I need support
Upon arrival, you will be greeted by our warm staff members. You should know that here at Monica Place, every staff member is here to support you. You will be treated with the utmost respect. We will work with you to determine which of our programs, or external referrals, are most helpful to you. We will strive to support any choices you make.
All young women we support are provided with an orientation of Monica Place at the start of service. You can expect orientation to include:
· An introduction and explanation of various programs and services offered by Monica Place;
· A tour of the facilities;
· An explanation of your rights and responsibilities and risks and benefits;
· An explanation of your right to privacy and use of personal information;
· An intake meeting with the Counselor/Intake and Support Coordinator;
· Appropriate external referrals are facilitated as needed.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to our office, and read our FAQ’s if you have any more questions regarding beginning services with Monica Place. We hope to hear from you soon!
This program aims to promote and support the physical and emotional well-being of youth and their children in our community, by offering timely and responsive individualized support. This service provides a proactive way of meeting the needs of young families who may be at risk. The Family Navigator will partner with young families to engage in a collaborative approach to determine the range of service needs. They will facilitate access to timely care, utilizing detailed and extensive knowledge of mental health, infant and early childhood attachment and be a bridge between the family and services for young parents offered by community agencies. Services offered will include basic needs, child development support, parenting support, referrals to community resources/supports, mental health support, advocacy, etc.
The Early Literacy Support program provides resources, programs and support for families to help encourage an enjoyable and successful journey developing all the pre-literacy abilities. Pre or early literacy encompasses all the skills children need to have before learning to read. These include vocabulary (number of words), speech sounds, listening, plus many other factors.
Children have unlimited potential, and the Early Literacy Support Specialist will work with the parent to ensure the best possible outcome for the child including ready to read and ready for school.
Counselling services are available to pregnant and parenting youth using a trauma informed approach. Group programming is available to support early infant parent attachment including Baby Love and Circle of Security.
We offer Children’s Counselling and Walk-In Counselling as well.
We offer group programs that bring people with common goals together, to learn about different topics, while fostering community and strengthening mental health and wellbeing. Learn more about all the groups we offer here.
· Offered in partnership with Region of Waterloo Public Health.
· This group-based program provides young women with resources, education and support during pregnancy to prepare for birth and parenting.
· This program, in conjunction with Prenatal Parenting Program, is also available to prenatal young women in the community who are not enrolled in other Monica Place programs.
· This group-based program is for prenatal young women to learn how their choices impact the development and physical and emotional health of their child.
· The program includes, but is not limited to, parenting styles and values, parent-child attachment and personal and social responsibilities of parents.
· This program is offered in partnership with the Waterloo Region District School Board. Young women who are registered in our Section 23 School Program can receive a post-secondary school credit upon completion of this program.
· This program, in conjunction with Prenatal Health Program, is also available to prenatal young women in the community who are not enrolled in other Monica Place programs.
· The prenatal residential program is a comprehensive, licensed, 24/7 care and treatment program for young women between the ages of 12 and 24, with multiple and complex needs during the prenatal period.
· Frontline staff provides 24-hour support and guidance for young women to navigate their way through psychological, emotional, behavioral, social, educational and everyday living concerns, as they prepare for the birth of their baby.
· While most of the young women in the residential program are planning to parent, we welcome and support young women who are planning adoption for their child as well.
· Offers a residential program for young women and their child, up to 6 months of age.
· Provides resources, support and hands-on learning.
· Encourages healthy attachment between parent and child and models positive parenting.
· Encourages the use of appropriate parenting strategies, including reading and responding to child’s cues.
· Emphasizes the importance of working with the mother-child dyad.
· Offers a supportive housing program for young women and their children up to 3 years of age.
· Provides individual planning and parenting support and learn independent living skills. This program makes important connections to outside community resources. The goal of this program is to empower young parents and their children to learn and grow as individuals, as a family and in their community.
· Emphasizes the importance of working with the mother-child dyad.
This 8-week evidence-based program offers an interactive learning environment. The goal of this program is for young parents to learn how the secure parent-child relationship can be supported and strengthened. The importance of parent child attachment is the focus of this program. This program is offered in both Waterloo and Cambridge. This group will help parents to:
· Understand their child’s emotional world by learning to read emotional needs
· Support their child’s ability to successfully manage emotions
· Enhance the development of their child’s self-esteem and
· Honor the innate wisdom and desire for their child to be secure
Taken from http://circleofsecurity.net/for-parents
Children and Parents Connecting (CAPC) is a community-based partnership of parents, volunteers and service providers who believe: children are an important priority, and raising healthy children is a shared responsibility of the community.
