Agency Profile

Nature of the Agency/Organization: Y Young Moms Program

Set One
1. General description of your agency (Include size, description of service.):
The Y Young Moms Program is a residential counselling and a preventative outreach
program. The program only provides residential counselling to 8 mothers and
their children at a time. These mothers live at the program for 12-18 months and
attend weekly counselling sessions, house meetings, and other group programming.
There are 8 self-contained 1 or 2 bedroom suites; in each suite lives a mom with their
one child under the age of 5. The outreach programs are voluntary drop-in sessions
where mothers can bring their children and access support and referrals, opportunities to
meet other moms, have healthy snacks/meal, and a chance for the children to play with
other children.
2. General age of clients:
This program serves mothers generally between the ages of 15 and 30 and their
children under 5 (the drop-in has recently been attracting a couple of older siblings of
young children due to the strike these children are no more than 10).
3. How does the agency or organization refer to those being served: as clients, patients,
youth or something other?
Generally, they are referred to as moms and babes. They are also sometimes
referred to as clients.
4. Number of clients:
There are 8 moms and 8 babes in the residential program. Past residents and
community members may come to the drop-in sessions and while these
attendees are
tracked, they are not required to indicate their future interest in returning.
There are
about 5 moms with approximately 8 kids combined who frequent the dropin programs
and many more who come on occasion.
5. Description of the average client:
The average client is a single-mother who is under 30 with one child under 5
years of age. These moms generally have grown up experiencing trauma, abuse,
poverty, or other challenging life events. Many of them did not experience a positive
relationship with their parents and were not parented themselves. Many of these women
are challenged with abusive relationships, co-parenting difficulties, custody battles (with
both the fathers of their children and MCFD), and financial hardship.
6. Does your placement agency or organization have emergency plans? Where are
these located?

There are emergency plans located in each room and in each suite at the
program site. They are checked quarterly to ensure that they are still in place and up to
date.
7. What reporting methods are used by the agency? Can you find the method for
incident reporting? Is there other reporting that you will be expected to do (such as
updating a record of medicine given)?
Each mom is assigned to one of the two counsellors at the program. These
counsellors record case notes in the moms file. They have standard forms that they fill
out to record the moms progress, goals, and recaps of counselling sessions and other
conversations (informal and formal). The reporting I will be expected to do is verbal
reporting to the designated counsellor for a mom or babe that I have concerns, insights,
or observations about. The exception is suspected cases of child abuse, in which case I
would consult with one of the counsellors and then make a report if necessary. There is
a Y standardized incident report that can be found in the Policy and Procedures binder in
the main office.
8. Are there rules and regulations such as a dress code at your organization or agency?
Why are these in place?
Yes, but they are policies at the YM-YWCA of Canada level so they dont all apply
to working in this office type setting, ex. no bikini type bathing suits. They do have an
extensive list of rules and regulations. All of which appear to ensure that the professional
who are working in the Y environment uphold the values and mission of the organization
through their dress, behaviour and actions. In my practicum setting, this goes further to
role model what the community expectations for an adult are and ensure that appropriate
boundaries are maintained.
9. Is there a policy manual? If yes, does the manual outline the professional ethics
expected of employees?
Yes, and it is quite extensive. Being part of a larger organization like the YMYWCA holds the organization to very high standards. The manual provides a
comprehensive explanation of the ethics of the organization and many details about their
philosophy and values.
10. Does the agency or organization keep confidentiality or privacy guidelines?
The organization requires all new employees/volunteers to sign a confidentiality
agreement upon starting at the organization. The organization upholds this
confidentiality by keeping all files locked away and labelled with a code. They only
discuss case files with other organizations/people if the moms have given permission or
asked the counsellors to do so. Furthermore, the expectation is that all conversations
regarding a mom or her child should be contained to one of the two counselling offices or
her suite.
11. If there are no written codes of ethics or confidentiality guidelines in place in your
practicum setting, where will you find the ethics that will guide your practice there?
N/A

