WELCOME TO THE MANE EVENT

THE TERESA GROUP

Advancing the dignity and well-being of children and their families affected by HIV and AIDS

Based in Toronto, The Teresa Group remains the only organization in Canada, and one of only a handful in North America, providing specialized programs and services to children and their families who are affected by HIV.

The majority of our clients are newcomers to Canada, many of whom are refugees, fleeing countries of conflict and war. Most are single-parent female-lead families subsisting on a fixed income of less that $20,000 (CAD) a year. Poverty, inadequate housing, food insecurity as well as the challenges of an HIV diagnosis deeply affect our families. Clients who access our services often describe themselves as living in isolation and experience significant stress due to the fear of the consequences if their HIV status was disclosed. This in turn affects their children, who are at heightened risk of experiencing stress and anxiety. The issue of social stigma for people living with HIV and the fear of disclosure of their status is extremely difficult for our families, whether the children are affected by HIV or living with it themselves.

The Teresa Group offers a broad range of care and support programs that aim to alleviate the stresses and barriers described above. We follow a lifecycle approach to our work, offering practical and emotional supports for children from birth to age 18 and their families. Emotional support programs aim to strengthen clients’ mental health and well-being by providing therapeutic groups for children and youth, an annual Summer Camp wilderness program, monthly support groups for parents, individual and family counselling and case management services. We aim to develop the leadership capacity of youth and parents through training and support.

To mitigate the impact of poverty, our Family Support Program provides a broad range of practical supports including diapers, diaper bags filled with newborn supplies, emergency food supplies, monthly grocery cards, transit tokens, new and gently used clothing (including hats, mitts and winter wear), new backpacks containing school supplies, birthday and year end holiday gifts.

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