Growth & Innovation
Mission, Vision & Values
Lake Ridge Community Support Services is a highly-respected non-profit organization that supports people with autism spectrum disorder and with intellectual disabilities.
OUR VISION
Our vision is an inclusive community where everyone can thrive.
Our Mission
Our mission is to provide innovative and high-quality behaviour therapy services that are evidence-based and individualized to meet the specific and evolving needs of children, youth and adults.
Our Values
Integrity
We hold ourselves to high moral, professional and ethical standards.
Respect
We act with kindness and compassion, honouring the worth, value, dignity and rights of all.
Growth
We facilitate development and progression for the people we support, our employees and in the services we offer.
Diversity
We strive to embrace and incorporate the diversity of the communities we serve in all parts of our organization.
Empowerment
We support people to reach their full potential.
Collaboration
We work together with individuals, families, community organizations and professionals to contribute to better outcomes for all.
Leadership Team
Executive Team
Leadership Team
“Love our Leadership and my amazing colleagues at LRCSS!!”
Management Team
Our Strategic Plan was developed in 2022. Part of the first year of the plan included expanding our leadership team to respond to our growth and ensure we continue to meet the demands of our clients and and the families we serve. Our leadership team now includes:
Leadership Team
Message from Our Executive Director
Sandie Hoskin, Executive Director at Lake Ridge Community Support Services
This has been a year of growth, change, and new challenges, but it has also been a year where we were able to come together in person and create meaningful social connections again. Over the past year, the world opened up more and has started to adapt to COVID-19 as part of our everyday. Our employees, clients and community have been extremely flexible and supportive of the changes and growth throughout the year.
One of the significant changes that we faced this year was the continued transition of the Ontario Autism Program (OAP). Our legacy intensive program concluded on March 31, 2023, after running at Lake Ridge from January 2005 to March 2023. While we are sad to see the program end, we are grateful for all the client and family connections and successes that we were able to achieve. I want to express my appreciation to our employees who have been a part of the service and those who have been so dedicated over the past few years during the transition. Your efforts have impacted many lives, and we are grateful for the incredible service offered.
Despite the challenges we faced, we achieved many successes this year. We expanded our fee-based programs and services to meet the changing needs of our clients and community, and we continued to deliver high-quality services and support. We have strengthened our partnerships with other organizations, and we have continued to advocate for the needs of our clients and community. In the OAP, we were able to grow and expand our partnership with the Urgent Response program and the Entry to School program. We saw much growth and impact for clients, caregivers and the community with our services.
Thank you to our Board of Directors, employees, clients and community partners for contributing to the development of our Strategic Plan. The strategic plan was finalized in the spring of 2022, and implementation has started. A task force of employees and the Board of Directors assisted with redefining our mission, vision and values. We also continued to grow and develop our services and developed a new agency structure to create improved oversight and efficiencies.
As we look ahead, I am confident we will continue to grow and thrive as an organization. We have an incredible employee team, a strong Board of Directors, and a supportive community, and I am excited to see what we can achieve together.
Once again, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has contributed to our success over the past year. Your support, dedication, and hard work are deeply appreciated, and I am honoured to work alongside each and every one of you.
Sandie Hoskin, Executive Director
Client Service
Funded Programs
Clinical Director, Karen Chartier
Child and Adult Funded Services
Over the past year, we saw COVID restrictions decrease, which allowed us to provide more in-person services to children, youth and adults at our office and in the community. Virtual services continue to be offered for those who prefer this mode of service delivery. Our services continue to focus on individualized goals that are meaningful to each client. We continued to offer many adult Education Groups for individuals to explore more about topics such as Anger, Management, Adapted Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Healthy Sexuality, Building Lasting Friendships, and Dating 101.
This past year, our team spent meaningful time understanding MCCSS's strategic priority, Journey to Belong and its meaning for LRCSS adult services.
As a result, LRCSS has committed to transforming our adult services to ensure they align with Journey to Belonging objectives. This work has begun and will evolve as more information becomes available. To begin this transformation of our services, we have set some strategic priorities to increase efficiencies in our intake and service delivery phases to create efficiencies to serve more individuals.
Funded Program Statistics
Adult & CHILDREN/YOUTH Funded Program Statistics
An average of 8 new clients join our adult-funded waitlist each month. 284 Adult clients were served. Adults wait an average of 251 days for service. We served 321 adults. 38 children are waiting for our funded service. We served 39 children in 2022-23. Child clients wait an average of 149 days for service.