Set Two
1. Is there a mission statement? If yes, do you see CYC perspectives and vales reflected
in the mission?
To work together to enhance individual and community potential through
participation, learning and leadership. That is the mission statement for the Victoria Y. I
see that this very strongly reflects CYC perspective and values. The mission expresses
how it is a collaborative approach to increasing the potential of individuals and
communities. It is not the organizations job to fix things or know what is right, it is its role
to work collaboratively within its context to establish supports that are needed. In CYC,
we are encouraged to work collaboratively between those that need support and those
that ask for support and keep our support person-centered. The mission wants to
increase community potential, recognizing that the communities in which it work already
have strengths and the organization will only enhance them; this is a strength-based
perspective which is a very strong theme in CYC. They speak of doing this through
participation, implying that it is voluntary - this is also a person-centered action allowing
individuals to choose when they require support and who they will seek it from.
Education is preventative action, CYC focuses on early intervention and prevention in our
actions, they Y providing education falls within these parameters. Finally, leadership.
They Y stands as a leader in the community as a role model for other organizations as
well as a role model for communities and individuals. CYC promotes positive role
modelling as an effective form of education and practice.
2. Is this organizations connected to a parent organization? If so, which one?
Yes, it is connected to the Victoria Y which then is connected to the YM-YWCA of
Canada.
3. Where does the organization or agency receive its funding from? Who govern the
organization or agency? is it not-for-profit, or is there a Board of Directors, or is it a
government agency, or is the governance composed of some combination of these?
Kiwanis Club owns the property and buildings of the Young Moms Program, the
moms pay a subsidized rent for their suites and Kiwanis does the maintenance/upkeep.
The program runs off of gaming grants, a very small amount of Ministry of Children and
Family Development funding, fundraising through the Y Strong Kids Campaign, and
community partnerships.
4. What licensing/accreditation/legislation does the organization operate under?
Child, Family, and Community Services Act
5. Where is the organization or agency located within the larger CYC/social service
community? What interrelationships are there with this organization or agency and
others?
The organization supports youth who are transitioning into adulthood as mothers
and their young children (under 5). This type of program supports these unplanned
mothers to be strong community members that can provide healthy lives for their

children. It also encourages growth and development that allows these families to be
much more independent from government supports than they may have been without
this program. This organization has connections to many other organizations in town.
Specifically day cares, groups for infants/toddlers, transition programs, ready to rent,
housing programs, accessible education programs, and many more.
6. What are some of the tradition or history of the organization or agency?
The YM-YWCA has a long standing tradition across the country for being an open
and accepting organization that offers social and recreation programming for people
coming from all walks of life. It has many outreach programs and is a strong pillar in our
community and many others. Most people growing up in a community with a YMCA or
YWCA or YM-YWCA will have had some connection with the organization throughout
their life whether it be a summer camp, course, exercise class, outreach support, or
other community service. The longest standing tradition of the YM-YWCA is that it will be
there to support people no matter what their story.
Nature of the Staff Team:

Set One

1. How many employees are there?

4 or 5
2. What are the job titles or basic roles and responsibilities of the people who work
there?
Two counsellors: Provide individual and group counselling for the moms that
extends outside of the formal sessions, attend to tasks related to the logistics of running
the program, and liaise with the Y and other organizations.
Program Assistant: Ensure the running of the house, collect food from food banks, liaise
with maintenance staff, prepare food for some programs, ensure health and safety
policies are followed.
Relief staff: Weekend staff that do some cleaning in the big house and occasionally bake
cookies.
Emergency relief counsellors: Provide after hours support for crises with the resident
moms and babes.
3. Where does the leadership in this organization come from? If you perceive there is no
leadership present in the organization or agency, where will you go to get it?
The leadership is collaborative between the two counsellors, they really do run
the program together. My supervisor is the technical leader in the organization, but they
essentially co-supervise practicum students.
4. What is the team structure? Is the team organized hierarchically, or in another
fashion? Is there an organization chart?
The team is so tiny that an organization chart would be silly. They do have one
that shows the place of the program in relation to the Y as a whole. Within the

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organization, the counsellors are in charge, and then the program assistant, followed by
the relief staff. Though unless theres an emergency or something big going on the
counsellors and program assistant work as a team.
Set Two
Are professional qualifications for employment required for some of these roles?
What is the range of professional credentials represented in the organization of
agency? What professional values will those roles bring to the organization?
For the counsellors, they want at least a bachelors with many years of experience
in the field. One of the counsellors has a BA in CYC along with a masters of Sociology
and the other has a BA in Psychology and many years of experience working for the
government in child protection. The program assistant has a BSW and is in the process
of obtaining her MSW. The two counsellors both have similar views on the world that are
very consistent with CYC values. They have intertwined these values with proven
practice methods to ensure that they are integrating theory and practice in a way that
serves the clients of the program.
What is the starting wage?
There is not really a starting wage as the organization is so small and really only
has a
couple positions to fill, but the pay is not a lot. I did not feel comfortable
prying past this point as then I would be directly asking my supervisor what she was
making after she had clearly avoided the question.
Do the people working in your organization or agency function collaboratively or
independently?
The two counsellors work collaboratively. The program assistant and relief staff
primarily work independently, with some consultation with the counsellors.
Given what you have seen so far, what are some of the beliefs and values that guide
the practice of the team in your organization or agency?
Harm reduction, strength-based, and client goal-oriented are huge practices in
this organization. They meet the client where they are at and work towards goals that
they have set out. Unless goals are in some way harmful, they counsellors will support
the moms to incrementally achieve their goals. They do this by using the clients own
skills, strengths, and capacities. Harm-reduction is a key piece to this organization, while
alcohol and drugs are prohibited, the counsellors may suggest to an individual who is
getting agitated to go take a break and have a cigarette. It is not a perfect solution, but it
might be the best thing in that moment that keeps everyone safe.