Date: Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Time: 12:00 – 1:30 pm
Location: *New* In person – OISE, 252 Bloor St. W., Room 2214

This in-person workshop presented by the Toronto Central Home and Community Care Support Services (HCCSS) will:

• focus on in-home and community services available to assist you in providing care to an elderly person
• provide you with information on the application process for admission into a long term care home and other community housing options
• address caregiver stress and burnout with a focus on providing specific coping strategies

Facilitators:
Jennifer Thomas MSW, RSW is a  Care Coordinator with Home and Community Care Support Services, Toronto Central.  Jennifer has over 20 years of experience working with frail seniors and their caregivers at home and in the community including as part of the home visiting primary care program with the Mt Sinai Family Health Team

Tanya Poon is an occupational therapist by background, and a care coordinator with Home and Community Care Support Services, Toronto Central. She has a total of 13 years working in the community. For the past 10 years, Tanya has been embedded with the St Joseph’s Health Centre homebound family medicine team, together supporting frail and homebound seniors and their caregivers in the community

Registration required. University of Toronto students, staff, postdoctoral fellows and faculty are welcome. Partners and family members (including chosen family members) who are co-caregivers with U of T students, staff, postdoctoral fellows and faculty are also welcome to attend. If you have any access needs to ensure your full participation in this in-person event, please contact the Family Care Office and we will try our best to work with you and make appropriate arrangements.

Date: Monday, October 24, 2022
Time: 1:00 – 2:00 pm
Location: The webinar link will be shared with you via email prior to the session start time.

The risk of online sexual exploitation of youth is rising, especially in the context of the #COVID19 pandemic. White Ribbon is pleased to offer a free webinar to parents on preventing all forms of #onlinesexualexploitation and #sextrafficking.

In this webinar, parents will learn more about:

• Warning signs of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking
• How to engage youth in practicing online safety
• How to prevent this issue from happening through learning about healthy relationships, consent, allyship and equity
• Help and resources available.

Facilitator: Taylor Demetrioff is the Bilingual Community Engagement Manager – Education at White Ribbon. With over a decade working in the mental health field, Taylor has worked hard to bring positive programming and education to Canadian teens and adults.

Starting in his career, Taylor developed a mental health and music program for teens struggling with their mental well-being called “Let It Out!” while studying at l’Université de Saint Boniface on Treaty 1 land. More recently, Taylor has focused his efforts on fostering meaningful relations with Elders and Indigenous leaders across Manitoba to challenge colonialism while maintaining a deep love, respect and appreciation for Indigenous cultures.

As a father and husband, Taylor strives to end gender-based violence while promoting healthy relationships, gender equality and healthy masculinities.

Registration required. University of Toronto students, staff, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, and their partners are welcome. If you have any access needs to ensure your full participation in this event, please contact the Family Care Office and we will try our best to work with you and make appropriate arrangements.

Date: Thursday, January 20, 2022
Time: 12:00 – 1:30 pm
Location: The webinar link will be shared with you via email prior to the session start time.

The risk of online sexual exploitation of youth is rising, especially in the context of the #COVID19
pandemic. White Ribbon is pleased to offer a free webinar to parents on preventing all forms of
#onlinesexualexploitation and #sextrafficking.

In this webinar, parents will learn more about:

•  Warning signs of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking
• How to engage youth in practicing online safety
• How to prevent this issue from happening through learning about healthy relationships, consent, allyship and equity
• Help and resources available.

Facilitator: David Garzon is the Team Lead, Community Engagement at White Ribbon. He is responsible for the management and delivery of several key initiatives across White Ribbon, together with the program staff team. David has worked in Bolivia, Guatemala, and Colombia delivering workshops and implementing projects on gender equity, masculinities, LGBTQ+ rights, gender-based violence, feminism, youth empowerment, health, and fair trade. David holds a bachelor degree in Sociology and Latin American and Caribbean studies from York University, a certificate in Critical Reflections on Masculinities from the Center for Social Research, Technology and Capacity Building, and is currently finishing a post-graduate program in Global Business Management at Humber College.

Registration required. University of Toronto students, staff, faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and their partners are welcome. If you have any access needs to ensure your full participation in this event, please contact the Family Care Office and we will try our best to work with you and make appropriate arrangements.

Date: Monday, July 12, 2021
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Location: The webinar link will be shared with you via email prior to the session start time.

Exhaustion. Overwhelm. Depletion. Stress. Mental health. These words have become common in our vocabulary over the last 18 months. And for good reason. Many of us are bursting at the seams, and cannot cope with what’s going on. If you can identify with anything mentioned, you may be experiencing burnout. We know that many people are experiencing this right now, in various forms. How do we navigate it effectively?

Come join us for this 60-minute session, where you will discover more about what burnout is from a family perspective and how to identify when you have it, learn the key strategies to deal with burnout when it’s happening, and the practices to put in place to prevent it from happening in the future. In addition, you will be able to experience two coping mechanisms in real time, so you know how to recreate it for yourself!

Facilitator: Tara Rhodes is a certified life and leadership coach, speaker and trainer, dedicated to helping people gain clarity on the life that they want to live, and developing healthy habits to make it a reality. She firmly believes that life is too short to live a life that makes you unhappy and is on a mission to free her clients from guilt, imposter syndrome and unworthiness so that they can share their gifts and dreams with others. A wife, and mom to two lively boys, she actively practices what she preaches to maintain a healthy balance and presence in her day-to-day. Find out more at www.tararhodes.ca.

Date: Monday, February 8, 2021
Time: 12:00 – 1:30 pm
Location: The webinar link will be shared with you via email prior to the session start time.

