Child Development Back to Basics

Child Development Basics: A Parent’s Guide to Health, Discipline & more!

Cameray Child and Family Services is hosting 4 free workshops in New Westminster that are open to all families with children 0-5 years old!

Child Development Back to Basics

Join us for these 4 informative groups where parents will learn the basics about child development. Each week will feature a different topic of interest, where you will be provided with scientific information and practical skills to promote healthy development in children ages 0-5. There will also be time at the end of each group for parents to ask questions and chat. Parents can sign up for the entire series, or for individual groups.

Topics include:

February 22, 2018    Health and Wellness

March 1, 2018           Connection through Attachment and Play

March 8, 2018           Discipline without Damage

March 15, 2018         Stranger Safety

 

WHERE: : NLC Qayqayt Elementary School

85 Merrivale St New Westminster, BC V3L 0G2

Multipurpose Room

 

WHEN: Thursdays February 22nd – March 15th   9:45am – 11:45am

 

HOW TO REGISTER: Registration is required – to register please email pspgroupsignup@hotmail.com or call 604-436-9449

  • Families must have at least one child under the age of 5 to qualify for registration
  • FREE Childcare is provided on site – must register for child care
  • FREE snacks and bus tickets are also provided at each group

ONLINE HOLIDAY SHOPPING: Give Back Without Spending Extra!

Give Back by Shopping

This holiday season you can donate to our wonderful organization just by doing your regular online shopping.

How?

All you need to do is join Shop and Share and make Cameray Child and Family Services your preferred non-profit organization.  Start at their website and they will link you with your favourite online retailers.  Shop as usual, and the retailer will donate a percentage of what you spend to Cameray.

It’s that simple!

Participating retailers include:

  • Amazon
  • Best Buy
  • Etsy
  • Gap/Old Navy
  • Indigo/Chapters
  • iTunes
  • The Bay
  • Walmart
  • and many more!

Click here for more detailed information.

Thank You for a Successful Open House

On Tuesday, September 26 Cameray Child and Family Services opened its doors to their community partners and funders for an Open House to celebrate Cameray’s 45th birthday! We also were celebrating our 25th anniversary at our location on Imperial Street in Burnaby, and the grand opening of our new expanded space at that location!

We had a great turnout. Guests enjoyed guided tours of the program space, an opportunity to place their handprint on our Cameray Tree and to make a “mindfulness jar” (an example of a therapeutic craft often done in counselling sessions), an abundance of food, and some great doorprizes.

Guests of note were Raj Chouhan, MLA for Burnaby-Edmonds, and Bernard Richard, the Representative for Children and Youth in BC.

The event culminated in a ribbon cutting to mark the grand opening of our newly expanded space. Ribbon cutters included (as pictured from left to right) : Bernard Richard, BC Representative for Children and Youth; Jennie Ireland, Director of Operations, MCFD Burnaby; Tracey Rusnak, Executive Director; Raj Chouhan, MLA; and Don Macdonald, President of the Board of Directors.

 

 

 

In honor of World Refugee Day on June 20, 2017

In honor of World Refugee Day on June 20, 2017, we’d like to share an art piece created from a 16 year old female’s passion for learning more about the experience of a refugee.

Below are the words of this artist explaining what inspired this beautiful piece of work:

“The refugee crisis is the story of our time. How we are dealing with it is defining who we are.  I can’t not deal with it in my work.  To create is to be curious, engaged, awake, and in earnest dialogue with the unknown.  And truly, it is through dance that I have the best hope of honoring a subject I care so deeply about” –Crystal Pite

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Welcome Christian Monks to the Management Team!

PictureWelcome Christian!

Christian Monks has been a valued member of the Cameray team since 2008.  He is both a Registered Clinical Counsellor and Registered Art Therapist, and he brings his engaging personality and his skills in Mindfulness, EMDR, AEDP, and Art Therapy to his work as a Child and Family Counsellor in the Counselling Program.  He has also specialized in working with children under 12 with sexually intrusive behaviours in our SHIP program, and has consulted with the community on this issue. We are excited to announce that Christian will now be providing clinical supervision and program coordination and management, alongside Michele Holding, as our Counselling Program expands.  We will miss him greatly on the front line, but are so happy to benefit from his skills in this new role!

Cameray in the National Observer

Cameray’s Refugee Trauma Support Program

CLICK HERE to check out this great article in the National Observer  highlighting Cameray’s wonderful collaborative work with the New Westminster School District and United Way of the Lower Mainland in providing the Refugee Trauma Support Program.  Congratulations to Cameray’s Tracey Rusnak, Farah Dawood and Michele Holding for helping this program come into fruition and for helping so many refugee families in our community.