Greenall Family Story 

So we're the Greenall family. I'm David, this is my wife Joanne. We have three children, Jackson and Stella, they're 16-year-old, they're twins, and we also have Fern who will be turning 13 at the end of March of this year.

Before we got Service Coordination (SCS) involved, our life was pretty crazy. In fact, it was a little bit hopeless and we're super positive and optimistic people. Fern was spending most of her day in a condition where she was, situation where she was self-injurious, also aggressive towards others, and it seemed like we couldn't help her at all.

And it got to the point where we called CAS (Children’s Aid Society) to say like, you know what, we need help. We have no, no one, we're here on our own, we have three kids and we're just not managing. And it was at that point, actually just shortly after that, Fern was admitted to the hospital where she spent several weeks and that's when Service Coordination got involved.

Our case manager connected us with Respite Services, which has been instrumental in getting us back on our feet. And so we have a worker who comes in and helps feed Fern and bathe Fern and helps do some light cleaning and some cooking, which is super helpful. And the reality is in our house isn't the perfect setup for child with those kinds of challenges.

Our house is five stories high. And Fern, in addition to her behavioral problems, also has visual, she's legally blind, and she also has gross motor challenges as well. So just navigating all those stairs was a real challenge.

Our Service Coordination case manager was instrumental in really helping us to put in place, I guess you could call them adjustments or accommodations in the home that really changed things. And just some examples, I mean, the key, which was really a game changer, was really retrofitting her room, her bedroom, so that's fully padded. So the floors are padded, the walls are padded, the windows are, are secured.

And now she's got a safe spot. So if she has a meltdown, it's a place that we know that she can go and she's not going to injure herself, and she can calm herself down. Other adjustments that have been made, padding has been put in place along the stairwells, so that as she goes down and doesn't, you know, she may want to bang her head, that it's padded now, so she's not going to hurt herself.

As well as with the, with the bathtub and the toilets, they've been reinforced with, with padding. So again, so that she doesn't injure herself. When you have people supporting you and encouraging you and helping you see things that you didn't see before and the possibilities, it's a game-changer.

Service Coordination supports the family in a respectful and loving way.