CAFCAN – Caribbean, African Canadian Social Services

Project: Black SNAP®: Culturally adapting Stop Now and Plan (SNAP) for Black children and families

What’s the issue?

Black-led agencies in Toronto have offered the evidence-based program Stop Now And Plan
(SNAP®) to predominantly Black communities for four years. The program is relevant and helpful,
but it has not been culturally adapted. It does not address experiences of anti-Black racism, nor
the trauma and ongoing survival issues it causes for Black children and young people.

What’s the innovation?

Three agencies in Toronto will partner with the Child Development Institute (CDI), the agency
that designed the original SNAP® program. These agencies are CAFCAN Social Services, Delta
Family Resource Centre, and Tropicana Community Services. They will determine the key
components of culturally adapting the SNAP® program to better serve Black children, young
people, families and communities. Their approach will use the Ghanian concept of Sankofa (“Go
back and get it”) to learn from past experiences of offering SNAP® to Black young people and
use those experiences to improve future offerings. Feedback from Black SNAP® participants and
practitioners will guide the development of these improvements.

What impact is anticipated?

Modifying the program to better meet the unique needs of Black children, young people, and
families has the potential to increase the effectiveness of SNAP® at reducing disruptive behaviour, substance use, and mental health challenges. This initiative can serve as a best practice model in creating cultural adaptations of SNAP® for other racialized and culturally diverse people.

What were the outcomes?

The outcomes for this project were measured using a mixed-methods evaluation approach, including community surveys and feedback; service utilization data; staff assessments; cross-agency benchmarking; community advisory panels and program design shifts. Through extensive literature reviews, interviews and focus groups with Stop Now and Plan (SNAP) program staff, children, young people, and families, CAFCAN developed a culturally responsive and affirming resource that can be integrated across SNAP programming. The SNAP program was adapted using the Sankofa “go back and get it” principle that emphasizes drawing on cultural histories and lived experiences to guide present-day services, ensuring programs embed cultural values rather than simply adapting existing models. The framework can be used as a template by service providers working with Black children, young people, and caregivers who are disproportionately impacted by systemic inequities.

What were the lessons learned?

Over the course of the program, it became evident that cultural adaptation alone was insufficient to meet the needs of Black children, young people, and families, often amounting to surface-level changes to programs that were not initially designed with them in mind. While adaptation revealed important gaps, it underscored the need for innovative, community-driven, and systemic approaches, such as the “go back and get it principle,” that intentionally center Black children, young people, and caregivers. This requires programs that are built from the ground up — grounded in lived and living experiences and expertise, rooted in cultural knowledge, and guided and amplified by Black leadership and voices.

Child & Youth Milopemahtesewin Services (CYMS)

Project: Mental health enhancement through cultural activities

What’s the issue?

Access to Indigenous cultural teachings, language, arts activities and land-based learning are important supports to the mental health and well-being of Indigenous children, young people and their families. Opportunities for cultural programming available to children and young people are always deeply needed in communities in the James Bay region. However, the costs associated with offering these activities makes it difficult to provide them. This means opportunities are missed for healthy sharing, learning, social connection and cultural knowledge transmission within communities.

What’s the innovation?

The agency will offer programming in Indigenous communities in the region. The focus will be on cultural teachings, language learning, arts activities and land-based learning in a safe environment. The goal is to promote healthy lifestyles and improve mental health and wellbeing for community members.

What impact is anticipated?

Identity formation is a crucial component of the development of children and young people and supports their well-being as they grow. Offering cultural programming will support access to traditional teachings, harvesting practices, historical knowledge, customs and ceremonies. This programming will increase children and young people’s sense of self-worth and equip them with valuable life skills and knowledge.

What were the outcomes?

By engaging with the First Nation community of Attawapiskat, CYMS was able to run a series of events, group activities, and presentations throughout the community and within schools. These events were facilitated by First Nation facilitators specializing in topics such as violence, trauma, grief, and bullying. The facilitators also collaborated with community members to choose other topics that would benefit the community. A total of 579 participants, including 418 children and young people, and 161 adults, attended these events.

What were the lessons learned?

