A Window Opens....

O'Leary's Angels 

Therapeutic Day Program and Boarding School 

for 

Angels with Special Needs (Our 10 year plan)

You know how everything happens for a reason... look what popped into my email box today!!! Thanks Pat! Maybe I can combine my two loves!!! Perhaps running a Therapeutic Day School Program O'Leary's Angels and in the summer run the Family Respite Camp O's 4Rs!!!! I really think I could make this work!!! What do you think? I value all opinions!

O'Leary's House           Norcross House        
5-8   years old               9-12  years old          
3 students                      3 students                      
1 teacher                       1 teacher                      
4 EAs                           4 EAs                            


Wigmore House           Morris House
13-16   years old           17-20 year old
3 students                      3 students
1 teacher                       1 teacher
4 EAs                            4EAs

The school would be divided into 4 different houses of 3 students. We could educate on a semester basis. 12 children per semester. Parents could relocate for the months/years needed for their child to complete their education and attend our school. If parents can not relocate arrangements can be made for Angels to board at the school. Each family would have the opportunity to live on the property. Paying a very low rent and a competitive boarding fee and day program tuition.

Here is a link to a group which helps fine alternative schools already in existence
http://www.campusselection.com/
Day and Boarding programs usually charge between $20,000 and $44,000 per calendar year (2 semesters winter and fall). Summer and Spring sessions will be dedicated to O's 4 Rs.
 
Introduction to the Therapeutic Day Program
The Therapeutic Day Program (TDP) is designed for students aged  5-20 who are unable to attend school due to mental health concerns. TDP supports students dealing with anxiety, depression, or other mental health issues, by providing an academic and therapeutic program, group counselling and recreational opportunities.


Purpose of TDP
TDP provides a self-paced, individualized program in which students set goals with staff regarding both academics and mental health growth. After successfully completing the program, students are transitioned to their community mental health support service for ongoing care and may return to a mainstream school or complete their education through an alternate program.

Features and benefits of the program

• Self-paced, individualized academic and therapeutic program
• Small group attention
• maximum of 3 students per house
• 12 students for whole group activities
• Age grouping relieves social stigma of grade levels or academic ability
• Individual and group counselling
• Lunch program 
• Boarding program for whole family
• Parenting skills group for families and caregivers
• Opportunities for alternative therapy (i.e., acupuncture) to improve treatment outcomes 
• Daily recreation program

TDP eligibility criteria/referral procedures
Referrals to the TDP can be made by school staff, family members, community counsellors or social workers.

Need your opinion

If you are a special needs parent, might you be interested in attending  O'Leary's 4 Rs Summer Event 2011?

Your whole family can spend a wonderful week in Ottawa, our nations capital!

O'Leary's 4 Rs will provide the following:

Respite nights:     Parents will have the opportunity to take in a sporting or cultural event
                             Children will be supervised in age appropriate activities

Restoration workshops: daily workshops led by experts, parent friendly as well as child friendly    workshops will be provided each day as well as group activities with all involved
                              Sensory room with expert assistants will be available to each family for 30minutes every day.

Relaxation: Spa treatments, massage, pedicures, manicures and hair cut and styles for the whole family will be provided

Renewal: Spiritual Development through the arts for one hour every day
                Frequent fresh air/physical activity breaks throughout the day

The director of the program has a Master of counselling
The invited guests will be qualified persons and experts in their respective field
All volunteers will be subjected to criminal record checks
There will also be an invited volunteer with Special needs training, paired with each family, available from 9-9 every day
The owner/creator of The Eating Game http://www.theeatinggame.ca/ , Jean Nicol, will provide assistance in planning daily meals for our picky eaters
All meals will be provided by the kitchen staff at the center.


Only 6-10 families will be invited to participate in this unique event. I want to begin a program similar to this in Quebec in 2015 but first I need to see if this is a viable program with genuine interest before investing the million dollars that it will take to get this program running from the ground up.

