Nanaimo Unique Kids Organization

News Bulletin Article

From the Nanaimo News Bulletin

www.newsbulletin.com

Click here to download the entire article.

Mentoring Support Invitation

Please accept the following invitation personally and also please share it with your family, friends and associates ....

We are registering families seeking support in dealing with issues surrounding meeting the needs of their disabled child/youth.

AND...

We are recruiting volunteers who would like to mentor parents/caregivers or youth as they try to overcome obstacles challenges with education, recreation, healthcare, respite care, etc.

Nanaimo Unique Kids Organization's Mentoring Project has been funded by Service Canada to provide mentoring/advocacy support for families of children/youth with neuro-developmental disabilities (Learning Disabilities, FASD, Tourettes, Intellectual Impairments, Autism, Aspergers, Anxiety Disorders and other complex disabilities). This is a legacy project created through findings of local needs identified by the Unique Kids Survey Project completed earlier this year.

The mentoring project would like to invite between 12 and 20 families/individuals needing support to better meet the educational, health care, employment, social, recreation, etc. needs of their disabled child/youth. We will also accept requests from young adults seeking such support. Often partnering a family with another parent/grandparent who has overcome challenges of having a child with a disability, or providing a family with specific information helps them climb over what may seem to be insurmountable hurdles. If more than 20 local families/individuals register, we will do our best to accommodate them.

To register for our mentoring program (parent/caregiver, youth or volunteer mentor), please reply to this email (hot link) or call our office during the hours of 8:30 am and 4:00 pm.

After a call...

1. We will meet with registrants,
2. discuss their needs and
3. recruit volunteer mentors to meet those needs.
4. Family members or individuals and mentors will be given training
   1. effective communication,
   2. process in working through problems and
   3. boundaries with regard to the mentoring support we will offer,
   4. access to informational meetings and materials
5. We will provide ongoing evaluation to participants in order to keep the mentoring support effective, efficient and responsive to desired outcomes.

As parent/caregivers register, we will recruit and add to our base of volunteer mentors/advocates (a few retired professionals and local residents have already contacted our office offering to become mentors) seeking individuals with skill sets that match the needs of each client/family.

Please know we will also direct calls to established support groups or assist registrants in creating support groups to provide opportunities for them to socialize, invite informational workshops/seminars, etc. and to learn from one another's experiences.

We look forward to supporting the needs of disabled children/youth both through their families and individually in partnership with mentors, local agencies and service providers.

Thank you,

Geri Sera
Unique Kids Mentoring Project Coordinator

Supporting and Serving Children and Youth

Nanaimo Unique Kids Organization is a registered Canadian charity that supports the needs of unique children and youth (with neuro-developmental disabilities) and their families.

Our mandate is to provide support services, and relief to persons with neuro-developmental disabilities by developing and implementing recreation, education and social integration opportunities and services.

We also offer community awareness and education events, workshops, seminars, and presentations to share information about the debilitating conditions “unique kids” deal with daily. We have recently completed two surveys through our Unique Kids Survey Project. It was funded by Service Canada. The first survey was for professionals and the second was for parents/caregivers. They shared information about the needs of these disabled children and youth. They also shared information about the problems children and youth experience accessing programs and services and provided comments and recommendations about priorities that must be addressed. (Visit www.uniquekidssurvey.com for more details.)

To learn more about the needs of children with neuro-developmental disabilities (Autism, Aspergers, FASD, ADD, ADHD, Tourettes, Anxiety Disorders, Learning Disabilities, Intellectual Impairments, Sensory Disorders, etc.) please visit the Disabilities Directory.

New Family Support Service

Nanaimo Unique Kids Organization has been granted funding from Service Canada for a "legacy project" to assist the disabled and their families in better accessing support, programs and services. The new Mentoring Project will bring together those with needs and local community resident volunteers with experience toward solving problems for disabled children, youth, adults and their families.

To discuss your possible participation (family with a need or a willing volunteer mentor) in the Mentoring Project, please call our office at 250-390-8143.