Stories & News

Ability4Good is excited to welcome our new Clinical Director, Boris Lesar! 

Boris comes with an impressive set of education, skills, experience, personal attributes and passion. He is a registered psychologist, and Director of Clinical Operations and Programming at The Mustard Seed. He was also the recipient of the 2018 Professional Care Award, awarded by Canadian Mental Health Association Alberta. He has extensive experience with conflict resolution, mediation and coordination of multidisciplinary network of services. 

We are delighted that he is joining our team, and we wish him a great start!

Our Edmonton office is currently accepting clients for Specialized and Behavioural Developmental services and there is NO WAITLIST! We are continuing to provide our Intervention Services over-the-phone and online to support families with children who have developmental and special needs.

Please contact Allison Correia, Clinical Coordinator by email at allison@ability4good.com for inquiries.

I want to update you on what is happening with Ability4Good services now that the Government of Alberta has announced its Relaunch Strategy.  In particular, under stage 1, the government stated:

Dental and other regulated health-care workers such as physiotherapists, speech language pathologists, respiratory therapists, audiologists, social workers, occupational therapists, dieticians and more can resume services as long as they follow approved guidelines set by their professional colleges.

It is our current understanding that staff should not provide services in home or face to face until several conditions have been met which include:

• New guidelines for reopened services must be published by colleges and Workplace Guidelines for Community Health Care Settings must be followed
• Ability4Good must have a sufficient supply of cleaners, sanitizing supplies and personal protective equipment for staff to provide services (as per guidelines on Biz Connect)
• Ability4Good must be able to meet Occupational Health and Safety requirements for safe work in a COVID-19 environment

We are committed to taking the time and resources to ensure the safe delivery of agency services and programs are done keeping the well-being of your family members in the forefront of any changes we make.   It is for that reason that we will not be immediately resuming in person or in home visits nor can I provide an exact date for when in home services can resume.  As the Government of Alberta stated, how and when we proceed will depend on all of us respecting all guidelines and keeping infection rates low.  As Ability4Good provides services in both Edmonton and Calgary, we will be monitoring the respective cities and may start services in one well before the other.

Rest assured, we will continue to provide quality services to your child(ren) over the phone or on-line via the security of Zoom Telehealth.  The staff have found innovative ways to deliver our play based approaches and I have heard about the positive impact they are having.

Thank you for your patience and consideration of the safety of us all.  We truly are in this together.

UPDATE, April 2020

Cerebral Palsy Alberta is offering Dance Without Limits and Swim Without Limits - inclusive programs that encourage children with disabilities to learn how to ballet dance or learn how to swim.

Check them out! They are offering numerous sessions throughout the year.

This winter, Chestermere Regional Community Association is offering adaptive programs for families of children with special needs.

They have gymnastics, skating and swimming lessons adapted for children with disabilities. This will give a safe and open environment for children to socialize and find joy in various physical activities.

Friday, February 7th, they will be hosting a Friday Night Friends event. The purpose of the event is to connect families with special needs children with each other.  This will be an opportunity for the kids to play and parents or caregivers to network with other families. There will be bouncy Houses and lots of fun activities for the kids.

Click here to view their program guide for more information.

Calgary Cerebral Palsy has opened up registrations for their Adapted Bike Program for children with disabilities.

View the program flyer here.

They are hosting bike clinics for children aged 10+ on March 14th and 15th and for children under 10 on April 18th and 19th.

Click here to register and for more information!     

Our clinical director, Sherry Hiebert-Keck, had the amazing opportunity to talk about Ability4Good and our services for children with developmental disabilities. We are so grateful to Global News Calgary for shining a spotlight on our agency during their Calgary Child segment. 

Click here or on the image above to watch the video on Global Calgary website.

Every year on December 3rd, people around the world celebrate contributions of people with disabilities.

We attended the Calgary City Hall celebration event for International Day of Persons With Disabilities. We were joined by many other agencies and communities that are doing great work in building up and supporting people with disabilities.

We are so thankful to everyone who came out to see us today and to the City of Calgary for hosting this amazing event!

Check out our program guides for our respite services (STRIVE) and group recreation programs (THRIVE) for Winter 2020 season.

STRIVE is a center-based respite aide program, which aims to build friendships with peers through play and social activities while providing respite for families.

We will also be having a STRIVE Winter 2020 Special program that aims to support children to transition from holiday mode into the back to school gear. The program is offered in two groups Weekday (January 2 & 3) and Weekends (January 4 & 5) in the morning (10 am to 1:30 pm) and afternoon (2:30 pm to 6:00 pm). 

Click here to view information on STRIVE programs.

THRIVE is a community aide program, which aims to provide support and enable children with a range of disabilities to participate in recreational, social, and community activities with other children.

Click here to view information on THRIVE programs.

Please don't forget to like and and follow our Official Facebook Page to get updated on our programs, events and other news.