New Growth Family Centre is an organization dedicated to the betterment of children, youth and families in Wellington North. Every day we face families in various levels of need for practical, personal and immediate help to meet the needs of all ages of children and youth. There is a growing need in the 12 to 15 age group to support school achievement, school behaviour and school attendance. Schools are overwhelmed with responsibility for more than academic results. Unrecognized learning problems or skill deficits usually result in avoidance and behaviour problems which increase and peak by grade 7 or 8 and then escalate into truancy and risky behaviour in grade 9. There is an increase in medically diagnosed conditions that inhibit learning. Wellington North is identified as high risk for alcohol and drug use, domestic violence, vandalism and petty crime.
New Growth Family Centre’s Respite Day Program provides a Therapeutic Learning Environment for children and youth with extreme needs between the ages of 6 and 16 but who are functioning well below that age emotionally. In a regular classroom, their presence alone interferes with the learning of other children and because of their skill deficits, they are unable to learn effectively within a group of children their own age. These are often children with medically diagnosed conditions such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Asperger’s Syndrome, Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), Anxiety Disorder, Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD) and includes fostered or adopted children suffering from Trauma and Attachment Disorder directly related to neglect and abuse in early life. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Alcohol Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder (ARND) are being recognized in growing numbers. This is a therapeutic environment for learning which addresses emotional and social needs equally with school skills. We implement principles from The Stress Model (Post) and the Collaborative Problem Solving approach (Greene). The goal is to stabilize, assess and program for the child’s individual needs and equip him/her to rejoin peers as quickly as possible. We never lose sight of the fact that children should be attending, achieving and enjoying a full school program within their own community but that they may need a time in an alternative therapeutic learning environment to fill in some crucial gaps and deficits in development and learning. We provide a fine balance of assessment of the underlying needs, identification of strengths followed by setting age-appropriate realistic expectations for the child to be successful at home and at school.
Aletha McArthur is the Program Director, Teacher Specialist and Founder of New Growth Family Centre Inc. in Mount Forest, Ontario. She is a teacher from the heart and has demonstrated her compassion and expertise working as a Special Education and Behavior Specialist in schools in Wellington-Dufferin for more than 30 years. She successfully utilizes the Post Stress Model principles in her Therapeutic Day Program classroom for extreme needs children and youth and in her Coaching Programs for parents, caregivers and educators. She confidently delivers her own unique balance of firm yet caring educational strategies in a Therapeutic Learning Environment that is safe, structured and supportive. She believes that early intervention is the key to meeting the needs of children with complex trauma and related challenges. She is dedicated to ensuring that all children, especially those who have experienced early trauma, and their families, get the support they need to enjoy learning and reach their full potential.
Our Philosophy:
All Students / Clients would do well if they could. They don’t need more motivation or consequences. They need a different therapeutic approach that will teach them the skills they are lacking. All reactive behavior arises from a state of stress, fear and anxiety, similar to post traumatic stress disorder. A child / client in this state requires consistent, prolonged experience in a clam, safe environment in order to recover and develop the regulation system that allows verbal memory performance, emotional control and cognitive processing, all of which are required to function effectively in school and life.