Post Rehab and Life Skills

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.
 

73 returning participants
16 new participants

 
Respiratory Cardiac Maintenance

• 29 individuals registered
• 45% increase in participants over the year
• Participant top values:

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:

Life Skills 

Thrive 

In it’s 6^th 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.

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.
 

 
 

Therapeutic Recreation

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.
 

• 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.
 

13 participants

TR program participants regularly feed into employment or Pathways programming.