Privacy Policy

GUIDING STATEMENTS

Global Health Complex Care Home was incorporated in the province of Ontario with the intention of creating a specialized home environment for children and youth with medical or behavioral (complex) needs. Focused on the provision of safety, stability, and nurturing and specific to those children who have experienced trauma, Global Health Complex Care Home provides opportunities to enhance their growth, strengthen connections and therefore, the achievement of their potential development.

The following Guiding Statements, reviewed, and if required, modified and/or updated once every three (3) years, provide the framework of our organization:

Statement of Principles:

Global Health Complex Care Home is committed to fostering compassion, healing, and improving the lives of those in need of our services. Global Health Complex Care Home is dedicated to helping those with complex behavioural needs, trauma, mental and/ or family issues to live their life to the fullest, while creating a family atmosphere that creates a better tomorrow. We strive to offer a community that promotes self respect, culture, independence, and improves the quality of life for all our children, youth and/or families.

Global Health Complex Care Home believes in the circle of life, so providing holistic and culturally sensitive care to our children, youth and families is essential to our services. Overall, Global Health Complex Care Home will collaborate with the individual, other healthcare providers, family, and caseworker and the cultural community to ensure the best care is provided.

Vision Statement:

Through a culturally informed and medically wholistic approach, Global Health Complex Care Home’s vision is to be a channel of positive change in healthcare delivery in North America and the world at large.

Mission Statement:

Global Health Complex Care Home endeavors “to provide worldclass care and have that care accessible to all within North America, with our utmost priority being our client(s) and having their needs met while supporting their health and well-being.”

Objectives:

Global Health Complex Care Home, as a means to attain our vision and mission, the following objectives are prioritized:

1. Those living with complex needs will experience personal wellness despite their referring issues and past traumas;
2. Those living with complex needs are connected with their families, the community and with their unique culture;
3. Provide individualized programs (healing plan) to meet the unique needs of each child or youth.

BELIEFS AND VALUES

Global Health Complex Care Home believes in the importance of skilled and therapeutic approachesto stabilize the impact of trauma; enhance the self-worth and dignity of each individual; and promote healing of childhood neglect, abuse and /or grief and loss using holistic values. Our guiding principle is to involve a non-institutional holistic approach of joining family values, concrete healing (therapeutic) modalities with unconditional acceptance and guidance in a group setting. Global Health Complex Care Home is committed to giving children and youth in care a home that will provide for their physical, social, educational, emotional, medical, and cultural needs.

Global Health Complex Care Home is guided by a strong philosophy aligned with culturally informed beliefs and principles. Being that. Global Health Complex Care Home serves all children and youth regardless of their cultural heritage. We rely on the teachings that for a child to be healthy and strong the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of that child must be in balance. In caring for and teaching children, we must focus on these aspects. We are taught that life skills as well as the emotional, physical, and spiritual development can be achieved by embracing their cultural traditions. Learning these skills creates a strong sense of identity and builds self-esteem.

This includes but is not limited to the following:

• Children are gifts and their healthy development is the responsibility of the whole community;
• Children will learn from their mistakes provided that the appropriate guidance and environment is given;
• Each human has an emotional, intellectual, physical, and spiritual aspect to their being and when a human has been injured, it affects all parts of their being. Helping means being able to understand the effects of the injury and the healing of the whole being;
• All people have and need family. This can be comprised of our biological parents or siblings but can include Aunties, Uncles, grandparents, friends and cousins, or those from the community who we choose as our own;
• All people are equal regardless of their color, size or look. Each person deserves to be treated fairly and with respect despite their past, present or the outlook of their future;
• We believe that giving is important regardless of our wealth as it is not limited to materialistic things. To give components of ourselves, including sharing, respect, humbleness and support is truly a great gift;
• Children, youth and families deserve healthy relationships with one another and to be supported in the reintegration with their families through home visits, cultural assistance (if applicable), support with other assets such as community resources, follow-up and/or referral services;
• Children and youth will be provided with tools and resources to achieve a healthy and vibrant lifestyle, develop confidence in understanding holistic healing including love, integrity, respect, sharing and support;
• Children and youth deserve to live free of addictions and live as whole beings;
• Children and youth deserve predictable boundaries as taught through logical and natural consequences;
• Children and youth deserve adaptable care providers and programs to suit their uniqueness with a high standard of trained helpers that will assist in their healing.

