Building the Path to Home

Services for families and caregivers

If you are a family member and you wonder whether you can manage the current living situation with your relative, it may be useful to use respite services to give yourself a break. Respite services will give you a sense of how time for yourself can affect your ability to support your family member at home.

Developmental sector respite services

The developmental services sector recognizes that people who take care of individuals with a developmental disability will from time to time need a break from their support role to attend to their own physical or mental health, or to rest from the often stressful challenges of care.

To arrange for several days or weeks of respite care, contact:

• respiteservices.com: 416 322-6317.

CHAP (Community Helpers for Active Participation) Program

The CHAP Program connects families and CHAP workers through its family and worker database.

The program recruits qualified workers interested in supporting persons with developmental disabilities including autism and/or physical disabilities. Families needing skilled workers can register, search the database of workers and hire the worker who best fits their needs. Families and workers can also connect by posting on the website.

Access facilitators

Access facilitators help to identify families' respite needs and to connect them to respite opportunities and community resources. They work with agencies to solve client's problems with receiving services and help families to access funding sources, such as Special Services at Home and Assistance for Children with Severe Disabilities.

Training opportunities for CHAP workers and families

Families have stressed the importance of providing training for workers. A member of the respiteservices.com team now works with the Toronto Developmental Services Respite Cluster (agencies that are developing a respite network in the Greater Toronto Area) or with other organizations to identify training opportunities for CHAP workers and families.

Mental health sector respite services

The mental health sector does not offer respite services to families. Family support organizations can help find some support. Family support organizations include:

• Community Resource Connections' Family Program
• FAME (Family Association for Mental Health Everywhere)
• Mood Disorders Association of Ontario
• Schizophrenia Society of Ontario (416 449-6830 in Toronto or 1 800 449 6367 toll-free)
• Toronto East General Hospital.

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