Client Service
Ontario Autism Program
The Ontario Autism Program (OAP) supports families of children and youth on the autism spectrum up until 18 years of age. The OAP has transitioned to a program that is comprehensive, needs-based and family-centred. The needs-based services and supports currently available are Foundational Family Services, Caregiver-Mediated Early Years, Core Clinical Services, Entry to School, and Urgent Response Services. LRCSS is proud to be a part of all these services to OAP children and youth.
Foundational Family Services (FFS)
At Lake Ridge Community Support Services, OAP families can access Foundational Family Services through our dedicated Foundational Services team. These services are provided for families registered with the OAP and are individualized to meet each child and family's unique needs. These services include:
Family and peer mentoring via our Facebook Group
ON-DEMAND Family and Caregiver Workshops & Resources via our Foundational Family Service Portal
Brief Targeting Consultations: families meet with skilled professionals within the LRCSS team that can support learning and growth with each child and family's individualized goals.
Learn, Explore & Play (LEAP): A 3-part, play-based education series that supports the development and building of communication skills.
Navigating the Education System: A 3-part education series to support caregivers on how to navigate and effectively advocate for their child within the education system.
Caregiver, Parent & Peer Mentoring Groups: A peer-based webinar that fosters a safe space for caregivers to share their stories, strategize with peers, and learn how to create time for their self-care.
Crisis Prevention and Management- A 3-part education series that teaches caregivers how to prevent a behavioural crisis and ways to manage before, during and after a crisis.
SibChat - A 3-part education series that allows brothers and sisters aged 8-17 who have a sibling diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder to learn about autism and share their experiences together in supportive and collaborative group sessions.
This past year we had 249 unique families access our foundational services. We provided 1,388 units of services to these families.
211
Unique Families Served
1,143
Units of service delivered
FFS Portal
In it’s been another full year the Foundational Family Services Portal continues to be a go-to-resource for families. We continue to see new families registering and accessing the portal and exploring the 11 video workshops and resource library.
Foundational Family Services Portal 2021-22 Statistics
*Thinkific Dashboard measured against 2021-22 data.
Consultative Services
During this past year, we were able to continue to support our clients who were receiving OAP legacy services to continue to develop their skills in the goal areas outlined in their Behaviour Plans, such as social skills and emotional regulation skills. We were fortunate to continue to service these clients until their transition to the new OAP core services. We anticipate that for some clients, the transition to the new OAP core services will continue.
Intensive Services (OAP-I)
Renee Ruddock, Clinical Director
Intensive Services, this last year was one of change and transition. Our OAP-Legacy clients and employees embarked on the end of a decade of service. With the Minister's new initiative for the OAP and directing funds to families for core clinical services, families were informed that LRCSS would end their partnership with Kinark Child and Family Services. As a result, this year was spent prioritizing particular goals that would assist in a successful transition into school for our clients and assisting families with their Determination of Needs Assessments that informed the level of financial support and placement into the new needs-based OAP core services.
We are grateful to the Kinark Clinical Employees; their Durham Clinical Managers helped shape the wonderful service our clients received over the years. Their unwavering support and commitment to individualized, compassionate and effective service were appreciated. You will be missed, but your impact will be lasting.
OAP Clients Served 2022-2023
Entry to School Program
The first cohort of our Entry to School Program has been a tremendous success. With the help of our partners at Grandview Kids, Resources for Exceptional Children and Youth, and Durham Behaviour Management, we were able to transition 104 children into kindergarten successfully. The year was full of teaching, collaborating, assessing, adjusting, and transitioning.
Starting a new program on such a large scale across 8 locations and with 104 families is a daunting task. However, our LRCSS staff rose to the occasion through their perseverance and dedication to ensure skills were taught across the targeted domains of communication, play, social interaction, functional routines, behavioural self-management, pre-academic, learning and attention. And most importantly, fun and relationships were built! Our teams held a graduation ceremony at each location to celebrate the accomplishments made throughout the 6 months. It was a wonderful gesture and appreciated by all families!
Success was the theme throughout the rest of the year, with the clinical and transition teams assisting all 104 children into kindergarten from September to January. Well done, team! However, what was very impressive was the energy and initiative the teams used to prepare for the second iteration of ETS to start in the spring of 2023. We look forward to another successful year implementing this new program.
