Halloween is supposed to be scary, but it’s not the ghosts and goblins that put Haidyn Scott on edge as the big day approached.
Trick-or-treating made Haidyn nervous, specifically how her young daughter Emira would react to the experience. Haidyn didn’t want Emira to miss out on trick-or-treating, but knew her daughter’s aversions to many foods and difficulty adjusting to people she didn’t know could pose challenges.
Thankfully, all roadblocks were removed last October when the family’s trick-or-treating journey took them to the first-ever All-o-ween event held at Five Counties Children’s Centre.
Five Counties created All-o-ween as an accessible, inclusive and sensory-friendly trick-or-treating experience for Centre clients and their families — and for Haidyn, it was a game-changer.
“All-o-ween allowed me for the first time to relax about trick-or-treating, and just let (Emira) be herself without the fear of anyone judging her,” Haidyn recalls. “It made me so happy to see her comfortable in a new place with people she knew while still experiencing something new.”
Emira is no stranger to Five Counties in Cobourg. By her first birthday, Emira wasn’t crawling or walking — just scooting on her bum — so she was referred to Five Counties for physiotherapy.
At their first appointment, Haidyn recalls the assurances she received from Five Counties clinician AJ that she was not responsible for Emira being behind with her movement. It was the tonic Haidyn and husband Matthew needed to hear.
“Five Counties has given me the confidence in my daughter and myself to take everything that comes at us and adjust in our own way,” Haidyn says. “We have been given resources I never thought I would be able to get … and AJ and the rest of the staff at Five Counties in Cobourg have been fantastic, always positive and helpful.”
Emira, now two-and-a-half, benefits from physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and other Five Counties services. Haidyn says the centre has also been tremendously supportive as the family navigates Emira’s recent autism diagnosis.
As Five Counties marks its 50th anniversary in 2025, stories of impact like Emira’s make all the difference, revealing how Five Counties is making a life-changing difference — one child and one family at a time.
Over the decades, the number and nature of care at Five Counties has changed. From supporting 126 young clients and their families in its very first year in 1975, to four times that number by the early 1980s when I joined Five Counties, the centre now provides treatment services to more than 6,100 children and youth in Peterborough, Northumberland County, City of Kawartha Lakes, and Haliburton County.
Care has also evolved over time. When it opened, the centre mainly treated children with physical disabilities, but now supports children and youth with more complex and diverse needs. The downside is that wait times for kids’ treatment services are a persistent problem, even with ongoing efforts to reduce them.
To Haidyn, Five Counties is “a huge blessing,” offering treatment services close to home. Emira is now walking, working on her food aversions, and making progress in other areas — something Haidyn credits to Five Counties staff.
“I don’t think my daughter would be as far in her development as she is now without Five Counties,” Haidyn notes. “It means everything to me.”
It is equally meaningful for us to support local families — 50 years and counting.