Have you ever considered adoption as a way of growing your family? The first step of your adoption journey is educating yourself about the process and options. This session, led by the Adoption Council of Ontario, will provide an overview of private, public and international adoption processes in Ontario. As well, information will be provided on the Home Study and the education process necessary to become eligible to adopt in Ontario. Helpful tips and strategies to ease the adoption journey will also be discussed.

Facilitator: Ellen Igumnova RSW, BSW

With her experience in children welfare, Ellen developed a passion for contributing to positive social change in our society by working towards finding permanent and stable homes for children involved in Ontario’s child welfare system. As a Clinical Coordinator, Ellen has been working with the AdoptOntario team and other professionals since Fall 2019 to create profiles for waiting children, communicate with prospective adoptive parents, identify matches and share information regarding adoption with the ultimate goal of finding permanence for children as every child deserves to grow up with love and support from a family that they can call their own.

Registration required. University of Toronto students, staff, faculty, postdoctoral fellows and their families are welcome. Please let us know if you have any mobility challenges so we can accommodate your needs.

Date: Thursday, October 29, 2020
Time: 3:30 – 4:30 pm
Location: The webinar link will be shared with you via email prior to the session start time.

Halloween is a fun time when we use our creativity to transform ourselves and become something or someone else. In this Halloween-themed activity, children and their parents will identify their individual ‘character treats’. They will explore how their individual characteristics connect to those around them and why that can be a real treat! Participants will learn to face four Halloween ghosts: Denialin, Doubty, Worry-Anne and Fearan. This social and emotional learning activity is aimed at children 6 to 10 years of age. For this activity, please have paper, markers, crayons, coloured pencils and scissors.

Recommended for children 6 to 10 years and an adult family member.

Facilitator: Nana Gulic is an Education Doctorate student at OISE’s Social Justice Education Department. She is a Child and Youth Worker with 16 years of experience in working with youth in Canada and internationally. With youth empowerment and engagement as the guiding premise, she worked in residential group homes, community development programs, elementary schools and international organizations. Her academic and professional passions are social and emotional skill development and democratic education. Nana is also a mother to a 9-year old boy for whom she wishes to become a caring, empathic and engaged citizen.

Registration required. The child(ren) and a current University of Toronto student, staff, faculty, postdoctoral fellow, or their partners are welcome. If you have any access needs to ensure your full participation in this event, please contact the Family Care Office and we will try our best to work with you and make appropriate arrangements.

Ann Douglas, a Canadian best-selling parenting author, provides a guide to parenting without anxiety, guilt, or feeling overwhelmed in her latest book:Happy Parents, Happy Kids.  In this presentation she will discuss:

• Does parenting have to be this hard?
• How to boost your enjoyment of parenthood
• How to feel less anxious, less guilty, and less overwhelmed; and tap into the support you need

Ann Douglas sparks conversations that matter about parenting. She is a U of T graduate, and received her degree in History in 1985.  She is the weekend parenting columnist for CBC Radio and the creator of Canada’s bestselling series of pregnancy and parenting books, The Mother of All book series. Her most recent books are Happy Parents, Happy Kids and Parenting Through the Storm.  Please note her book Happy Parents, Happy Kids will be available for sale in the ODLC.

Registration required. University of Toronto students, staff, faculty, and their families are welcome. Please let us know if you have any mobility challenges so we can accommodate your needs.

Date: Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Time: 10:00 – 11:30 am
Location: Robarts Library, Family Study Space, 9^th Floor, Room 9-002.

The Innovation Hub​, in partnership with the Family Care Office, is looking to hear from student-parents on how U of T can be more family-friendly.  Join us to learn about the results of a research project the Innovation Hub conducted last year with student parents and then participate in interactive activities ​and dialogue that will generate practical ideas for how the university can better support student parents.  Your contributions will influence the future direction of student life programming and services.

As a thank you for participating, each participant will be provided with a $10 coffee gift card.

Facilitators: Innovation Hub staff members

University of Toronto current students are welcome.  You are also welcome to bring your child(ren) to this space, but please be advised you will be required to provide supervision.  We will have some toys and activities for the younger children under 5 years of age.  Light refreshments will be provided.

Registration required at family.care@utoronto.ca or 416-978-0951, and please provide us with your child’s age if they will be attending.

Please note, if you cannot attend the event, but would like to provide feedback, please contact innovationhub@utoronto.ca.

Date: Thursday, March 7, 2019
Time: 12:00 – 2:00 pm
Location: University of Toronto Mississauga Campus, Davis Building Room 3129

This workshop will help parents develop techniques to help your child become more socially competent, and to lay the groundwork for building successful relationships.

• Assess social skills of both parents and children
• Learn ways to teach respectful communication, problem solving skills, how to handle a variety of social situations and the emotions felt
• Help build your child’s self esteem through encouragement and respect

This workshop will focus on children ages 5 – 12 years old.

Facilitator: Kolleen McIlveen, Family Education Centre. Kolleen has been working for the Family Education Centre since 2010, and became a Parent Educator in 2012. She has been involved in the field of parent education since 2004 when her child was a toddler. Kolleen has a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a specialization in Marketing and International Management.

Date: Thursday, January 17, 2019
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Location: University of Toronto Mississauga Campus, Davis Building Room 3130

All parents want their children to be happy and successful at school. Many working parents struggle with knowing how to support their children with school-related activities. This session invites participants to seek a partnership between child, school and themselves as parents. This partnership creates positive structure at home to support their children’s experience at school, and looks for ways to reward effort rather than outcomes.

During this 1 hour wellness session participants will:

• Learn to build partnerships between child, school and parents
• Discover how to create a positive structure at home to support children’s experience at school
• Become aware of ways to reward effort rather than outcomes.

Facilitator: Homewood Health

Please register early, space is limited! All University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) staff, faculty and students are welcome. Please let us know if you have any mobility challenges so we can accommodate your needs.