Early Years Program

Program Description

The Early Years Program focuses on enhancing the knowledge, skills, and confidence of parents and caregivers of infants and young children (birth to 6 years). The service supports families whose children are experiencing, or are at risk of, social, emotional, behavioural, and/or developmental challenges.

Grounded in a strengths-based, family-centred, and attachment-informed approach, this service emphasizes the critical role of caregivers in supporting early childhood mental health. Interventions may include psychoeducation, coaching, modelling, and skill-building strategies to promote positive parenting practices, strengthen caregiver-child relationships, and support healthy development.

Program Goals

• To support early identification of social, emotional, behavioural, and developmental concerns in young children;
• To enhance caregiver knowledge and skills related to child development, mental health, and effective parenting strategies;
• To strengthen caregiver-child relationships as a foundation for positive mental health outcomes;
• To provide practical, evidence-informed strategies that caregivers can use in everyday interactions and routines; and
• To empower caregivers to support their child’s emotional regulation, behaviour, and social development across settings (home, early learning environments, community).

Eligibility Criteria

The Early Years Program is available to infants and children from birth up to 6 years of age, and their parents/caregivers, who:

• Are experiencing mild to moderate social, emotional, behavioural, and/or developmental concerns;
• Would benefit from targeted support, education, and coaching to strengthen their capacity to respond to their child’s needs; and
• May or may not require direct therapeutic intervention for the child, but where caregiver-focused support is identified as the most appropriate service response.

Referral and Intake Process

• Accessing our services begins at Central Intake. To facilitate the intake process, we recommend that you complete the online self-referral form, available here.
• If you prefer to complete the self-referral over the telephone, please call us at 1-877-539-0463, and our team will support you.
• Once a referral is received, our team will contact you to schedule an intake appointment, where we will get to know your strengths, needs, and concerns, and complete a standardized screening tool to better understand the level of support required; this process helps determine whether this service is the best fit or if an alternate service may better meet your or your child’s unique needs.