What is The Huddle for Families? The Huddle for Families is a new non-profit community and education center. Our mission is to help parents and educators better understand, support, teach, and advocate for children, especially children who express when they are overwhelmed or under-supported through unexpected, disruptive, frustrating, or aggressive behaviour. Our programming is centered in lived experience, developmental and educational expertise, and a safe, inclusive community. We have a unique approach, valuing problem-solving over punishment, embracing and preparing for diversity, and knowing that children are already trying as hard as they can. The Huddle for Families believes that caregivers & educators with developmental understanding, confidence in themselves and their children, and a community to lean on are better equipped to parent, work with, and enjoy children, leading to less stress and better outcomes for everyone.
The Huddle for Families
Non-profit Organizations
We help parents, educators, & communities understand, support, & advocate for children with challenging behaviours.
About us
We think about “behaviour” differently. In our experience, unexpected, frustrating, disruptive, and aggressive behaviours are how children communicate that they are overwhelmed or overtaxed when they can’t express their needs in more effective, sympathetic ways. This is good news: it means we can help. At The Huddle for Families, we focus on what behaviour might be trying to tell us. Then we work with families, schools, and communities to offer support and better meet children’s needs, so all our children can thrive. We work to support children, not "fix" them. This approach is alarmingly difficult to find: most programs promise to eliminate behaviour without addressing its causes or offering children more effective ways to get what they need. What else makes us different? 1. The combination of lived experience and developmental expertise. Everyone who helps families at The Huddle has been there, either as a parent or a child who struggled, AND our team all has special education experience. So, our support is authentically empathetic, developmentally-informed, and realistic for the chaos of home and classrooms. This combination is super rare. 2. Community. The Huddle for Families helps schools and organizations understand why children might struggle and make their own programs more inclusive. We're working towards the world we try to exemplify, where everyone is welcome and can participate in ways that honour their own needs, goals, culture, background, and neurotype. Just as importantly, we help parents build a safe, nonjudgmental community to lean on, laugh or cry with. Our small group "Huddles" bring parents and caregivers who share similar questions or struggles together to problem-solve with our team, to support one another, and to make their plan for getting back in the game.
- Website
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www.thehuddleforfamilies.org
External link for The Huddle for Families
- Industry
- Non-profit Organizations
- Company size
- 2-10 employees
- Headquarters
- Toronto
- Type
- Nonprofit
- Founded
- 2024
Locations
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Primary
Get directions
Toronto, CA
Employees at The Huddle for Families
Updates
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Hey, friends and colleagues who work with families. The Huddle for Families still has spaces for our November Huddle, designed to help parents, educators, and others better understand and support autistic children. We're talking practical information and advice and, as always, prioritizing lived experience and developmental expertise. Huddles are free and confidential. Please share and invite anyone you think would benefit. Register at https://lnkd.in/gwtMP4Gb
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It's Safety Plan season. Parents are getting stress-inducing notes and templates from school that make their children seem awful and sometimes include responses that can be truly traumatic. Teachers are getting generic "plans" that aren't keeping anyone safe. But a solid Safety Plan can actually be a useful tool for helping get children the support they need and keeping things more peaceful for everyone. Let's talk about how to do that, while also sharing and laughing together to make it all a little less stressful. Tuesday, November 5 12pm EST online Register here: https://lnkd.in/e8Gue7ZX As always, this Huddle is free of charge, free of waitlists, and free of judgment. #inclusion #parentsupport #specialeducation
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I first had a solid image in my head of The Huddle for Families in January. I wrote and wrote and planned (and over-planned), and I talked to so many people to find out what parents, caregivers, and educators needed. In the end, what everyone wanted was what I wanted, and what I'd hoped for all along: a safe, nonjudgmental community where people whose kids or students are struggling can find the authentic empathy that only comes from lived experience, practical and development-informed advice, and a team to huddle with so it's not so darn isolating. Today, our first official Huddles finally happen (hurrah!). The response to these first Huddles was so overwhelming that we had to schedule more, which makes us prouder and more encouraged than we can say. There are still spaces tonight (9/24) at 7:30pm and tomorrow (9/25) at 11am, if you, someone you love, or someone with whom you work could use an hour of empathy and ideas, and some people to laugh with. Find out more at https://lnkd.in/gEa-CVma And thank you, everyone who helped get us here!
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Huddles are the heart of The Huddle for Families. They're the safe, judgmental community where parents and caregivers can laugh, learn, share, and problem-solve together to hopefully make it all a little easier and less stressful for everyone. We still have space in our September Huddles 9/24 & 9/25, if you or anyone with whom you work could benefit from a support team. Find our more at https://lnkd.in/e7Y2fcmj
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This is for everyone who said, "We need to see who's behind The Huddle for Families!" Starting a nonprofit is NOT a one-woman job, and I will get the rest of the team who worked to make this happen introduced, but for now, if you're talking to The Huddle for Families or referring clients to a Huddle, or working with us to make your own programs more inclusive, you're talking to me. Know that I have been there, as a parent, a teacher, and a manager, and I'm here to listen, problem solve, and offer ideas to help make it all a little easier and less stressful for you and your staff, for your families, and for all of our children.
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I’m thrilled to announce that my latest project, The Huddle for Families, is launching today. The Huddle for Families is a new nonprofit helping parents, teachers, educators, and organizations support, teach, and advocate for children, especially children who express that they are overwhelmed or under-supported through unexpected, frustrating, disruptive, or aggressive behaviour. What makes us unique? 1. Everyone who helps families at The Huddle for Families has been there, either as a parent or a child who struggled, AND has education experience. This combination is surprisingly rare. It means our support is authentically empathetic, developmentally-informed, and realistic for the chaos of home and classrooms. 2. Community. We help parents and caregivers find their “huddle” – their safe, nonjudgmental team to lean on, laugh with, and help one another make a plan to get back in the game. We help schools and organizations understand why children might struggle and make their own programs more inclusive. And we are building a community that welcomes everyone to participate in ways that honor their needs, goals, culture, background, family situation, and neurotype. I invite everyone to explore our website, follow us here on LinkedIn, and help spread the word, especially if you know parents who need support, or if your organization works with children and wants to talk about how to be more inclusive or to better serve kids who struggle. And a huge THANK YOU to the many of you who consulted, advised, and listened to me rant about this over the last 18 months!
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It's almost time for back to school. Here at The Huddle for Families, we know: no amount of prep will help a child who is overwhelmed, overtaxed, or mismatched with their classroom environment. So, this September, we're talking about how to get the school ready to go back to your child. Check out our blog for more.
The Huddle for Families | LinkedIn
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