"Once we accept our limits, we can move beyond them."
-Albert Einstein
Reach Toronto is a Not-for-Profit organization, specializing in unique programs that focus on the life and social communication skills required to become more independent, contributing members of the community. Our clientele includes neurodiverse youth and adults (e.g., Autistic, down syndrome, social communication disorder) as well as unique communities that require tools to help them achieve greater independence as well as improve their quality of life through life skills training.
Our Four Pillars program takes a holistic approach to teaching life skills. Our pillars include training in the following areas:
Residential Life Skills – Students learn to live independently in their own space, adhering to routines and schedules and performing activities of daily living such as cleaning, laundry etc.
Financial Literacy – Students learn to manage their money and understand savings and living within their economic means.
Food for Life – Students learn to become savvy shoppers, as well as cook and eat nutritional and economical meals.
Workplace Skills – Students learn skills for gaining and retaining employment
All our pillars integrate training of the social and communication skills required to successfully navigate each of the pillars (social norms and etiquette, social expectations, non-verbal language).
A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Well, we made it so far! We can't thank our families enough for the trust and patience placed on us during this pandemic. It's been difficult for everyone. We pray and hope that our loved ones have come through it physically and emotionally well and that it it almost behind us. Our hearts and prayers go out to those who suffered the worst of it.
At the start of the pandemic, we made a decision to move our classes to a virtual model and although it can't replace that in person feel, it did serve the purpose of ensuring that our students continued to be involved in their routines, continued to socialize with their peers, but more importantly, we were able to work on their mental health and the anxieties brought upon us by this pandemic and together, they got through it. We are so proud of their accomplishments over the past 2 years. It was not easy to adjust, and especially for our students, the challenges are even greater. They arrived to class with an open mind, willing and ready to be flexible and continue their learning journey in our classes.
Our classes and programs will resume in person soon. We are looking forward to seeing everyone again and running all of our programs in 2023.
We have some new and exciting programs coming. They will be geared toward helping our college/university students achieve success at school by making the most of their special accommodations. Receiving special accommodations and learning to advocate to ensure you get the benefits of them are two very different things. Our hope is to help narrow the gap between these 2 issues.
Finally, 2022 has been a very exciting year for Reach. Our Four Pillars program, based on learning life skills in four major areas of independence, has been chosen by a First Nation Community to add to their list of very crucial services they offer. We are so proud to announce that we taken our programs to Shawanaga First Nation and have just successfully completed our first program. Reach Toronto spent a week teaching the community the life skills required to be able to shop, cook and eat nutritionally and economically. We will return for program no 2 to teach Financial Literacy. The skills we teach are transferable to any group or community. Living independently requires a set of tools and skills that many communities do not have. It is our pleasure to be able to help these communities enhance their lives and learn all the skills necessary to navigate this very complicated economic environment. The skills we teach are not exclusive to our population with a disability and we are very happy to be able to bring these programs to more communities.
As we continue to forge new partnerships and relationships, we would like to thank our past and current clients for being part of our successes. A continued heartfelt thank you and endless gratitude goes to our amazing corporate partners who have supported us throughout these very strange and difficult 2 years.
We thank our clients for entrusting Reach Toronto to do their work and helping us to change lives.
Mary Salerno
Executive Director
Our Four Pillars program takes a holistic approach to teaching life skills. Our pillars include training in the following areas:
Residential Life Skills – Students learn to live independently in their own space, adhering to routines and schedules and performing activities of daily living such as cleaning, laundry etc.
Financial Literacy – Students learn to manage their money and understand savings and living within their economic means.
Food for Life – Students learn to become savvy shoppers, as well as cook and eat nutritional and economical meals.
Workplace Skills – Students learn skills for gaining and retaining employment
All our pillars integrate training of the social and communication skills required to successfully navigate each of the pillars (social norms and etiquette, social expectations, non-verbal language).
A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Well, we made it so far! We can't thank our families enough for the trust and patience placed on us during this pandemic. It's been difficult for everyone. We pray and hope that our loved ones have come through it physically and emotionally well and that it it almost behind us. Our hearts and prayers go out to those who suffered the worst of it.
At the start of the pandemic, we made a decision to move our classes to a virtual model and although it can't replace that in person feel, it did serve the purpose of ensuring that our students continued to be involved in their routines, continued to socialize with their peers, but more importantly, we were able to work on their mental health and the anxieties brought upon us by this pandemic and together, they got through it. We are so proud of their accomplishments over the past 2 years. It was not easy to adjust, and especially for our students, the challenges are even greater. They arrived to class with an open mind, willing and ready to be flexible and continue their learning journey in our classes.
Our classes and programs will resume in person soon. We are looking forward to seeing everyone again and running all of our programs in 2023.
We have some new and exciting programs coming. They will be geared toward helping our college/university students achieve success at school by making the most of their special accommodations. Receiving special accommodations and learning to advocate to ensure you get the benefits of them are two very different things. Our hope is to help narrow the gap between these 2 issues.
Finally, 2022 has been a very exciting year for Reach. Our Four Pillars program, based on learning life skills in four major areas of independence, has been chosen by a First Nation Community to add to their list of very crucial services they offer. We are so proud to announce that we taken our programs to Shawanaga First Nation and have just successfully completed our first program. Reach Toronto spent a week teaching the community the life skills required to be able to shop, cook and eat nutritionally and economically. We will return for program no 2 to teach Financial Literacy. The skills we teach are transferable to any group or community. Living independently requires a set of tools and skills that many communities do not have. It is our pleasure to be able to help these communities enhance their lives and learn all the skills necessary to navigate this very complicated economic environment. The skills we teach are not exclusive to our population with a disability and we are very happy to be able to bring these programs to more communities.
As we continue to forge new partnerships and relationships, we would like to thank our past and current clients for being part of our successes. A continued heartfelt thank you and endless gratitude goes to our amazing corporate partners who have supported us throughout these very strange and difficult 2 years.
We thank our clients for entrusting Reach Toronto to do their work and helping us to change lives.
Mary Salerno
Executive Director
Our Mission
Reach Toronto is dedicated to helping youth and adults gain skills, tools and strategies to participate more effectively in everyday life. We provide an activity based hands on learning environment in which we help students become more independent, experience a deeper sense of social inclusion and actualize their abilities. We seek to enable individuals to achieve more than they believed possible. Success is the development of individuals confident in their own creativity and individuality.
Our Philosophy
"Your student with autism is like a Mac in a PC-dominated environment. He is hard-wired differently. Not incorrectly - just differently"
- Ellen Notbohm
We believe that each adult with ASD is a unique individual. To foster emotional, intellectual, and social growth, students need to be provided an environment that is safe and invites the sharing of ideas. All adults, deserve to live a life with respect, dignity and acceptance.
- Ellen Notbohm
We believe that each adult with ASD is a unique individual. To foster emotional, intellectual, and social growth, students need to be provided an environment that is safe and invites the sharing of ideas. All adults, deserve to live a life with respect, dignity and acceptance.
Core Values
- We are committed to providing an all-inclusive and accepting environment
- We acknowledge individual differences in learning styles and needs
- We are committed to honesty, integrity and transparency
- We acknowledge our responsibility to be accountable to our students, families and community
- We are committed to helping our students realize their abilities and potential
- We encourage the sharing of ideas and input from staff and students
- We are committed to open and ongoing communication with our students, staff, families and community