The belief and value statement are reviewed, and if required, modified and/or updated once every three (3)years.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

• To provide a non-institutional staff model home option within a culture of family specific to all children and youth, regardless of gender, in response to referrals from the surrounding First Nations Child and Family Services (FNCFS) and the Child, Youth & Family Services Agencies (CYFSA). Children and youth aged birth (0) to eighteen (18) years are eligible for our program specifically if presenting with trauma responses (behaviors) which may require a more intensive environment than other community-based programs provide, and/or have family-based issues to which stabilization, intervention and healing is required before they can reside in their home.
• To blend a group living program with complex behavioral support options designed to create opportunities for healing, skill attainment and resilience so that children and youth may return to their family and cultural community.
• To promote beh avior stabilization within children and youth in the program so that reintegration with the family remains a possibility and/or transition to a less intrusive environment is possible.
• To promote appropriate interaction skills, encourage and teach the ability to bond to others.
• To teach and role model life skills and provide cultural / community experiences.
• To address any addiction issues.
• To improve the self-esteem and self-worth of each youth and child in the program.
• To promote personal self-development within each individual in the program.
• To address spiritual issues with each youth and child in the program.
• To provide culturally informed services to our children and youth.

In order to achieve a healthy lifestyle, we encourage our children to be comfortable with their cultural identity. This is accomplished through using trusted members within the cultural community and other valuable assets to learn the importance of their traditional values through the four (4) components of the Medicine Wheel:

1. Mental Well-being
2. Spiritual / Cultural Well-being
3. Emotional Well-Being
4. Physical Well-Being

PRACTICE MODELS

Global Health Complex Care Home utilizes a blend of primary practice models to ensure that the children and youth served through the program are respected, involved and has the greatest potentials for learning and applying new skills. This program combines the Client-Centered approach with Trauma Informed Practice.

Global Health Complex Care Home believes that all individuals, regardless of ability or circumstance, have unique values, personalities, histories, and goals. Equally, all individuals, regardless of ability or circumstance, have an equal right to participate fully in their lives, be honored for their personal thoughts and ideas and to be treated with inherent dignity and respect.

The Client-Centred Approach philosophy is founded upon an interactive process with the client, their care providers, team, the extended team of supports and the client’s family. All persons belong to a collaborative process of integrated services in which the focus is on the individual as opposed to the issues and on the individual’s strengths as abilities as opposed to barriers. The Core Concepts of the Client-Centred Approach are as follows:

1. Dignity and Respect - the values, beliefs, knowledge, cultural and spiritual backgrounds of all individuals living with disabilities are incorporated into the environment and into their daily care. Global Health Complex Care Home clients are honored for their perspectives and choices and as such, is a primary focus of our service delivery.
2. Information Sharing - effective services and care results from clear, transparent, and respectful communication between the client, the Global Health Complex Care Home team, the family, other stakeholders, and external team members.
3. Participation -children, youth, and their family members (if applicable) are encouraged and supported in participating in their daily living, service planning and decision making. This allows for a therapeutic relationship, based on reciprocity, regardless of any cognitive, emotional, mental and/or physical inability.
4. Collaboration - clients and their family members, stakeholders and vested professionals are included on an organization-wide basis. Global Health Complex Care Home includes the clients, the community, families and others in program design and development, evaluation, care planning, and feedback ongoingly.

