Community Capacity Building is a Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services funded program offered by the Boys and Girls Clubs of Kawartha Lakes in partnership with Kawartha-Haliburton Children's Aid Society.

Community Capacity Building is a support service designed to assist children, youth from ages 10-18 at risk of coming into care without immediate intervention. The risk may include conflict/risk of abuse and or behaviours presenting as challenging to parents. In the event that the worker is operating at capacity a wait list will be developed and service needs prioritized.

The Community Capacity Building Program Support Worker provides guidance and support to children, youth and their families referred through Kawartha Haliburton Children's Aid Society.

Community Capacity Building Program contact: Ashley Bourguignon (705) 324-4493 ext. 239 abourguignon@bgckl.com

My 14 year-old-son and I were having a few problems that turned into more than I would have ever
expected.
I also have two older daughters and never went through this before, so we went to Children's Aid Society
for help. My son thought foster care would be better than our house but when the CAS worker came to
our house, he said he would not take my son out of a perfectly good home, that's not what they are for.
S o he suggested that we seek help from the Boys and Girls Clubs. He was so right. We met with a wonderful girl Michelle, who took us
under her helpful wing and taught both my son and myself a lot about how we treated each other and in
our tone of voice.
We would light each other's wick so the word "bear," which means one of us was talking way too loud
and it sure made me stop and think, my son also. Michelle was such a great help to us. We started
looking forward to coming each week to see what we could change in our lives to always make life
better.
So after we were finished the program with Michelle, we always used what she taught us. As a mother, I
couldn't thank Michelle enough for what she did to help us. We have been out of Michelle's program for
seven months and my son's and my life has changed so much we still use a lot of what we learned at the
Boys and Girls Clubs program with Michelle.
As a mother who loves her children so much, I would want any other parents that are having problems
with their children to seek out this program at the Boys and Girls Clubs.
Thank you so very much to Michelle and the clubs. Letter to the Editor Lindsay post