“Respite is a flexible, periodic, short term break from care giving for the purpose of rest and renewal for the family”
~ (South West Region Ideal Model)
Keystone administers two Respite Programs:
The Autism Spectrum Disorder Respite – Provides respite funds to families who have a child with a diagnosis of autism living in Grey and Bruce Counties. These funds are to assist in the cost of planned respite for children and youth from 0 – 17 years. Applications are due in January of each year and approvals are for a one year period. Contact your Community Case Manager or the Autism Spectrum Disorder Respite Program at 519-371-4773 ext 165 to inquire about an application or find out more about the program.
The Children’s Mental Health Respite – provides respite support to individuals and their families who have significant mental health issues. Please contact your case manager at Keystone to discuss potential respite opportunities.
Call 519-371-4773
“Respite is a blessing” – A Parent’s Perspective
A young local couple is parents to three children; two of who have a diagnosis within the Autism Spectrum Disorder. All three children are under the age of 6.
Both parents work outside the family home and struggle with balancing their time between meeting the needs of all three children, meeting the exceptional needs of two of their children, and maintaining a healthy relationship between themselves.
Respite provides the family an opportunity to hire support people to assist with meeting the exceptional needs of their children with autism. While support workers care for the children on a respite break, they are also able to focus on helping address the many needs of the children as well as providing them a safe caring environment. Workers provide the children with social opportunities to practice and develop social skills; they encourage and teach self-help skills to enhance their independence, as well as modeling appropriate behavior and exploring various means of communication.
The support also provides parents with time to focus some undivided attention on their child without special needs as well as a chance to rest and become rejuvenated.
Various parents have said:
“Respite is a blessing”
“Respite helps us to get through the tough times”
“Having a planned respite date on the calendar keeps us going”
“We wonder how we got along before we had respite”