The Client-Centered philosophy and approach demonstrates empathy through its provision of care and is respectful of the right to self-determination. Through this, services are delivered where individuals are provided with choices within their abilities and context, their wishes are taken into consideration and consent or dissent is respected. Through this philosophy, clients are viewed as “the whole person” as opposed to components of behavior, barriers, and inabilities.

In addition to the Client-Centred Approach, Global Health Complex Care Home incorporates the Trauma Informed Approach when working on improving the overall outcomes for our clients.

The Trauma Informed Approach guides our organization through the knowledge that all individuals have certain experiences that form their responses to the world around them. Global Health Complex Care Home incorporates the Trauma Informed approach to engaging people with histories of trauma that recognizes the presence of trauma symptoms and acknowledges the role that trauma has played in their lives (NCTIC, 2013). Any traumatic or crisis event, especially that which occurs continually and/or in differing but multiple events, has shown that the impact can result in behavioral, health, emotional and/or psychological problems.

Trauma-informed practice does not place emphasis on the “what is wrong with you?” but the “what happened to you?” and utilizes those responses to shift the ways in which services are delivered (Bloom & Farragher, 2011). Being that trauma often leaves feelings of lack of safety, powerlessness, the method of approach and service delivery aims to create client experiences in which people feel safe and empowered through principles related to trustworthiness and collaboration, choice and empowerment and a strength-based approach (Hopper, Bassuk, & Olivet, 2010).

Having a Trauma Informed approach with clients ensures an environment and the services delivered are able to create physical and emotional safety and allowing individuals to have influence and control in decisions that impact them. With this, the individual can increase their personal sense of control over their lives and future and create a sense of empowerment and ability.

Additionally, trauma Informed approaches support in the healing from trauma and difficult experiences as opposed to retraumatizing or minimizing their experiences. The “Do No Harm” mindset with Trauma Informed approaches ensure that services delivery occurs in a manner where the client’s perspective is at the heart of all interventions.

MEDICAL PRACTICE MODEL

In addition to practice and cultural approaches to care provision, Global Health Complex Care Home operates on the medical foundations of Holistic Health Care. Similar to the client-centered approach, Holistic Health Care reflects the understanding that physical, mental, spiritual and social needs affect overall health and that being unwell in one aspect can have detrimental effects on other areas. In short, Global Health Complex Care Home believes that symptoms are interconnected and are managed using a combination of medical, therapeutic and health related approaches.

By definition, holistic medical care refers to the consideration of the “complete person” in the prevention and management of disease and other medical or health related conditions. In the holistic approach to medical treatment, there is a belief that physical illnesses or diseases if interrelated to the psychological, emotional, social, spiritual and environmental aspects of an individual’s life. Additionally, all different aspects are equally important and for effective healing and management of medical conditions, the service provider must be informed of the individual’s whole life situation. The following are the five (5) aspects of Holistic Health Care:

Physical is the primary indicator of the health and well-being of an individual. The physical body most often shows signs and symptoms of sub-optimal health. In traditional medicine, it is the physical condition that is most often treated with medication because symptoms are easily tracked and measured. Global Health Complex Care Home believes that while this is an important aspect to providing medical services, it needs to be combined with other approaches.

Emotional is another important indicator as to the overall health. Being that the majority of children and youth referred to our care have experienced trauma, the emotional impact of such has many meaningful impacts. Most often, the emotional wounds from trauma are displayed as complex and/or at-risk behaviors which require an approach that looks at the emotional needs of the individual rather than the behavior. Similar to the physical symptoms, behaviors are the emotional symptoms of health and well-being.

Social indicators and impacts are often reflected in interrupted families and communities with children and youth living far from their natural supports. Supporting research has demonstrated that emotional health is enhanced when individuals have deep social connections with family, friends, and the community. Global Health Complex Care Home believes that it is vital to an individual’s well-being to involve family, when and if appropriate, to create, enhance or strengthen connections with all significant persons in the child or youth’s life.

