Culture of Resilience

EDIA Trainings for Staff

Throughout the fiscal year, the EDIA and Innovation department led organization-wide training initiatives to strengthen Surrey Place’s commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA). These learning opportunities were designed to deepen understanding, challenge bias, and foster a more inclusive workplace culture.

Led by the EDIA & Innovation department, we launched a four-part mandatory course series available through our online learning platform. Topics included: Introduction to EDIA, Addressing Bias and Microaggressions, Measurement and Data Collection, and Being an Ally: Inclusive Program and Service Design. These courses ensure that all staff share a common understanding of core EDIA principles and can apply them in their roles.

In partnership with our Anti-Racism: Black Cultural Consulting and Training Gorup, we delivered 20 live-virtual sessions of Anti-Black Racism training, mandatory for all staff and available for ongoing access online.

We also introduced the “Becoming Anti-Ableist” workshop that explored how ableism is embedded in systems and services, and how staff can recognize and actively dismantle these barriers.

Together, these trainings reflect our ongoing effort to build a workplace culture rooted in equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility and accountability.

United Voices: Deepening Dialogue and Driving Change

The EDIA and Innovation Department hosted two events aimed at deepening community engagement and learning around intersectionality and accountability.

In October 2024, the EDIA and Innovation team and the Anti-Racism: Black Cultural Consulting and Training Group to presented Understanding the Intersectionality of the Black and Disability Community in Harmony created space to explore how identity, race and disability intersect. In March 2025 the event How Can We Be Accountable to Black Communities within the Developmental Sector? shifted the conversation from reflection and action, focusing on steps to confront anti-Black racism.

These events created space for meaningful dialogue on the intersections of Black identity and disability, offering participants from professional and advocates, to families and caregivers, an opportunity to engage in conversations about dismantling systemic barriers and fostering inclusive, culturally sensitive care.

A key highlight of the events was the presentation the EDIA and Innovation Team’s report, “Dismantling Systemic Racism: It Starts Within”, which shared insights on staff’s capacity to support Black clients and families, and the lived experiences of Black clients and caregivers navigating developmental and mental health services.

Together, these gatherings emphasized the importance of collective accountability and the need for education, training, and systems change to enhance services for Black communities within the developmental and mental health sectors.

Amplifying Family Voices

This year, Surrey Place and the Family Advisory Council (FAC) launched a powerful new podcast series. Hosted by FAC members Liz Phipps and Wendy Robertson, the series offers an authentic look into the joys and challenges of caring for individuals with disabilities and complex needs. Through heartfelt conversations, the podcast explores a wide range of topics including community, advocacy, caregiver wellness, and gratitude.

Featuring the lived experiences of families supporting individuals with autism, Down syndrome, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), Emanuel Syndrome, medical fragility, and more, each episode sheds light on the everyday realities of caregiving. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube, the series has become a meaningful platform to elevate family voices, foster connection, and share valuable insights.

Startle in response to loud noises?	YES NO
Turn to where a sound is coming from?	YES NO
Make different cries for different needs (hungry, tired)?	YES NO
Watch your face as you talk?	YES NO
Smile/laugh in response to your smiles and laughs?	YES NO
Imitate coughs or other sounds such as ah, eh, buh	YES NO

Respond to their name?	YES NO
Respond to the telephone ringing or a knock at the door?	YES NO
Understand being told no?	YES NO
Get what they want through using gestures (reaching to be picked up)?	YES NO
Play social games with you (Peek-a-Boo)?	YES NO
Enjoy being around people?	YES NO
Babble and repeat sounds such as babababa or duhduhduh?	YES NO

Follow simple one-step directions (sit down)?	YES NO
Look across the room to a toy when adult points at it?	YES NO
Consistently use three to five words?	YES NO
Use gestures to communicate (waves hi/bye, shakes head for no)?	YES NO
Get your attention using sounds, gestures and pointing while looking at your eyes?	YES NO
Bring you toys to show you?	YES NO
Perform for social attention and praise?	YES NO
Combine lots of sounds together as though talking (abada baduh abee)?	YES NO
Show an interest in simple picture books?	YES NO

Understand the meaning of in and out, off and on?	YES NO
Point to more than 2 body parts when asked?	YES NO
Use at least 20 words consistently?	YES NO
Respond with words or gestures to simple questions (Where's teddy? What's that?)?	YES NO
Demonstrate some pretend play with toys (gives teddy bear a drink, pretends a bowl is a hat)?	YES NO
Make at least four different consonant sounds (p ,b, m, n, d, g, w, h)?	YES NO
Enjoy being read to and sharing simple books with you?	YES NO
Point to pictures using one finger?	YES NO

Follow two-step directions (Go find your teddy bear and show it to Grandma.)?	YES NO
Use 100 to 150 words?	YES NO
Use at least two pronouns (you, me, mine)?	YES NO
Consistently combine two to four words in short phrases (Daddy hat. Truck go down.)?	YES NO
Enjoy being around other children?	YES NO
Begin to offer toys to other children and imitate other children's actions and words?	YES NO
Use words that are understood by others 50 to 60 per cent of the time?	YES NO
Form words or sounds easily and without effort?	YES NO
Hold books the right way up and turn the pages?	YES NO
Read to stuffed animals or toys?	YES NO
Scribble with crayons?	YES NO

Culture of Resilience

EDIA Trainings for Staff

United Voices: Deepening Dialogue and Driving Change

Amplifying Family Voices

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Understand the concepts of size (big/little) and quantity (a little/a lot, more)?	YES NO
Use some adult grammar (two cookies, bird flying, I jumped)?	YES NO
Use over 350 words?	YES NO
Use action words such as run, spill, fall?	YES NO
Participate in some turn-taking activities with peers, using both words and toys?	YES NO
Demonstrate concern when another child is hurt or sad?	YES NO
Combine several actions in play (puts blocks in the train and drives the train, drops the blocks off.)?	YES NO
Put sounds at the beginning of most words?	YES NO
Use words with two or more syllables or beats (ba-na-na, com-pu-ter, a-pple)?	YES NO
Recognize familiar logos and signs involving print (Stop sign)?	YES NO
Remember and understand familiar stories?	YES NO

Understand who, what, where and why questions?	YES NO
Create long sentences using five to eight words?	YES NO
Talk about past events (trip to grandparents house, day at child care)?	YES NO
Tell simple stories?	YES NO
Show affection for favourite playmates?	YES NO
Engage in multi-step pretend play (pretending to cook a meal, repair a car)?	YES NO
Talk in a way that most people outside of the family understand what she/he is saying most of the time?	YES NO
Have an understanding of the function of print (menus, lists, signs)?	YES NO
Show interest in, and awareness of, rhyming words?	YES NO
Read to stuffed animals or toys?	YES NO
Scribble with crayons?	YES NO

Follow directions involving three or more steps (First get some paper, then draw a picture and give it to Mommy)?	YES NO
Use adult type grammar?	YES NO
Tell stories with a beginning, middle and end?	YES NO
Talk to try and solve problems with adults and with other children?	YES NO
Show increasingly complex imaginary play?	YES NO
Talk in a way that is understood by strangers almost all the time?	YES NO
Generate simple rhymes (cat-bat)?	YES NO
Match some letters with their sounds (letter b says buh, letter t says tuh)?	YES NO