Caregiver-mediated Early Years Program
Caregiver-mediated programs: Social ABCs, Project ImPACT and The PLAY Project.
The Ontario Autism Program, Durham (OAP-D) partnership provides caregiver-mediated programs through Lake Ridge Community Support Services, Grandview Kids, and Durham's Regional Municipality to offer families of children under the age of four years, a choice of caregiver-mediated programs to choose between. Lake Ridge Community Support Services is proud to provide Project ImPACT as part of the OAP-D.
Project ImPACT (Improving Parents As Communication Teachers) uses a Naturalistic Developmental-Behavioural Intervention (NDBI), which combines Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) and the communication and developmental fields. Applied Behaviour Analysis is a proven technique for teaching children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) social and communication skills. By utilizing ABA techniques naturally within the families’ day-to-day activities, children can better generalize newly acquired social-communication skills and continue to use them after the program is complete. This past year LRCSS provided service to 67 families in Project ImPACT.
STATISTICS: 67 Families Served
95% of those serviced in the Caregiver Mediated Program - Project ImPACT met some or all of their goals
72% received service using a hybrid model (both virtual and in-person services)
1 family was serviced in a language other than French and English
Client Service
ABA Classroom
Over this academic year (September 2022 - 2023), we welcomed 4 new students into the program, including 1 grade nine student, 2 grade 10 students and a grade 12 student from 4 different community schools within Durham Region. Students in this program focused on goals that targeted behaviours that have interfered with them accessing or completing the Ontario curriculum, including self-regulation, initiating tasks, and self-advocacy (understanding what they need and asking for it). Each student was successful in earning credits toward their Ontario Secondary School Diploma. This ABA Classroom has empowered the students with new skills that they can successfully use when they transition back to their community schools.
Client Service
Fee Based Program
We continued to offer high-quality, individualized and group-based services in person in our locations and in the community to meet client and family goals. Some clients are continuing to leverage virtual support where it meets their needs. Our group services included children and teen social skills groups such as, Secret Agent Society, Puberty Group, Teen Resume Building and Teen Dating 101.
Over the year we have been transitioning our waitlist to a model where we can better support the demand to ensure clients and their families are ready to engage in services when the service is available to them. In addition, to serve more clients in our community we have improved operational efficiencies to meet the increasing demand for our services.
Fee Based Service Statistics
Satisfaction Survey Responses
Financial Statements
2022-2023 Financials
The following financial statements reflect the fiscal period between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023, and are subject to the approval of the Board of Directors.
As we continue into the new fiscal year, we face our first deficit in our annual budget, despite our efforts to meet the needs of the OAP, a new strategic plan, management structure, and additional unexpected expenses to our facilities, equipment and other operational costs.
To address this issue, we have implemented new structures to assist with operational efficiencies and increase our fundraising efforts to generate additional income.
While these measures are helping to mitigate the deficit, we recognize that more work needs to be done to achieve a balanced budget.
We are committed to our mission, vision and values and are confident that with continued diligence and collaboration, we will be able to overcome this challenge with a focus on achieving long-term financial sustainability.
| 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| REVENUES | $10,522,717.00 | $7,913,167.00 |
| MCCSS | $1,893,918.00 | $1,722,421.00 |
| OAP | $5,971,532.00 | $5,005,237.00 |
| Fee Based Services/Partnerships | $2,357,610.00 | $1,154,270.00 |
| Fundraising/Donations/Grants | $299,673.00 | $31,239.00 |
| EXPENSES | $10,721,289.00 | $7,896,558.00 |
| Salaries & Benefits | $8,724,766.00 | $6,340,319.00 |
| Travel/Training | $153,186.00 | $165,241.00 |
| Purchased Services | $61,440.00 | $87,836.00 |
| Supplied | $291,334.00 | $308,775.00 |
| Phone | $22,800.00 | $3,000.00 |
| Rent/Utilities | $478,855.00 | $491,003.00 |
| Brokering | $92,963.00 | $119,706.00 |
| Admin | $473,209.00 | $321,442.00 |
| Other | $422,736.00 | $59,236.00 |
| BALANCE | -$198,572.00 | $16,609.00 |
Growth & Innovation
Agency Growth & Development
Over the past year, 43 new employees joined our team, and we are excited to work alongside them. Our incredible team continues to work towards furthering their knowledge, education and certifications through the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB). Throughout the year 9 more employees achieved their Registered Behaviour Technician certification, and 4 more became Board Certified Behaviour Analysts.
