Agency Highlights

Recognizing Our Employees

Jim Reaume award - Tanya Makela

In December 2013, the Jim Reaume award was introduced at Lake Ridge Community Support Services. This award recognizes an employee who meets one or all of the below requirements:

• The Candidate is committed to providing quality service, and this is recognized in their day to day interactions with their clients.

• The Candidate purposefully seeks out opportunities for furthering their knowledge in the field of ABA.

• The Candidate facilitates or participates in evaluation research.

 Tanya Makela was the recipient of the Jim Reaume award for 2021. She’s had the opportunity of working with hundreds of children, youth, and adults with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorder. As a Board Certified Behavior Analyst she is always striving for excellence, wanting the very best outcomes for clients she serves, their families and caregiver mediators. She is a strong advocate for adults with Intellectual Disabilities to ensure that they are treated with dignity and respect and have access to quality services and support. She continues to stay connected with the latest research, which she incorporates into our service delivery models. 

Tanya is deeply dedicated to furthering the knowledge of staff, community partners, and mediators by providing leadership and training opportunities both within LRCSS and with community partners. She contributed towards a manuscript which was recently published in the Journal on Developmental Disabilities which investigated the impact of Quality Assurance Measures on interventions and challenging behaviour in adults with Intellectual Disabilities. Tanya also delivered “The Art of Merging Behaviour Analysis and Consulting” through the Ontario Behaviour Analysts Community of Practice (OBACOP). 

In addition to being a BCBA supervisor, she also oversees other BCBA supervisors, provides agency training from an ethical lens, and is an active member of the Diversity, Equity, and Belonging Committee. Her devotion to research opportunities is demonstrated by successfully obtaining the Ontario Trillium Foundation Grow Grant. She understood the capacity that LRCSS clinicians had to serve children with ASD and anxiety using a combination of ABA and CBT principles. With her vision, this grant has materialized into the virtual delivery of the Facing Your Fears program which has allowed children and their caregivers to develop the skills necessary to manage levels of anxiety that would otherwise negatively impact their quality of life. Through the Research Ethics Board approval process, she has facilitated opportunities for those on her team to build skills related to conceptualizing each component of systematic program evaluation; ensuring adherence to a stringent research design and high-quality service for families. 

Tanya has exemplified the mission of LRCSS by creating opportunities for colleagues, community partners, and clients to reach their unique potential.

Culture and Spirit Award 2021 - Jamie Carpenter

The Culture and Spirit Award was created in 2018 to recognize staff who embody and consistently demonstrate the culture and spirit of Lake Ridge Community Support Services.  Some of the criteria for this award include:

• Reminds others of their strengths; is supportive and helpful to others.

• Creates, promotes and participates in activities that foster the Lake Ridge culture.

• Performs above and beyond normal expectations to benefit the community at Lake Ridge.

Jamie Carpenter was the recipient of the Culture and Spirit award for 2021.  She demonstrates a positive attitude toward both clients and colleagues and is always striving to find unique and creative ways to encourage interaction between clients, and fun ways to engage teammates.  Her competitiveness makes for a lot of fun and humour.

Jamie is the first person to let you know when you have done a great job with something. She is not afraid to brag about her colleagues or cheer them on in any situation.  It is important for her to make her colleagues feel acknowledged and cared for, a quality that is appreciated by everyone around her.

Jamie thrives when working on a team and will always rise to the occasion when her support is needed, whether it's providing coverage for other teams/clients, gently nudging everyone to participate in group team bonding activities (like dressing up for Halloween), helping to organize, set-up, and facilitate a brand new social skills group, facilitating new and different learning opportunities for her clients, supporting the generalization of skills of other clients and always checking in on the mental health of her colleagues. 

She has a remarkable spirit that is infectious and she uses her gift to motivate and remind others of a job well done.  She has been with us for over 6 years and has grown with our agency.  Jamie fosters and role models teamwork and most of all caring and compassion not just for her clients and their families but for all those who cross her path.   Regardless of what is going on in her day, she is always ambitious in her efforts to bring a smile to all her interactions.  Jamie fully understands our mission of harnessing the potential of others and is their biggest cheerleader!

Length of Service Awards

Starting in 2013, each year Lake Ridge Community Support Services recognizes staff who have reached a significant milestone in their years of service with the Agency. LRCSS truly values all of its staff and is very proud to have such dedicated employees with high levels of experience and knowledge. The following staff were acknowledged this year for their years of service: