Youth Services – Lilac Place

Our Services

The mandate of the Youth Services programs is to provide services to children, youth and their families who have been identified as having struggles with behavioral, social, emotional and/or mental health.

Lilac Place (Formerly known as the Family Connections Centre/FCC) is a program focused on family reunification and strengthening relationships within the family unit. The program is designed to meet the needs of youth and their families who are experiencing parent-youth conflicts and to facilitate the growth of connection and resiliency. The program, using an emotion-focused approach, puts emphasis on the family taking part in the process of creating solutions.

This unique four-month, residential-based program provides tools to improve communication, increase caregiver efficacy, and build upon the strengths the family already has. While the youth is engaging in the residential portion of the program, the youth and caregiver have a productive break from each other.

During the week, the youth engages in recreational and psycho-educational programming with Youth Workers along with weekly therapy provided by the in-house Family Therapist. Caregivers attend weekly individual therapy sessions with the Family Therapist to explore new ways to support the emotional needs of their youth. Once individual rapport has been built with Family Therapist, the family will engage in family therapy sessions. The use of creative, progressive, and trauma-informed approaches are practiced in order to validate each family member’s experience. The youth returns home on the weekends, where the family can practice the skills they have learned during the week and work on strengthening the family system.

Non-crisis Youth Worker cellphone support is available to youth and caregivers for additional support over the weekends during identified hours. When the youth and caregiver have completed the residential program, Lilac Place offers three months of intentional aftercare outreach to support the transition back into the home full-time through weekly Youth Worker outreach and outreach therapy.

All referrals and funding are from the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

Contact Information

Please contact your local MCFD office to obtain further information regarding referrals to the Family Connections Centre.

Hours of Operation