Below are the steps to join our service! We call them ‘Transition Steps’ because it is a process to make sure your loved one has a smooth transition into our services as one of our clients. At each step along the way we are here for your support to answer any questions you may have and assist you and your loved one.

Step One: Visiting

Each of our clients have very specific likes, dislikes, abilities, and challenges. These visits are designed so you can make sure that New Dawn has the resources, programmes and support available to help your loved one thrive, grow, and contribute. Then you can rest easy during the day knowing your loved one is in very capable caring hands here at New Dawn.

1. Pre-Visit: Call or Email us to set up a time to sit down and ask all your questions. We will ask you about your loved one’s abilities and challenges. We will explain our programs, activities, support system, and what days are available for your loved one to participate in.  At this time we can set up a visiting appointment time for your loved one to visit.
2. The Visit: Your loved one will need to be accompanied by a caregiver or family member for this visit. The caregiver/family member will be responsible for all needed care. Typically this is 1-2 hours at the centre where you can see how your loved one reacts to a typical day at New Dawn. We look for what type of support will be needed, how they are interacting with the other clients, and how they are enjoying themselves.
3. Post Visit: We will communicate with one another regarding how the visit went. We can organize more visits, or if it went really well we move to step two.

Step Two: Trial Visits

Trial visits are just longer visits (half day to full day in length) intended to find the best days, programmes, activities, staff support, and resources needed for your loved one to join us as a client. Typically, four trial visits must be completed before we enroll your loved one as a client, with at least one of those four trial visits being a full day. This is to ensure optimal support is in place for your loved one.

1. Pre-Trial Visits: If you like how the visit went and are wanting to have your loved one join the New Dawn family, we set up times for the trial visits. Since each client is so different, depending on the needs of your loved one, a caregiver may or may not be required for these trials.
2. The Trial Visits: Morning(9am-1pm), afternoon(12noon-3pm), or full day (9am-3pm) options are available. Your loved one will join us on our activity outings and for lunch (all clients provide their own lunch). During these visits a caregiver, parent or teacher must continue to accompany your loved one while at the centre, and continue to provide support and care. By the end of the trial visits our full time staff will have transitioned to providing all needed care and support. We may trial various transportation methods to and from the centre as well.
3. Post Trial Visits: Together we decide if your loved one would benefit at New Dawn, what support would be needed, and whether or not to enroll your loved one as our newest client!

Step Three: Enrollment

Yay! Your loved one has had his or her trial visits, and they went well! When both yourself and us at New Dawn are confident it is a good fit we move on to getting your loved one enrolled as a client here at New Dawn.

1. Personalize the Package: This is where we sit down and decide details. Such as: 1.What days your loved one will be joining us. 2. Specific individual needs of your loved one (These should all have been identified previously in the trial visits and formally recognized at this point.)
2. Finalize: There are the enrollment forms to be signed, a profile to be filled out, a personal support plan (PSP) to be made, a support staff member assigned, payments set up, and first day chosen. Once we have the needed information on file and signatures on the correct lines your loved one is one of our clients!
3. Transition: Only after the necessary paperwork is completed may your loved one attend without a caregiver, parent or teacher. This is a time period where your loved one is able to grow and thrive here at New Dawn. It can take up to 6 months for this transition process to be complete. Please be patient as we may ask for more information and/or training on how to care for your loved one in specific scenarios. We may need a caregiver to come in again for a few days, or whatever else may be needed, to help the transition process go smoothly for your loved one.
4. Celebrate: After your loved one has settled in, take a deep breath and relax. Your loved one is in good hands and you now have more than a moment or two to yourself!

Sometimes we have clients that aren’t able to make the whole transition for various reasons. It is better to know EVERYTHING up front so we can prepare the best supportive care for your loved one. It is understanding that some parents or caregivers do not want to inform others about hard behaviour or physical inability. At New Dawn, we embrace the hard behaviour and physical inability. Without knowing we can’t support them properly!

Please let us know if at any point in time you have questions or concerns. We will be very open with you throughout this transition process as well.