Family Support Navigators

Family Support Navigators are useful to families and schools in the following ways:

• Parenting support – FSNs can help parents and caregivers polish, develop and create new approaches to discipline and parenting
• Further understanding of development and expected behaviour and challenges with each age and stage
• Right relationship – helping parents and caregivers take the lead in their child/youth’s life
• FSNs are trained in positive discipline; attachment theory and trauma-informed practice
• We have extensive training and education in complex neurodevelopmental conditions (including FASD; ADHD; Sensory/language processing problems/disorders and attachment disorders).
• FSNs can provide explanations for complex behaviour and develop plans for addressing it
• Can help parents better understand their child/youth’s assessments and diagnosis
• FSNs are well informed and connected to community resources – we can help families get where they need to be for support
• FSNs help bridge connection between home and school – becoming a great resource to staff for developing and facilitating plans that fit well with family culture and capacity

Who are Family Support Navigators?

• FSNs are social workers. Social work training and education generally includes: case management; working with marginalized populations; anti-racism and anti-oppression theory and approach; Indigenous studies; therapeutic approach; trauma informed practice; child welfare; systems theory and approach and critical analysis.

What else do Family Support Navigators do?

• We facilitate positive discipline training (with Neufeld approach woven in) and use it to build capacity for challenging behaviour and wounded kids in schools
• When needed we can facilitate parent support groups and develop networks for mutual support

How do we access our Family Support Navigators?

Family Support Navigators are accessed through a school’s School-Based-Team.

Navigator’s Nook

Our Family Support Navigators, Karys Foley and Sarah Joseph, have created the Navigators Nook as a way to offer parenting support to more of our families. Their aim is to share information about behaviour and common challenges families face, offer parenting suggestions and build capacity amongst our families.

What you can expect:

A monthly article on a theme that we see as a place many families could benefit from knowing that they are not alone and some suggestions for support.

Our Family Support Navigators are here to help explain behaviour, provide support, connect families to community resources and bridge home and school.

(Click on the image to open as a PDF file)