Spiritual relates to the connection one has within themselves. While this area may relate to religion, Global Health Complex Care Home relates this to cultural connections and understanding of traditional practices and ways of living. The provision of focus in this area will assist children and youth with a greater understanding of their connectedness to themselves, their community and to the Universe.

Mental health often overlaps with emotional and physical health but is distinct as it more so relates to cognitive abilities and the functioning of the brain. In order to ensure that children and youth are healthy in mental aspects, there need to be learning opportunities that support both cognitive development and the ability to apply lessons ongoingly in the future.

CULTURAL PRACTICE MODEL

Global Health Complex Care Home believes that the holistic teachings based on the Circle of Courage model can be used to identify issues impacting our children and guide our healing response. This model, presented visually, is a circle with four spokes – supports that are needed to keep the wheel strong and true. Through exposure to a variety of healthy and cultural environments, children and youth can learn new ways of developing the four key areas – Belonging, Mastery, Independence, and Generosity.

Empowering children and youth require the exposure to a variety of skill enhancing opportunities in the milieu, culture, and community. This unique and holistic approach to programming will allow our children and youth to build a diverse skill set in addition to increasing confidence in their abilities.

Furthermore, this will allow our clients to gather the necessary “tools” to overcome any obstacles that they may encounter.

Belonging is the most important component in which all humans have a need to feel comfortable and welcomed with the knowledge that they are valued, important and protected by a group or family. As the family and close community are the most important influences on the development of self-esteem, those who have had a disrupted or non-supportive upbringing struggle with building healthy allegiances, relationships and supports with others. Reclaiming our children and youth in this area is entrenched in our theory that all persons are valued, accepted, and unconditionally supported in their endeavor to build stronger and healthier relationships.

Independence provides an individual with the ability to make autonomous decisions in a directive and responsible manner. Children or youth that have had their sense of “Belonging” impaired often feel out of control and therefore, their behaviors and emotions are reflective of blame, lack of personal responsibility and “scatter-brained” type of activities. Creating healthy opportunities for individuals to discover a sense of autonomy and control over their environment will assist in learning responsibility and independence.

Generosity, in its distorted or absent sense, is often demonstrated by children or youth in a manner that is selfish, “stingy”, little concern for another’s welfare and rather strained interactions. Working towards a sense of Generosity may instill in youth the knowledge that all people have “gifts”, individual talents and characteristics that are unique and worthy of sharing with others. This sharing of lessons and truths while remembering our own journey in life may allow individuals to know empathy rather than judgment.

Mastery is the motivation to strive for achievement, willingness to take risks and the ability to gather more information should one not succeed the first time. It is the ability to listen, observe, share, and learn from others – and the eventually sharing of that same information to those who experience the same obstacles in life. Our youth with an impaired sense of mastery may be unwilling to try new challenges out of fear of failure, give up easily and/or devalue the attempts of others.

Mastery Belonging

Independence Generosity

The following excerpts from Reclaiming Youth at Risk provide further explanation of the four elements of the Circle of Courage. The Circle of Courage model supports a “reclaiming environment” in order to recover and redeem, to restore something that has been devalued. A reclaiming environment creates changes that meet the needs of both the young person and society. It embodies ideals that can provide a pathway to leading valuable, meaningful, enriching lives, as well as respect and value for youth.

Belonging or Attachment: With everything I am and everything I have gone through ... I am wanted here, and I want to be here.

"In traditional Native society...treating others as related was a powerful social value that transformed human relationships. Drawing them into one's circle motivated one to show respect and concern and live with a minimum of friction and a maximum of good will."

Mastery or Achievement: I didn’t believe I could do it ... I did really do it ... maybe I can do something else.

"When the child's need to be competent is satisfied, motivation for further achievement is enhanced; deprived of opportunities for success, young people express their frustration through troubled behavior or by retreating in helplessness and inferiority." "The simple wisdom of Native culture was that since all need to feel competent, all must be encouraged in their competency. Striving was for attainment of a personal goal, not being superior to one's opponent."