Onboarding New Staff
The Training Coordination Team, created as part of an OAP Workforce Capacity Grant, has done an incredible job onboarding new employees at LRCSS. The team has been an integral part of LRCSS’ onboarding success. Not only did they assist in the onboarding of 36 new employees, but the training team also developed and implemented the following:
Employee Orientation Packages for all new employees
Created and managed employee schedules to facilitate learning opportunities
Supported employees with training, observation opportunities and program development
Observed employees providing therapeutic services and provided feedback
Developed employee goals; supported employee allocation based on an assessment of strengths, goals, and areas of improvement
Disseminated the goals of the Training Coordination program across the agency
In addition to prioritizing the new hires within the Entry to School Program, they also:
Facilitated and supported 22 student placements to disseminate knowledge and practice of Applied Behavioural Analysis
And oversaw the expansion and implementation of 7- RBT internships across the agency
In addition to prioritizing the new hires within the Entry to School Program, they also:
Facilitated and supported 22 student placements to disseminate knowledge and practice of Applied Behavioural Analysis
And oversaw the expansion and implementation of 7- RBT internships across the agency
Employee Certifications
Our incredible team continues to work towards the goals of furthering their knowledge, education and certifications through the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB). Throughout the year 9 more staff achieved their Registered Behaviour Technician certification and 4 more staff became Board Certified Behaviour Analysts.
New Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA)
Katrina Zealand
Jessica Lyall
Leslie Bosman
Carly Farrugia
New Registered Behaviour Technicians (RBT)
Sanjitha Kugan
Olivia Findlay
Jessica Herley
Simon Bégin
Shevya Stewart
Sefra Schiafone
Carissa Dickinson
Shagini Thevakumar
Alicia Montrait
Internship
Our internship program was developed in March of 2021, and we have just embarked on our third year of interns. The role of the internship program is to provide ongoing training to develop staff competencies so that these individuals are able to grow into strong skilled clinicians.
During the 2022-2023 fiscal year, two interns successfully graduated from the internship program, moving into Behaviour Consultant roles. Both clinicians have since accrued the required hours and been accepted to write their BCBA exams.
Congratulations to Samantha Chiodi and Jeff La Frenais.
Staff Training
LRCSS is committed to the professional development of all our employees as part of the agency's culture to ensure all staff have opportunities for continuous learning and development. This is done through formal training events, Linkedin Learning, CEU events, and presentations to other professionals.
11 events First Aid/CPR Training Sessions (Total of 17 First Aid Training Days). 71 employees certified this fiscal year. 11 SMG Training Sessions (Safe Management Group). 43 employees received “Crisis Intervention Training Developmental - Initial Training - Includes Children’s Program. 91 employees received “Crisis Intervention Training Developmental - Refresher Training - Includes Children’s Program. 134 employees trained in SMG this fiscal year in Total. 187 Number of Employee Professional Development Training Events Attended. 3,172 hours Total hours of Employee Professional Development Training. 69 Professional Development Training Events Presented. 565 hours Total hours of Professional Development Training Events Presented.
Accredited Continuing Education (ACE)
LRCSS is an Accredited Continuing Education provider with the Behaviour Analyst Certification Board. Over the past year, LRCSS has continued to offer professional learning opportunities to clinicians. LRCSS hosted 15 continuing education events and issued 400 certificates to participants.
LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning continues to be a valuable resource for our staff’s professional growth over the past year. Staff access on-demand resources based on their professional goals or select from several learning pathways that apply to all staff designed by LRCSS.
Stone Soup Conference
Since 2013 Lake Ridge Community Support Services has been hosting Stone Soup. What started out as an internal training initiative to bring the top clinical expertise to our team has evolved into a large virtual conference attended by clinicians all across North America and as far away as Australia.
The shift to virtual in 2020 opened the door to completely re-imagine this event as not only an opportunity to align with our value of growth for our staff but a key part of our fundraising platform and raising money for the #ABAforAll Campaign. Since then the event has grown exponentially. 2022 was our most successful event to date and we hope to continue to build on our success in 2023.
“I can’t think of many times in life where I’ve been this inspired before 7am.”
STATISTICS
Stone Soup Conference by the numbers. 7 incredible speakers. 548 attendees. 520 app downloads.
1,700 BACB CEUs were issued. Over $35,000 was raised for ABA for All.
