Skip to main content Accessibility features

Post-Rehabilitation and Life Skills programs offer a strong foundation in supporting people to successfully transition into community life. 

Post-Rehabilitation Programming 

Weekly programming for individuals coming out of rehabilitation and looking for community participation opportunities with educated professionals who understand and tailor programming to their needs.
 

post rehab chart showing the majority of returning participants as indicted in text below

73 returning participants
16 new participants

 
Respiratory Cardiac Maintenance

  • 29 individuals registered
  • 45% increase in participants over the year
  • Participant top values:post rehab top values shows 3 icons to demonstrate maintaining activity, socialization and routine, expert and dedicated instructors
Quote says "The complete program is outstanding. It is lovely to have the choice to do the exercises sitting or standing. I really appreciate it when the trainer says if you want to make this more challenging do this.” - Program participant

Together In Movement & Exercise (TIME)
    • 60 individuals registered
    • 25% increase in participants over the year
    • 13% overall increase in quality of life among program participants
    • 388 classes offered 

Participant top values:TIME top values icons demonstrate exercise quality and opportunity, quality social environment, 13%25 improvement in quality of life among participants

Life Skills 

Thrive 

In it’s 6th year running, Thrive is an innovative adult day program for adults with developmental disabilities. Thrive provides a strong foundation in supporting young adults to successfully transition into community life and the goals that are most important to them, including education, employment or independent living.

Thrive chart is blue and yellow and includes human icons showing the program overview. 72 participants registered, 41 enrolled in Thrive summer camp, and Teen Summer Camp, 5 transitioned to Leadership in Training

thrive quote  “Inclusion is a journey. Thrive supports individuals in the development of life skills to support in life transitions.” - Kelsey Ford, Manager, Thrive Programs & Services

New class options offered this year:

  • Healthy Relationships and Sexuality (delivered in partnership with Lakeridge Community Support Services)
  • Seed recycling and cooking (delivered in partnership with We Grow Food)
  • Art Therapy (delivered in partnership with Art with a Heart)

Pathways

Pathways supports individuals age 14+ with disabilities in learning new life skills, building relationships, and enhancing self-esteem. With a focus on fostering independence, community engagement, and skill development, participants achieve personal growth and have fun!

  • In January 2020, we launched our pilot Pathways program.
  • 10 participants; 60% female; 23-40 age range
    • 100% Increased comfort level in use and knowledge of public transit
    • All participants felt comfortable in attending the Library independently 
    • 78% felt comfortable attending grocery store independently 
At the end of each Thrive and Pathways session, participants and families receive session briefs that share areas of excellence and growth for each participant as well as feedback on meaningful engagement and participation, social connectedness, and transportation.
 
Blue box with quotes: Example session brief on transportation:  “Melanie has proven that she is able to navigate her way to community locations independently. Each week she was seen utilizing a community itinerary to communicate to staff the direction being travelled, what buses we needed to use and pick up times.”   “I love seeing these reports. It reinforces how much my son loves coming to the Center. You guys are amazing and we cannot thank you enough for all that you are doing. My only wish is for this to someday become full time for him.”  - Mom of Thrive participant
 
 

Therapeutic Recreation

TR-Goals.png
Active Connection and Thinking Ahead, two Therapeutic Recreation (TR) programs at Abilities Centre, use community and activity-based programming to improve well-being, physical and mental health, as well as functional capacity for individuals. In house TR specialists use a goal-oriented, evidence-based approach with a focus on recreation and play.
 

An inside scoop on our TR approach from Adam Fitzpatrick, Manager of Sport and Recreation, Therapeutic Recreation Specialist:

Therapeutic Recreation (TR) at Abilities Centre focuses on 3 main pillars: Movement, Creation and Education. The Movement pillar has programming related to physical literacy, physical activity and sport. The Creation pillar is related to the creation of art and music as well as friendship and connection. The Education pillar supports participants in the discovery of community activities as well as goal setting. There is a unique focus on supporting families and participants through their journey at Abilities Centre and in the surrounding community, following participants as they flow through programs and fulfill goals.

The TR team implemented three programs throughout 2019, refreshed every three months. The goal of each program is always to help participants become more resilient. Many of the TR participants attend programs to create friendships and explore sport and physical activity. Throughout the Active Connection and Thinking Ahead programs, we saw many of our participants not only join other skill building programs within Abilities Centre but a handful of them will join the first Mixed Ability Rugby team in Canada at the Oshawa Viking Rugby Club.

Looking forward, the TR team at Abilities Centre has formatted our programming, intake, documenting and session reports with intense focus on meaningfulness to participants and families. We continue to push boundaries, instilling flexibility in programming to best support participants to reach their goals and pursue the things that are most meaningful to them in their growth and development. There is so much yet to come!

Active Connection

A program focused on physical activity experiences and social interaction.
 Icon of two people having a conversation
  • 93 participants
This program supports transition to more community participation. Participants from Active Connection were introduced to Mixed Ability Rugby. 3 participants are now members at the Oshawa Vikings Rugby Club.

Thinking Ahead (NEW!)

A program focused on setting participants up for their future through the development of soft skills, goal-setting practice, and visioning exercises.
 
icon of three people shaking hands
13 participants

TR program participants regularly feed into employment or Pathways programming.  
back to top