Engaging directly with the community deepened CYMS's understanding of ongoing violence, intergenerational trauma, and the impacts of historical and systemic inequities for First Nation communities. The team also recognized the strength and resilience of First Nation communities, learning how to effectively support their communities. Collaborating with community members to shape programming was key to ensuring relevance and meaningful impacts.

New Path & Dnaagdawenmag Binnoojiiyag Child & Family Services

Project: Adapting an evidence-based program to achieve better outcomes for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children, young people, and families involved with the child welfare system

What’s the issue?

Commonly used evidence-based mental health and parental attachment programs are not culturally adapted to meet the needs of Indigenous children, young people and their families. There is a need for agency staff to deepen their knowledge of how to best serve Indigenous families, challenge the norms of the organization’s Eurocentric programming and expand services to align with the worldviews of the Indigenous communities they serve.

What’s the innovation?

New Path will partner with the Indigenous Child Well-being Agency Dnaagdawenmag Binnoojiiyag Child & Family Services to adapt an existing evidence-based program to be more culturally informed by Indigenous knowledge, wisdom and expertise. Fifteen Indigenous family support workers will take training in the evidence-based program in two roles: learner and teacher. Support workers will provide feedback on how to adapt the curriculum and draw parallels between the evidence-based program and similar concepts and practices in Indigenous communities.

What impact is anticipated?

Incorporating Indigenous practices and perspectives into the delivery methods of an evidence-based program will improve the program for Indigenous families. The guidance of Dnaagdawenmag Binnoojiiyag will build the capacity of staff at New Path to center Indigenous ways of thinking, knowing and being.

What were the outcomes?

Outcomes were measured using results from a parent-reported attachment questionnaire that was administered before and after the Circle of Security Parenting program. In the post questionnaire, most participants answered that they “knew what their child’s attachment needs were” and that “they understand how to meet their child’s needs” more than during the pre-questionnaire. The program found improved parental outcomes for confidence, self-esteem, coping strategies, and improved ability to reflect and explore their own parenting struggles (referred to as their Shark Music) and reported feeling more confident to try new parenting strategies.

What were the lessons learned?

For some of the families who struggle with intergenerational trauma, they learned that after completing Circle of Security Parenting, they were excited about their ability to reflect on how they were parented and how this impacts how they parent their own child. Parents could articulate the ten attachment needs of their child and a willingness to meet those needs. What was soon realized was the need for further follow up care for some of the parents to support them in practicing the skills they learned. As a result of this learning, an aftercare program was developed to support families in addressing their child’s needs through play by using Foundational Theraplay. Parents were supported during sessions to learn hands-on activities that focus on structure, engagement, nurture, and challenge activities to meet the needs of their children.

Linck

Project: Lincking with New Immigrant Families

What’s the issue?

There’s a need in the Chatham-Kent region for culturally relevant anti-violence programming and evidence-based child and youth mental health interventions. The program aims to improve the safety and well-being of Muslim immigrant and refugee children, young people, and families while maintaining their connections with their loved ones and communities.

What’s the innovation?

For this innovation, Linck will partner with members of the Chatham Islamic Resource Centre, the London Ontario Muslim Resource Centre for Social Support and Integration (MRCSSI), the London Centre for Culturally Integrative Reponses (CCIR) and Chatham-Kent Muslim community representatives. Together, partners will explore how best to provide trauma informed mental health services for Muslim immigrant and refugee children, young people and families. A key focus will be addressing experiences of Islamophobic violence, gender based violence and the impacts of adjusting to North American cultural and social norms. This program will use messaging focused on wellness, to better reach community members who might otherwise feel stigma about accessing mental health care.

What impact is anticipated?

Culturally adapting services in partnership with local agencies serving Muslim communities will lead to better mental health care outcomes and increased well-being for Muslim children, young people and families. Relationships and communication between Muslim communities and Linck will be strengthened. Staff from Linck will learn how to better serve Muslim community members. Participating Muslim children, young people and families will learn more about Linck’s services, which will help to relieve misunderstandings or concerns about the agency or mental health services in general.

What were the outcomes?