Growth & Innovation
Research & Grants
Ontario Trillium Fund Grow Grant-Facing Your Fears (FYF)
The Ontario Trillium Fund Grow Grant has provided us with the opportunity to offer a free cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) group named ‘Facing Your Fears’ (FYF) to children and adolescents from ages 8 to 12 diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This group can provide children and youth with coping skills to regulate their anxiety-related emotions.
We provided service to 62 families
During April 2022-April 2023, 41 families started and or finished the group.
We are now in the final year of the grant and have already provided the Group Program to more families than we set out to originally with the Trillium Grow Grant.
Caregiver feedback about the FYF Group
Parents reported the most useful or valuable elements of the FYF Group Curriculum to them and their child were:
The steps to success
Learning different strategies and brainstorming some suggestions on dealing with anxiety and fears for my child
Learning new language
The terminology and steps to success and learning how to break down the situation when it comes up to be successful in moving forward positively
Positive feedback about the FYF group overall:
I liked the small group setting so as not to overwhelm the children and it was easier to participate. I know it was online at this time, but doing some role-playing with the children may help vs the video examples.
Great program.
I personally benefit from this program and so is my child. I am hoping my son gets to participate in programs like this more.
The facilitators were knowledgeable and the program was easy to follow.
The program itself is really helpful even if it was done online. More time in exposures to fear will definitely help the kids more.
I found learning about different coping strategies and breaking down the steps to success really useful in giving me the tools to help my child face his fear.
I found the program to be engaging and informative. It was good to have three facilitators to obtain different perspectives. The steps to success have been most useful for us as it clearly sets out what needs to be achieved, having the steps written down provides a visual goal which I believe is very useful.
Agency Highlights
Recognizing Our Employees
Jim Reaume Award - Scott Wildman
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.
Scott Wildman joined the Lake Ridge team in 2005. He has several years of experience, knowledge and expertise delivering ABA services to children, youth and adults with varying diagnoses across various areas and goals, including but not limited to sexuality, anger management, emotional regulation and skill teaching.
Teammates seek out Scott’s skills for his expertise in many different areas. His strengths lie not just in his clinical skills but also in his ability to consult with different mediators, clients and agencies. Comprehensive behaviour plans are completed with individualized treatment recommendations. Scott has collaborated on safety and treatment plans with medical professionals and always gains input from those supporting the individual receiving services.
Scott is an asset when supporting complex cases for individuals at risk where multiple agencies and services are involved, such as risk of losing housing placement to preventing them from entering the justice system. He is highly sought out by his peers to provide mentorship on sexual health education and how to conduct sexual health assessments and is currently participating in the development of a new service offering of a specialized sexuality clinic.
Scott also wears multiple hats, from clinical work to leading training and re-certification to all agency employees for First Aid and CPR and is the health and safety lead for our agency.
Congratulations Scott!!
Culture and Spirit Award - Valerie Madden
The Culture and Spirit Award was created in 2018 to recognize an employee who embodies and consistently demonstrates 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.
Val Madden was the recipient of the Culture and Spirit Award 2022. She is the person who always reminds everyone around them that they are doing a great job and overall has an amazing attitude. She is always smiling and happy to help with any employee questions.
Val always makes time for employees and offers an open-door policy regarding questions within the agency. If she doesn’t know the answer, she will take the time to find the information to give an informative response.
Val is a part of multiple committees that bring opportunity to the employees at Lake Ridge. She is always willing to lend a helping hand and often commits her time and energy to put her best into processes, policies, and events for employees. She is someone you can always go to when bouncing ideas off or needing direction or guidance, and she always has a positive attitude.
Val always follows through with anything she helps out with. She goes the extra mile to ensure that processes are consistent and thorough, and easily understood. Val is always innovative and forward-thinking! She is consistently using social media as a platform to spread awareness of the agency and is an amazing team player.
Lastly, through being on various committees, including the DEB committee, Val ensures a culture of equality and inclusion. She promotes innovative ideas from an administrative and human resources lens which has brought the Agency leaps and bounds ahead to ensure a smoother, easier, and more efficient process for everyone involved.
Congratulations Val!!
Shout Out Awards 2022-23
The Shout Out Award is a monthly award for employee recognition. The award is a chance for co-workers to nominate and recognize each other for something great and/or notable they have done within the month. It could be just about who the person is and why they are great, could be something they have done that should get recognition, could be for something they have achieved, years of service with the agency or any other reason that person deserves a ‘shout out’.
