalty. She will be truly missed. In the meantime, donors and supporters can reach out to Kara Spedding, Director of Fundraising at kspedding@georgehull.on.ca with any questions or concerns. 

The Outdoor Egg Hunt brings smiles to our youngest families!

This wonderful event took place April 11th at the EarlyOn Highfield site (85 Mount Olive Drive), with approximately 27 children and 24 caregivers. There were lots of activity stations to explore, including a volcano eruption experiment, save the animals (sensory play with ice cubes), feed the chicks, skittles water art, spray paint the bunny, and more! Each child was given a “passport” where they could collect stamps at each activity, eventually filling up their booklet. Staff were so pleased with the feedback from participants. 

“This is hands down the greatest place in the world thank you so much for a wonderful day my son had A-blast especially with all the well-thought-out activities for the egg hunt the staff are the sweetest and go above and beyond when dealing with each child thank you to all the staff who pulled together for an eventful day.” 

The event ended with singing, dancing, and take-away treats. For some families this was their first experience at an egg hunt, and they had a blast! 

Your chance to give us your thoughts!

This Fall, the George Hull Centre Foundation will be sending our supporters a survey to better understand how you want to be communicated with and recognized. What is important to YOU? How would you like to be recognized and interact with us, what information and updates are meaningful to you and where can we improve; please stay tuned. We will send the survey via email as well as post the link to the survey on our website. 

Thank you We are George for a Fun Night of Trivia and Fundraising! 

We had three rounds of trivia hosted by the We Are George Committee, with about 50 attendees, many of whom were attending their first WAG event. The evening was hosted at the Duke of York where the pub kindly donated the space. There was a total of 8 teams and the top 3 teams received a discount off their tab at the end of the night! What a fun way to come roaring back from a Covid hiatus.  A total of $1,100 was raised in support of Mental Health Programs for children and their families. 

Thank you WAG, attendees and the Duke of York for all your support of GHC! 

To learn more about WAG, their activities and membership please email Martina Esteves at martina.esteves3@gmail.com. 

Check out this helpful link from The Kids Come First Health Team at CHEO. They have created a very useful, one-page info sheet to help camps and their counsellors recognize and support children and youth with mental health concerns.

“Supporting Youth Mental Health” provides:

• what to watch for,
• helpful coping strategies,
• ideas about who to turn to for support,
• how to start conversations about mental health and
• ways to connect with care options.

KCF-supporting-mental-health-handout-EN_FR.pdf (cheo.on.ca)

Many camp counsellors are youth, themselves. This handout will provide them a way to support children and youth in their care, as well as their peers.