What is One Stop Talk/Parlons maintenant?
One Stop Talk/Parlons maintenant offers children, youth, and their families immediate access to free mental health supports when and how they need them. The program provides single-session counselling support and ensures direct referral to additional services when needed. Services are provided through an integrated network of infant, child and youth mental health agencies across Ontario.

You will receive:

• Counselling from experienced clinicians from across the province
• In the moment access to counselling, no appointment needed
• Access to One Stop Talk/Parlons maintenant after hours and on weekends
• A plan you to take with you after the session that you co-create
• Direct connection to services in your community within the same visit, as needed
• The opportunity to self-select service when it’s right for you

Who can contact One Stop Talk/Parlons maintenant?

• Children and Youth within 18 years of age
• Parents and caregivers of children and youth within 18 years of age

Help Ahead: Access for Infants, Children, Youth & Families

Help Ahead is a free referral phone service to help connect infants, children, youth up to 18 years old and their families to mental health and addiction services in their community. Our goal is to help those in need find and get mental health help as efficiently and quickly as possible.

Anyone under the age of 18 experiencing a mental health issue or anyone who wants to support someone under the age of 18 and wants access to mental health services can call.

If you are a young person, you might call if you:

• Feel anxious or worried
• Feel depressed, sad or angry
• Are being bullied
• Don’t feel yourself…
• Want more information about mental health and addiction services in your community.

If you are a parent/caregiver of an infant or child, you might call if:

• Your infant/child is crying inconsolably; having tantrums; irregular sleep or eating patterns;
• You are worried about your infant/child’s development; feeling overwhelmed and frustrated by parenting; or asking, “is this just a phase?”
• You want more information about mental health and addiction services in your community.

Service providers, doctors, teachers, school social workers, child protection services and any other support service can call Help Ahead too for more information, but we will need the expressed consent of the person or parent to refer to a service.

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The Infant Mental Health program offers a variety of family-focused, multidisciplinary mental health assessment and treatment services that are inclusive and accessible to all families living in Scarborough. Services are provided at Strides Toronto, in the home, or in the community at a time convenient for the family.

The program strives to strengthen parent child interactions by focusing on building positive family relationships to improve healthy social and emotional development of infants and children (birth to 3 years old) in partnership with their families and communities.

Parents with young children under the age of 3 years who are concerned about their children’s behaviour (separation anxiety, sleep difficulties, eating concerns, excessive crying, or challenging behaviour) are eligible for this service.

Family Counselling is intended to help caregivers explore their concerns about their child with a trained therapist. The goals of counselling services are to help your family get an understanding of your concerns and to enhance problem solving skills; as well, to give your family an opportunity to learn effective ways to cope with any different challenges.

Benefits of Family Counselling may include:

• Receiving help to define family goals
• Finding ways of achieving the goals and improving communication in your relationships
• Learning new information about your child’s personality or development
• Connecting or coordinating services with other community groups and activities
• Communicating with your child’s school or day care
• Learning more effective or useful parenting strategies
• Receiving an assessment to help with treatment planning (e.g., psychological assessment)
• Experiencing a safe place to talk about painful events that have affected your child

Access to this group is through Intake.

One in ten children need extra help developing speech and language skills. Without help, it may be harder for these children to listen, talk, read, and play with others. Strides Preschool Speech and Language Program (PSL) supports children living in the east area of Toronto achieve their optimal communication development.

Strides PSL offers the following services to children from birth until they are eligible to start full-day kindergarten: assessment, consultation to parents, community-based children’s programs, and other professionals, parent training and information sessions; group and individual speech and language intervention, and referral to a wide range of child and family services in the community.

Service duration
The type and duration of service provided are determined based on the child’s level of communication functioning and caregivers’ preferences for service plan options. Services may range from consultation every few months to participation in weekly therapy sessions that typically are offered once a week for approximately six weeks.

For more information about the program, click here.

The Preschool Speech and Language Program at Strides Toronto is part of a community partnership led by Surrey Place Centre, in collaboration with The Hanen Centre, Lumenus Community Services, Macaulay Child Development Centre and George Hull Family and Child Centre.