We work with children and families who have often experienced chaotic, trouble filled lives. Hull offers them an opportunity to seek health and happiness with a focus on mental health.
Hull Services offers an integrated continuum of 28 on campus and community based programs and services in addition to professional training services and workshops in Calgary and beyond. Through these programs and services, Hull provides effective behavioral and mental health treatment and support for children and their families.
Over 8,000 children, youth and their families are supported by one of Hull’s 28 programs and services.
Permanence 92%
Programs transitioned 79% of discharged children and youth back to the community or to a less intensive service. 50% of the children and youth were reunified with their families.
Well-being 82%
Many children and youth in programs demonstrated significant improvements in their mental and behavioral health.
Family and Community Connections 95%
95% of children, youth, young adults, and families were able to develop and maintain important natural supports and community connections.
Safety 88%
Across programs, we have seen an increase in regulatory activities, and a reduction in critical incidents and high-level risk behaviours, and restrictive interventions with the children and youth in care.
Recreation Programs
Hull’s Recreation program facilitated 2,923 recreation opportunities for young people and families Hull supports including:
– 719 subsidies for registered activities
– 203 bike donations
– Hosted 85 cooking classes
– Provided 56 equipment loans to Agency programs
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Who better to guide the journey than someone who has already walked the path?
We are turning to the foremost experts to guide and improve how Hull offers service delivery — the young people and families who have received our services.
Hull’s Voices of Lived Experience – Child, Youth and Family Advisory Council (Hull’s Voices) connects us to this important community. We listen to their experiences and utilize their valuable input to develop key strategies that support growth and positive change within our programs. The council is mostly comprised of lived-experience members — meaning those who have received services through our Agency.
“This is a really novel idea in that it establishes a place and space for people who have received our services to give back and advise on service delivery and other areas in our organization,” says Virginia Hervey, Staff Liaison, Hull’s Voices. “It brings to life their voices in a way we haven’t done before.”
Hull has always held strong value in seeking and including client perspective and feedback. And while client surveys are valuable tools used at Hull and across our sector, this is different. Our Agency has committed to Hull’s Voices as part of our organizational structure. Like our Board of Governors, the council is a living and breathing function within our organization. Hull’s Voices advises our highest level of leadership on practice policy, and each of our 28 programs is accountable to senior leadership for working on one to three of those recommendations at any given time.
“Our commitment to doing the best we can for the kids and families we work with extends to hearing when we aren’t getting it right. Who better to tell us if we are missing the mark?” says Hervey. “We aren’t afraid to show we haven’t been perfect. If we aren’t where we want to be, we use Hull’s Voices to guide us there.”
Those invited to share their stories have typically received service within the past five years so that their experience is recent. Representation is sought from across Hull’s 28 programs. Council members experience is recent within two years, with them at a point in their journey where they are emotionally ready to share their story. Many of Hull’s Voices members have had very positive experiences with our Agency and want to give back. Others can see gaps and areas for improvement.
Christina Sackett is the Chair of Hull’s Voices and experienced our services firsthand with her son Miles. She notes that going through the extremely difficult challenges faced by the young people and families Hull serves means they often don’t have friends or family that truly understand their experience.
“They struggle with feeling like they don’t have a voice, and that they can’t share their stories with anyone who really understands what they are going through,” explains Sackett. “They don’t want unsolicited advice or judgement. They just want to be heard and to share their story. Hull’s Voices give them that opportunity while improving the journey for those to come.”
An unforeseen benefit of being a part of Hull’s Voices is a healing effect. Both through the opportunity for voices to be shared, and in that it helps shift the power dynamic that can be felt within therapeutic relationships.
“No matter the great emphasis Hull puts on being ethical, as a service provider our clients are dependent on us and then can create a hierarchy,” say Hervey. “This giving back is part of healthy relationships. Those that were helped are now helping us. It brings purpose, closure and a levelling of the field. It also reminds us as service providers that the people receiving our services are just like us. Everyone has strengths, talents and wisdom to share.”
Hull Services provides an integrated continuum of 28 programs and services including specialized therapy, counselling and education. Hull helps children, youth, young adults and families who experience emotional and psychological disorders, behavioural problems, learning disabilities, mental illness, developmental delay, neglect and abuse and family breakdown.
Our programs and services range from prevention and early intervention support, through to campus-based care.
We provide eleven self-referral programs and services open to the public without requiring a referral by a health care professional, service or agency and 17 managed referral programs that are not accessible to the public. These are managed by health care professionals, Children and Family Services, Alberta Health Services, along with other agencies.
With your support we can help even more children, adults and families who experience significant mental health, behavioural and developmental challenges.
Hull Services needs your help. Calgary has more than 300,000 children. Nearly 20 per cent or 60,000 are facing a mental health challenge. Every day of the year we respond to the needs of thousands of children and their families, who have been impacted by serious childhood mental health challenges.
Hull Services believes we can move the 20 per cent of children in harm’s way to join the 80 per cent who are doing pretty well, making a better future for 100 per cent of our children. They deserve our help, for the good of us all.