The Community Brain Injury Program for Children and Youth in BC (CBIPCY) provides services based on the following principles.
Family Centered Practice is made up of a set of values, practice principles that facilitate positive coping of children/youth with disabilities and their families. The following schema provided by Carl Dunst summarizes the key elements of the family centered practice (DUNST, Communiqué 2005)
The Program demonstrates family centered practice by:
- Recognizing the vital role that families play in ensuring the health and well-being of infants, children, adolescents, and family members of all ages.
- Taking time to understand the family’s values, concerns and priorities and use the acquired information to develop an intervention plan
- Recognizing that parents are key members of the intervention team. Parents and professional team work together as partners in developing intervention plans
- Providing complete and unbiased information to help parents make decisions regarding the child/youth treatment
- Seeking parents’ input and feedback on a regular basis to ensure that services meet the needs of the child and the family
- Recommending strategies that are tailored to fit the family’s lifestyle in order to minimize stress
- Maintaining open communication at all times
- Assisting families to connect with other families and support systems
A strength-based approach to rehabilitation highlights the inherent strengths and resilience of children and families.
The CBIPCY team demonstrates strength based practice by:
- Acknowledging capacities, talents, competencies and possibilities of each individual and family
- Identifying and enhancing strengths in personal, social and environmental areas to support the and recovery process and to promote positive coping
- Utilizing empowerment strategies and providing supportive environment for child/youth and their family to maximize their talents, skills and competencies to address life challenges
Inclusion means providing effective participation opportunities for all individuals regardless of their abilities or challenges and developing a community that recognizes and supports all members participating together. Inclusion is therefore based upon the belief that diversity is celebrated, that everyone belongs and is valued and that all people should be treated in a way which enables them to achieve their potential.
The research is clear that inclusion has positive outcomes for all children. Children with all levels and types of disability benefit from social and developmental experiences with their typically developing peers.
The CBIPCY team demonstrates inclusive practices by:
- Focusing intervention goals on functional skills that promote the child/youth participation at home, school and in the community
- Ensuring family members, school personnel and community service providers working with the child/youth have the necessary information and strategies to support the child/youth participation with his/her typical peers
- Providing consultation and training to family members, care givers and service providers on inclusion and participation strategies
- Working with school personnel to ensure the child/youth have the necessary support and accommodations for school re-entry
Best practice is defined as the integration of clinical expertise, client values, and the best research evidence into decision making processes for therapeutic intervention.
The CBIPCY Team demonstrates the use of best practice by:
- Use of evidence based informed decision making to guide and recommend intervention strategies
- Use of individualized planning to set measurable goals with the child/youth and the family to ensure the intervention strategies are inline with the clients’ values and coping style
- Provision of resources and information to contracted therapists on evidence based practices