Independence or Autonomy: I can be on my own ... as long as I can return when I forget myself. "Native childcare philosophy recognized the necessity of harmonizing apparently conflicting needs, by blending autonomy with belonging."

Generosity or Altruism: Someone else needs me ... more than I need myself. "Elkind suggests that helping others improves self-esteem, and increased self-esteem allows young people to 'de-center' and contribute to others. Hans Selye concludes that altruism is the ultimate resource for coping with life's conflicts, for reaching out to help another, one breaks free from the preoccupation with the self."

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Global Health Complex Care Home offers a blend of unique approaches to assist in supporting and creating change for up to four (4) children and youth in their development of skills to achieve success in the future.

Global Health Complex Care Home prides itself on the ability and philosophy that services for children and youth need to be adaptable regardless of the “type” of program they are placed in. The common focus of the program combined with medical support is to provide continual guidance, support and teaching in a therapeutic setting while maintaining a supported family-based environment. The program is guided by a trauma informed and client centered approach, the Circle of Courage Model within a therapeutically based milieu. The program is guided by the Client-Centered and the Trauma Informed approaches. Additionally, the program will utilize the therapeutic philosophies of the Circle of Courage as guidance when working with all clients.

Global Health Complex Care Home provides children and youth, who live with complex behavioural and/or medical needs, with a secure and safe living environment that addresses either complex needs and/or trauma response (behavioural) needs and on-going factors of the child or youth and potentially, their family.

The programming consists of supports designed to further develop the basic skills of the individuals including communication, anger management, conflict resolution, peer relationships and family issues.

The focus of Global Health Complex Care Home will be to prepare our clients for success in a less intrusive setting such as a return to their natural family and/or foster or kinship care. Specific programming will be provided to the person served and guardian upon intake. Specific programming is implemented by the Director and front-line staff members in the milieu.

The program is also designed to support children and youth with varying degrees of trauma responses (high-risk or challenging behaviors), those with impacting mental health issues and/or clients requiring support and nurturing to develop healthy and/or adaptive relationships. The programming consists of supports designed to further develop the basic skills of the persons served including communication, anger management, conflict resolution, peer relationships and family issues. The additional community and professional supports guide further Service Planning to address specific and intensive issues such as grief and loss, group counseling, individual counseling, and resources to assist in the identification of mental health concerns.

Within the framework of client centered care, the programming consists of supports designed to further develop the basic skills of the child and/or youth and their family (if involved) to address issues including communication, anger management, conflict resolution, peer relationships and family issues. The focus of Global Health Complex Care Home will be to prepare children and youth for success in a less intrusive setting such as a return to their natural family and/or living independently in the community.

Specific programming will be provided to the child or youth and guardian upon intake. Cultural awareness and spiritual healing are a crucial component to this program in order to assist in the stabilization and realizing their full potential.

Global Health Complex Care Home will be made available to all persons within the demographic and service criteria of its defined client population without discrimination based upon ethnicity, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, place of origin / race, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition and/or source of income. In addition, the agency also adheres to reasonable accommodations should a client be admitted with extenuating circumstances or if any person (family, professional, visitors, etc.) involved with extenuating circumstances. This may include, but is not limited to, the following accommodations:

• religious, ethnic, cultural and/or spiritual diversity;
• persons living with physical disabilities have access to the program and/or agency facilities;
• persons living with disabilities impacting communication (e.g. blindness, deafness, etc.) are able to have program materials (e.g. documents) that are within their scope of understanding;
• persons living with disabilities have access to equipment that increase their level of independence;
• program adaptations to fit the limitations of any persons living with disabilities.

Global Health Complex Care Home is also committed to ensuring that persons served within the care of the agency are continually and consistently provided respect and consideration of the youth or child and their formal and informal values, cultural orientation, language, religion, and spirituality.

In order to ensure ongoing support and respect towards the unique characteristics of each and every person served, Global Health Complex Care Home will review the related policies, at minimum, once every three years.