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:
Karen Chartier
Natalie Driscoll
Ujeeta Mistry
Jennifer Kendry
Tarisha Singh
Brittany McMacken
Carly Farrugia
Christina Sanford
Erin Morrison
Krista Sickinger
Sasha Jansz
Taylor Sellenkowitsch
Jessica Lyall
Agency Highlights
Committees
Diversity, Equity and Belonging Committee
The committee's purpose is to advise and make recommendations to help ensure that Lake Ridge Community Support Services applies a diversity, equity and belonging lens to its policies, services and programs, collaborating with and amplifying the voices of diverse perspectives. The committee's objectives are to provide a forum for support, affirmation, communication and collaboration related to equity, diversity and belonging where all employees and service recipients feel a sense of inclusion. This will be done through active engagement with community organizations and stakeholders, particularly those from marginalized groups and the neurodivergent community. This past year we provided many educational initiatives to our staff to increase their awareness of the diverse cultural needs of our community, organization and the clients we serve. We also invested in the purchasing of culturally diverse program materials for our team to use. We also have made an ongoing commitment to working collaboratively with our clients and caregivers to ensure that their voices are heard during their client experience to ensure a sense of inclusion in the services they receive from us.
Health & Wellness Committee
The purpose of this committee is to improve the overall health of the agency and the mental and physical well-being of the employees through engagement and initiatives. It is the vision of the organization to work towards creating a healthier work environment that allows and encourages employees to reach their individual health and well-being goals. This past year the committee sponsored many initiatives for employees, including the 100 Hours of Outside Challenge, Journaling Coffee and Reflection, and Health and Wellness Bingo.
Fundraising Committee
Our ABA for All Campaign continues to generate revenue from a variety of sources.
We are thrilled to share that we will be hosting our Annual Autism Fair once again. This year it was held on May 13, 2023, at Heydenshore Pavilion in Whitby.
| EVENT | DATE | AMOUNT RAISED |
|---|---|---|
| Mother’s Day Cookie Sale | 18-Apr-22 to 5-May-22 | $540.00 |
| 2022 Golf Tournament | 16-Sep-22 | $10,000.00 |
| 2022 Stone Soup Conference | 21-Oct-22 | $25,783.01 |
| Corporate Donations | 2022-23 | $11,500.00 |
Social Committee
It has been an exciting and thrilling year when not only did we have one event but two in person! The Social Committee held a summer Employee Appreciation Event at Woodview Community Centre. And our delicious meal was served by Stuttering John’s Food Truck. Our employees enjoyed an afternoon in the sun and competed against each other in Escape Room-like challenges! For our Holiday luncheon and awards handout, we enjoyed the afternoon at the Ajax convention center, where we were entertained by the Cool Magician Ray Anderson, who had us laughing and hypnotized with his skill and talent. From both events combined, we raised just over a thousand dollars to Feed the Need in Durham!
Agency Highlights
Operations
Cyber Security
In 2023, cybersecurity remains a critical focus at LRCSS as we adapt to the evolving needs of our community. With the resumption of in-person services, our team members now connect to our systems from diverse locations, introducing new complexities to our security landscape. To navigate this transition confidently, we have strategically increased our adoption of Chromebooks as our primary computing devices. Our progress has been substantial, with 84% of our devices currently being Chromebooks. We aim to increase this figure to between 92% and 95% by the end of the next fiscal year. These devices provide built-in encryption, multi-factor authentication, and seamless integration with Google Workspace, ensuring a robust level of digital security.
Expanding our Chromebook usage significantly enhances our security capabilities, as they are specifically designed to resist malware and phishing attacks. Chromebooks utilize sandboxing techniques, which isolate each application and prevent malicious code from spreading across the system. In addition, automatic updates and continuous feature development ensure that Chromebooks stay up to date with the latest security patches and enhancements.
Furthermore, our adoption of Google Workspace and Drive further strengthens our defences. Leveraging AI capabilities, Google Workspace actively detects threats, helping to identify and prevent potential security breaches. It also provides robust data loss prevention mechanisms and enforces advanced access controls, ensuring our confidential information remains protected.
Together, these integrated security features of Chromebooks and Google Workspace enable us to maintain a high level of protection against malware, phishing, and other security risks, bolstering the security of our digital infrastructure and safeguarding our valuable data.