It will cost about $500/family for room and board (price is to be worked out with facilities coordinator).
The remaining cost for workshops, events and guest speaker will be calculated on a per event basis but the cost will NOT exceed  $3,000/ family for the week.

Please let me know what you think. Would your family take a well needed break and live with my crew of experts and 5-9 other families for a week in Ottawa? Would you be keen on meeting other families with similar concerns and interests? Would availability of experts surrounding special needs children be an asset? Any comments would be appreciate.

For a quick response you can also answer my latest poll.

Hope to hear from you soon,

Do It Anyway!

The Paradoxical Commandments

by Dr. Kent M. Keith

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
   Love them anyway.
2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
   Do good anyway.
3. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
   Succeed anyway.
4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
   Do good anyway.
5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
   Be honest and frank anyway.
6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
   Think big anyway.
7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
   Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
   Build anyway.
9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
   Help people anyway.
10. Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
    Give the world the best you have anyway.

How to Identify a Victim of Elderly Abuse | eHow.com

How to Identify a Victim of Elderly Abuse | eHow.com

PROCESS

My friend Erin and her husband Larry are big believers in PROCESS, everything is a process and process takes time. I was thinking about Erin this morning, no matter what happens, she is always preaching the Process. Her sister is killed by a drunk driver; her mother dies of cancer; her daughter has a serious car accident; she herself is sick or needs surgery she still smiles. "It is all a process, Janice, we take one step forward at a time and we keep on kicking!"
Thank you, Erin, for being a part of my process. My healing process. This poem is for you and our Pat!

Pat was loved and she loved deeply in return. "no, not OUR Pat" said the lady at the local post office!


Responsible to the end, Pat set up trust funds for my brother and I.


Only Pat would think of her cousin's children as her own and want to protect their future.


Caring and kind, Pat lived her life to it's fullest. Crossing the Atlantic on a big ship in her 20s and spending her entire teaching career influencing young minds.


Everyone who met her saw how calm, peaceful and generous she was.


Silly electronic games; novels; and trips to the theatre occupied her time.


She slipped out of this world as she lived in it, quietly and without fuss.

Healing is a process and though I have been busy since she passed, getting her affairs in order, today I took the day to process her death and her life. I will miss her and I am so glad to have had her in my life.

So You Want a PhD in Clinical Psychology?

Encounters With Canada-why volunteer to work with Teens?

This is the letter I received today, you just never know how being yourself (mentor, teacher, friend) can change someone's life!


Dear Janice,

I can't thank you enough for being who you are; and being kind, caring, supportive, loving, etc. You have meant a lot to me(through our morning meetings), and I hope that we may keep in contact. I won't ever forget you.

I'd also like to thank you for this opportunity-- (to my surprise), it really was amazing!
As you may have noticed, I am a quieter person, listening more than I talk, and find it more comfortable with a small group of peers. But EWC forced me to make new friends; if I did not, well, I was alone. I felt like a lone ant trying to climb up an anthill, when I notice others beside me, also struggling, and suddenly figuring out that we'll only succeed if we collaborate. EWC was a launching pad for this, and now I hope that in the future, I will see my peers always continuing to collaborate, connect, and learn, together on our journey up the hill.
And through this experience, I've made sisters for life and am inspired to spread what I found at EWC.
And each individual person.. they were amazing.
Also, David has been the greatest inspiration to me. He is amazing- persevering, hoping, humourous, has pride in himself, il est le meilleur!!

I hope you have a great week, and I'd love to keep corresponding with you. 
And now I have to actually find the motivation to learn French. 

Blessings,
A


A,

Thank you for this email. So often, after leaving EWC we experience a low, or let down period. Reading your email I am confident that I accomplished what I intended to do, which is to teach young people that they can be as great as their most elaborate dream!!! You may have been an ant going up hill but now you know that you can do anything you put your mind too! You too, like all my little ants (I love that) can succeed at whatever you put your mind to and achieve great things.

As I said the very first morning, this is the first day of the rest of your life... you and only you can decide to be the person you are deep inside. Forget all the negative and jump into the future with everything on your side!

J*