Growing Healthy Two-gether, through Canadian Prenatal Nutrition Program (CPNP), supports pregnant people to have a healthy baby. The goal of CPNP is to reach pregnant people living in conditions of risk that are known to increase the likelihood of unfavourable outcomes for themselves and their infants. These conditions of risk include: poverty, teenage pregnancy, social or geographic isolation with poor access to services, recent arrival to Canada, alcohol or substance misuse and family violence. CPNP also ensures that families are provided culturally sensitive programming and resources.
Our Community Resource Program (CRP) is designed to improve access to community mental health services for families with children ages 4 to 17 and is available throughout Waterloo Region. In this service, the Community Resource Workers and other community partners, including school boards, work together to develop and provide appropriate supports for children, youth, and families with mental health needs with goals of early intervention and prevention.
· This program is offered in partnership with the Waterloo Region District School Board.
· The program provides the opportunity for young women to receive elementary or secondary school credits.
· There is a focus on individual programs of study that are revised to accommodate varying levels of concentration, self-discipline, learning styles and well-being in order to meet the student’s needs and goals.
· Monica Place partners with the school program in offering content and facilitating groups, and in supporting young women to obtain their credits in the Prenatal Parenting and SKILLS courses.
· This program is available to any pregnant or parenting young woman, up to age 21, in the community, residents of Monica Place Waterloo or Monica Place Cambridge.
· Free childminding services are provided onsite in the dedicated childminding space for students in our Section 23 School Program. The care is provided by trained and dedicated volunteers with staff supervision.
· Prenatal young women have scheduled time in the Childminding Program with staff support to gain hands-on skills caring for babies.
· The Child Minding focuses specifically on the mother and child together as a whole, or what we refer to as the mother child dyad.
· The Child Minding program utilizes the Ages and Stages Questionnaire/Ages and Stages Questionnaire Social-Emotional (ASQ/ASQ-SE) tools to screen and assess the developmental performance of children at various ages. It is used to identify children who might benefit from a referral for further evaluation re: delayed development.
· Each parent is provided with a Developmental Support Plan which indicates activities that will support their child’s communication, gross/fine motor skills, problem solving, and social-emotional skills.
· This program incorporates and promotes the positive parenting principles initiated by the Positive Parenting Community Committee of Waterloo Region.
This program is for young women who are facing one of these unique circumstances:
· Young women who are working with Family and Children Services (CAS) on having their child returned to their primary care
· Prenatal young women who are planning to place their child for adoption
· Young women who enter our prenatal services and subsequently miscarry
Front line staff provides 24-hour support and facilitate planning for these young women to transition back into the community. They also provide residents with links to other community resources as needed.
We maintain a welcoming, safe and trusting environment by adhering to criteria that ensures each young woman and child in our care receives the quality of service and level of support they need, both from staff and peers in the programs. We feel that everyone deserves a chance and understand that each individual has a unique set of circumstances that are considered in our admission process.
· Young women between the ages of 12-24 who are pregnant
· In a position to benefit from the practical and mental health support, goal planning, prenatal support and program structure offered in this program
· Requires safe housing that is staffed 24/7 during her pregnancy
· Young women between the ages of 12-24 who are parenting a child under 6 months of age
· In a position to benefit from the practical and mental health support, goal planning, parenting guidance and program structure offered in this program
· Requires a supportive housing environment that is staffed 24/7 while she adjusts to parenting and plans to move forward
· Young women between the ages of 12-24 who are in one the following unique situations:
· Prenatal woman who has decided to place her child for adoption.
· Postnatal woman who has placed her child for adoption and is planning her next steps
· A woman who enters our services and subsequently miscarries and is planning her next steps
· A postnatal woman who is working with Family & Children’s Services (FCS) on a plan to have their child returned to their primary care
· Young women between the ages of 12-21 who are pregnant or parenting a child between the ages of 2 months and 24 months
· In need of completing high school credits
· If parenting, in need of childminding during the school day
· In a position to benefit from the practical and mental health support, goal planning, prenatal/parenting instruction, social support and program structure offered in this program
If the person is not already a resident or a school student:
· Young women between the ages of 12-24
· Woman does not require housing or school programming and would benefit from attending these 2 groups with a focus on prenatal support/instruction/guidance
When the person is not already a resident or school student:
· Young persons between the ages of 12-24 who would benefit from learning how the secure parent-child relationship can be supported and strengthened
· Participants are not required to be part of our residential or school programs
· Young women between the ages of 16-24 who are parenting a child under the age of 3
· In a position to benefit from the practical and mental health support, goal planning and program structure offered in this program
· Requires short-term housing and has the ability to pay a monthly subsidized rent amount
Monica Place accepts referrals from a variety of sources including the youth themselves, family and/or an outside professional. Monica Place is continually looking at improving measures to access services and reduce wait times.
Once a referral is received the young woman will participate in a formal intake process to determine eligibility. Upon admission, a comprehensive orientation process that includes service delivery and coordination of each program is provided.