However, we remain proactive in addressing the increasing use of AI for more sophisticated phishing, vishing, and ransomware attacks. As a response, we prioritize keeping our team well-informed and equipped to actively contribute to protecting our digital assets.
At LRCSS, we firmly believe that cybersecurity is a shared commitment across our entire organization, not limited to the IT department. By fostering a culture of security awareness and empowering every team member to play an active role in safeguarding our clients' data, we fortify our defences against potential threats. Through our focused security approach and strategic implementation of secure technologies, we are well-prepared to meet the cybersecurity challenges of 2023 and ensure the safety and security of our client's valuable data.
Privacy
This year's focus was to support our clients to engage in self-advocacy. At Lake Ridge Community Support Services, we strive to implement assent-based interventions with all our clients. Assent is the willingness and/or agreement of someone who cannot give informed consent to participate or engage with a program, treatment plan, process, or action. The Agency has developed a working group of dedicated employees alongside the Privacy Officer and Ethics Coordinator to establish consent/assent best practices and processes. This working group has developed objectives and action items in the following areas: Education on consent/assent/ethics, documentation review and updates, policy and procedure review and resource development for employees, clients and caregivers. This working group will be looking to provide more in-depth training on consent and assent in the near future.
Lake Ridge Community Support Services is dedicated to continuing to incorporate current privacy legislation and BACB Code of Ethics into our service so that we can empower our clients to choose to engage in services that are inclusive and individualized
Web & Social Media
61,605 Facebook Reach / 1,780 Facebook Followers / 25,605 Instagram Reach / 386 Instagram Followers / 9,400 Twitter Impressions / 310 Twitter Followers / 31,730 lrcss.com impressions / 37,700 Google Ad Impressions* **Sources: Meta Business Suite, Twitter, Google Analytics, Google Ads
This past year we continued to use our web presence to generate engagement and program participation with our clients and their families. Additionally, we leveraged social media to drive participation in events and fundraising activities like the Stone Soup Conference.
We continue to grow our presence online and leverage social media as a powerful tool to connect with our community.
Agency Highlights
Brokerage
Lake Ridge Community Support Services (LRCSS) continued to broker funds for the DSB services operated through Sunrise Youth Group (SYG).
SYG successfully returned to full capacity as well as their pre-COVID-19 programs and routines. The virtual day program continued to be a success. This program is utilized by the day program members on their off days and the recreation members who do not currently attend in-person programming. Attendance and interest remain high for the virtual program. Day program members and employees can successfully transition to a virtual program during any unexpected closures.
SYG continued to have 28 members (7 full-time, 21 part-time). SYG was able to accept 5 new members for the day program as 5 members decided to move on either due to health issues or other opportunities. The day program currently has a waitlist of 14 individuals interested in specific days and/or who are waiting to graduate high school to join. This number decreased over the last fiscal year as the day program spaces became available and were accepted by individuals on the waitlist.
The day program has four full-time employees, two part-time virtual employees and eight on-call employees who ensure that SYG provides outstanding support for all members. The programs are creative and innovative while modified to meet the varying needs of members.
In January 2023, the kitchen received a much-needed renovation. The renovation consisted of an update as well as an increase in size. As a result, the day program expanded cooking and baking programs which have assisted members in developing important life skills.
The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Service (MCCSS) annually fund $71,238.42 to offset the cost of $189,402.76 to operate the day program and the balance is paid through member fees. Over the 2022-2023 fiscal year, MCCSS provided additional financial support of $21,724.76 to offset the additional costs of COVID-19 and virtual programming.
Durham Staff Training Committee
LRCSS also brokers the Durham Staff Training Committee fund. This fund enables developmental service agencies to plan and access additional training throughout the year. The training committee continued to adapt and organize many virtual training events to support learning and development for all staff across the sector. Some training was also offered in person, where appropriate. Topics offered over the past year included mental wellness, skill development for challenging behaviour, housing navigation, diversity, person-directed planning, and, again, training for a deeper understanding of psychotropic medications and their impact. Over the past fiscal year, 381 Durham Region staff received training through MCCSS funding of $40,000.
Agency Highlights
Partnerships and Collaboration
Lake Ridge Community Support Services continues to partner and collaborate with many agencies to provide services and education. These partnerships allow us to continually engage and improve service for everyone to have the opportunity to reach their unique potential. Collaborating with our partners also allows us to continue to develop and engage in research opportunities to inform the future. Thank you to our community partners.
