Five Counties Children’s Centre is calling on families in the communities it serves to share their thoughts around ways to improve the supports and services offered by the regional organization serving children with special needs.
Five Counties has launched a survey geared to current and former Five Counties clients, parents, caregivers, and families in the City of Kawartha Lakes and counties of Peterborough, Northumberland, and Haliburton. The centre encourages families to have their say by completing the Client and Family Experience Survey before March 31.
Bill Eekhof, spokesperson for Five Counties, said the survey has an important role. Information about families’ experiences at Five Counties, along with detailed suggestions about an area or areas of improvement, are two areas of input that are particularly useful to the children’s centre.
“These types of insights are very important to Five Counties,” Eekhof told kawarthaNOW.
“While we try to assist families and children as best we can, if we’re not listening to and equipping parents and families with what they need to help their children be the best, then we need to hear that to improve what we’re doing.”
The survey is confidential and takes less than five minutes to complete. Participants are asked about which programs they’ve used at Five Counties, their satisfaction with those services, and their suggestions for improvement. Anyone completing the survey can choose to provide his or her name to be entered in a draw to win one of three $25 grocery store gift cards.
Full details about the survey are available at fivecounties.on.ca/yoursay/. The survey is available until Sunday, March 31.
“Families are at the core of what we do,” said Darlene Callan, director of clinical services at Five Counties, in a media release. “Regularly engaging with and encouraging the input of parents and caregivers can help us better support kids while improving our overall services for families.”
While Five Counties typically does a client satisfaction survey every other year, seeking parent input is part of an ongoing conversation.
“We pride ourselves on having the very best of pediatric therapists, but it really is a partnership with the family to see a child succeed,” Callan added.
Five Counties staff works with kids and youth to support their communication, physical, and developmental needs, but treatment sessions are typically less than an hour each week for defined periods of time.
As parents spend the most time with their child, their role in following through with treatment tips is important to help their child reach their full potential, Five Counties noted.
“Our role as clinicians is to educate, demonstrate and collaborate with the parent or caregiver so they feel confident and well-equipped to go home and support their child,” Callan said.
Getting family input through the client experience survey provides “a snapshot in time” that tells Five Counties how well it is doing right now, she added.
“We encourage parents to take part, as their input will help us to improve and better support families to work with their child at home.”
