Youth & Children’s Programs
WINGS trauma-informed approach helps children heal.
Contact us to learn how you can help.
Youth & Children’s Programs
The supports and interventions offered by our Children’s Programs help to mitigate the impact of domestic violence on children and build the capacity of children to overcome the challenges they face. WINGS staff and Board of Directors are dedicated to improving the quality of life for the children and families living at WINGS and the Home Next Door.
Our trauma-informed care and early education programs assist with the emotional, developmental, and behavioural challenges of the children, many of whom have suffered from trauma and PTSD. It is our goal to create structure and routine so that we can reduce suffering in children and support them in their growth and development.
Without early intervention and education, children who have experienced family violence are at increased risk of being victims of, or perpetuating, family violence. Our programs help stabilize the children and their families and offer a safe, caring, and healthy environment to participate in fun, creative, and educational activities while learning about one another.
Programming Includes…
Youth workers who support and encourage the children and youth (6-18yrs)
Onsite Childcare (3mos-kindergarten) while mom attends daily group
Children and Teen groups (early interventions, safety planning, life skills development)
Recreation Programs and Field Trips (both onsite and offsite – skating, basketball, YEG Valley Zoo, The Fringe, Ice on Whyte, K-Days, swimming, mini golf, launch pad, soccer, and much more)
Healthy Snacks, Food Education, and Meals during groups (sometimes a break from healthy foods too – pizza and popcorn nights etc.)
Summer Camp (July and August, daily M-F)
Dog Therapy (CAAWLS)
Family Days, BBQ’s, Park Days, and Holiday Celebrations
Fully licensed Rocky Forest Daycare & Out-of-School Care for Home Next Door residents (3mos-12yrs)
School Supplies including computer technology and scientific calculators
The Rocky Forest Daycare & Out of School Care
The Rocky Forest Daycare and Out of School Care is located onsite at the Home Next Door. We are a licensed Daycare for 33 children, infant to 5 years old and our Out of School Care has space for 15 children, 6 to 12 years old. Our Centre is trauma-informed, which means we are mindful of the circumstances of domestic violence and how that affects a child’s development and ability to form trusting relationships. We take pride in building relationships with the child and the mother so they feel safe and secure. Planning and programming follow the Alberta’s Early Learning FLIGHT Framework Curriculum intended to guide the significant work of early learning and childcare educators with young children (ages 0 – 6 years) and their families in centre-based childcare facilities.
If you have any questions or want to learn more about the daycare, please contact the Director of Rocky Forest Daycare at bkotylak@wingsofprovidence.ca
Quality Foods for Growing Minds
The Rocky Forest Daycare’s Hot Lunch and Snack Program continues to be a great success, with a special thank you to our funders for assisting with the cost of providing high-quality, nutritious, and delicious foods. Canada Food Guide approved Hot Lunch and nutritious snacks are served daily to children. The families living at the Home Next Door are challenged with poverty and the direct and indirect effects of suffering from abuse. Many of the women are unable to afford the high cost of groceries and healthy meals for themselves and their children. The program helps to alleviate the financial pressure on moms to provide healthy meals throughout the day. In addition, the children enrolled in the daycare are provided with healthy food options and a balanced diet. The daycare staff ensures that there are increased provisions for fruits and vegetables. As part of the program, the children try foods from all different cultures, which they very much enjoy, and food literacy is also incorporated.
We aim to reduce hunger for the children whose families face poverty and food insecurity, in addition to the direct and indirect effects of domestic violence. Our Daycare offers trauma-informed, specialized support that changes the lives of the children through education, nutritious foods, and healthy, playful activities.
What is the FLIGHT approach to early learning?
Alberta’s Early Learning FLIGHT Framework
This is a flexible framework for thinking about how children learn and experience their worlds, as well as a guide that fosters strong early childhood communities. The child and the Educator become co-learners, co-researchers, and co-imaginers of possibilities with high regard for the child’s potential. Children’s play is central to this curriculum framework as an active, exploratory, creative, expressive process deeply embedded in children’s everyday experiences and through which children participate in, learn about, and actively make sense of the world.
This same philosophy is true in the Out of School Program, 6 to 12 years old; this is a way of planning curriculum in response to children’s interests to create meaningful learning experiences. Activities and projects are planned by educators to match the skills, interests, and unique needs of the specific children they are working with.