One key outcome of this project was the creation of a staff resource for working with Muslim clients, designed to guide staff in providing culturally sensitive support to Muslim families affected by trauma. Another important outcome was establishing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chatham Islamic Centre and setting up a plan to get ongoing input from the Muslim community. The team also updated their intake process to collect more information — such as immigration background, religion, and language — when Muslim families seek support, with the flexibility to make additional modifications based on the unique needs of future clients and families.

What were the lessons learned?

Lessons learned include the importance of reducing stigma and normalizing help-seeking within the Muslim community to address reluctance in acknowledging personal struggles. Another key lesson was the value of building strong relationships with the community — listening, engaging, and learning from community partners — with a focus on building trust above all else to help create a lasting impact. The program also highlighted the benefits of social prescribing, where trusted community members, such as religious leaders, can provide insight on addressing behavioral challenges — like school refusal and substance use, engaging with family members, overcoming language barriers, and more.

Vanier Children’s Mental Wellness in partnership with Core Service agencies in London Middlesex and the Muslim Resource Centre for Social Support and Integration 

Project: Adapting CBT for newcomer, immigrant, and refugee families from Middle Eastern countries

What’s the issue?

Vanier Children’s Mental Wellness has offered an evidence-based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) program to newcomer, immigrant and refugee families from Middle Eastern countries. The agency discovered that the CBT model and its top-down approach was not meeting the mental health needs of children, young people and families in these communities, many of whom experience high levels of trauma and barriers to accessing supports and education.

What’s the innovation?

Vanier with core service agencies in London Middlesex, in partnership with the Muslim Resource Centre for Social Support and Integration (MRCSSI), will adapt a CBT program to include elements of narrative therapy. This style of therapy focuses on the stories we develop to describe moments in our lives. Staff from these agencies, along with experts from local Muslim communities and program participants, will design the program together. Clinicians will focus on the strengths of the children, young people and adults participating, and the ways their Middle Eastern cultural background shapes their experiences. The agencies will modify how the program is offered so that everyone can take part in it at the same time. Clinicians will also walk through the program alongside parents and children, increasing trust and creating relationships where participants are acknowledged as experts in their own experiences.

What impact is anticipated?

Building on CBT programming by adding narrative therapy elements and offering concurrent programming for the whole family will make the program more respectful and culturally responsive to participants. Structuring the program to emphasize participants’ strengths and expertise in their own experiences will improve their confidence and emphasize that growth and change are possible. Participating in the program will also make parents and children more aware that they are part of a community. By adapting and co-developing this program with MRCSSI and Muslim community partners, staff at Vanier and core service agencies in London Middlesex, will build their capacity to provide culturally responsive care to Muslim communities.

What were the outcomes?

Outcomes for the ROOTS (Resilience, Opportunities, Optimizing Transitions and Supports) program were assessed using qualitative methods, such as participant feedback and focus groups with program facilitators. Participants were asked to reflect on their experience with the program and facilitators were asked to provide feedback on both the content and the facilitation of the program. As such, two focal themes emerged from participants’ feedback including reported feelings of increased safety within the program and improved coping skills. General themes from the focus groups with program facilitators included:

• The importance of strong inter-agency relationships among diverse organizations.
• Building a sense of community and belonging.
• Support and appreciation for clients' holistic identity (intersecting aspects of identities).
• Creating a safe space where everyone felt comfortable expressing and discussing their feelings.
• Adapting the program structure — this included delivering curriculum training before the program began, clarifying roles, and allowing time for facilitators to build their knowledge and skills to deliver culturally sensitive content.

What were the lessons learned?

Key lessons from this program included the importance of working across cultures within a culturally integrative and responsive framework, as well as finding balance between program planning and development within an adequate timeframe. It was also valuable to address concerns throughout the program. For instance, when facilitators expressed a need for additional support, team leads responded by providing pre- and post-session support, including help with session planning and debriefs. Another important lesson was the need to offer in-depth facilitator training prior to the program launch and build an effective feedback loop. Co-creating group rules with children and youth, along with reminders also helped in promoting safety and accountability. Finally, another key takeaway was the value of transferable skills and knowledge which facilitators could apply in their professional practice and in other programs like the ROOTS program.