North Battleford and Area Service Providers

12/10/2025

12/10/2025

⛄️ It may be cold outside, but we’ve got a whole lineup of fun to keep you moving this winter! Take a look at our Special Olympics Battlefords 2025 Winter Programs. ❄️

Special Olympics Saskatchewan

12/03/2025

When screen battles feel never-ending
You’re not imagining it — transitions are harder for a child’s brain than we often realise. Especially for neurodivergent young people, coming away from a screen isn’t a behaviour choice. It’s a nervous system shift.

When the dopamine drop hits
Screens create focus, comfort and predictable reward — so stopping suddenly can feel like falling off a cliff. Understanding the brain chemistry behind the struggle helps us respond with support, not frustration.

When it’s not defiance at all
So many meltdowns are simply a child overwhelmed by the jump from one state to another. Their brain isn’t misbehaving — it’s protecting them from overload.

When we can make transitions kinder
A few small changes — connection first, visual cues, sensory bridges, predictable rituals — can transform the experience for everyone at home or in the classroom.

When calm replaces conflict
The goal isn’t to remove screens. It’s to remove the stress around the transition. When we honour the brain, the battles ease.

When you want deeper support
If screens, meltdowns or dysregulation are daily challenges, my behaviour and emotional regulation toolkits walk you through scripts, routines and practical brain-based strategies. Link in comments below ⬇️ or via Linktree Shop in Bio.

12/03/2025

12/03/2025

Tis the season and we’re grabbing snacks and taking a field trip this week!! 🎄☕️

We’ll meet at the Shared Spaces like usual on 𝐖𝐞𝐝, 𝐃𝐞𝐜 𝟑𝐫𝐝 at 𝟓:𝟑𝟎 𝐩𝐦 and then head out to check out the 𝐖𝐃𝐌 𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐔𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲.

Adult Allies on this festive adventure: Renee (BBBSB) and Amanda + Cym (Battle River Treaty 6 Health Centre | Battlefords Family Health Centre) 🚐 🎶

•𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄• Youth Hangout space continues to max out so make sure to let us know if you (or a friend or two) are coming!! 🙌

[Youth Hangout is FREE to attend and made possible by our friends at Access Communications Children’s Fund and Saskatoon Community Foundation’s Y.E.S! Grant 🫶]

12/03/2025

11/27/2025

Do want to learn more about the federal programs and credits your family might be eligible for? Canada Revenue Agency is doing a free webinar to talk about the Disability Tax Credit, Child Disability Benefit and more!
Register at the link below:

11/26/2025

Alright our beloved 12 + 13 year olds, we've got a your super fun monthly coming 𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬, 𝐍𝐨𝐯 𝟐𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝟓:𝟑𝟎-𝟕𝐩𝐦 at the Shared Spaces - and we're making 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐒 (𝑜𝑟 𝑘𝑒𝑦𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡!)!!! 🙌

We'll be 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐎𝐑 𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐭 prepared by our friends at Autumn + Ash Decor & DIY Studio - perfect to add some of your favourite things to your spaces or start the holiday season ☺️

We will have a • few • spots open to join our current crew for this one! Register at https://battlefords.bigbrothersbigsisters.ca/tween-takeover-enrollment/

The Adult Allies joining in on the fun with you :Renee (BBBSB) and Amanda (Battle River Treaty 6 Health Centre | Battlefords Family Health Centre) 🫶

[Tween Takeover is FREE to attend and made possible by our friends at Access Communications Children’s Fund and Saskatoon Community Foundation ’s Y.E.S! Grant]

11/26/2025

Next Webinar in the series is coming up on December 16th, 2025! "How to make your Holidays accessible for your DHH child."

If you want to join, please be sure to register ahead of time! scan the QR code or use this link to sign up!
https://forms.gle/WncZeaW7FZw5m9yM7
Silent Voice Canada

11/26/2025

We’re all sold this picture-perfect holiday fantasy: matching pajamas, cheerful baking, peaceful family meals, everyone smiling like a Hallmark card. But for so many of us — especially those parenting neurodivergent kids — the reality is… very different.

Think: meltdowns, sensory overload, too much noise, too many transitions, too many demands, and you trying to keep it all together with a smile. If the holidays feel chaotic or exhausting for you, please hear this: nothing is wrong with you or your child. The expectations are unrealistic.

Before we start trying to “fix” anything, it helps to pause and tell the truth about how the holidays have actually felt: burnout by mid-December, overstimulation, pressure to “make it magical,” kids falling apart from nonstop demands, and family members who don’t get your child’s needs.

There is real power in naming your lived experience. You can’t make the season gentler if you don’t start from honesty and compassion.

Step 1: Find Your Deep Why

Ask yourself: What do I actually want this season to feel like?
Maybe it’s connection. Maybe it’s rest. Maybe it’s just “less conflict, please.”

Your Deep Why becomes your anchor when everything feels loud or emotional. If something doesn’t support that Deep Why… it doesn’t need to stay.

Step 2: Name the Demands

The holidays are FULL of demands we don’t even notice until we’re drowning in them — sensory demands, social demands, emotional demands, routine changes, performance expectations.

Once you name them, you can stop blaming yourself and start adjusting the environment.

Step 3: Ask Why This Demand Matters

Not every demand is bad — but every demand costs something.

Ask yourself:
• Why do I feel pressure to do this?
• Whose expectation is this?
• Does this support our Deep Why?
• Does this help my child stay regulated?

If the only reason something exists is guilt or tradition or “we’ve always done it this way”… you’re allowed to set it down.

Step 4: Listen to Your Child

Our kids’ nervous systems are constantly telling us what they can and can’t handle, their sensory cues, their pacing, their overwhelm signals.

When we build holidays around the child we actually have, instead of the child others expect, we see less conflict, fewer meltdowns, and more peace.

Your child’s needs aren’t inconveniences. They’re information.

Step 5: Drop Demands Proactively

Instead of waiting for everything to fall apart, try dropping demands ahead of time. It really does make the whole season smoother.

Maybe that looks like:
• skipping an event
• shortening an outing
• choosing super simple meals
• saying “no” without overexplaining
• letting a tradition rest this year

Less pressure = fewer meltdowns + more peace.

Step 6: Meet Your Own Needs

Your needs matter just as much as your child’s.
Your energy, sensory tolerance, sleep, capacity, and emotional bandwidth all shape the holiday ecosystem at home.

When you care for yourself — even in tiny ways — you bring more regulation, more connection, and more stability to your family.

What if this season didn’t break you??

A meaningful holiday doesn’t come from doing more — it comes from doing what actually matters.

When you follow your Deep Why, drop unnecessary demands, listen to your child, and honor your own needs, you create a season that’s sustainable and kind.

You’re allowed to rewrite the script.
Low-demand holidays are holidays with room to breathe.

11/26/2025

Today we’re focusing on the difference between Time-Out and Time-In — two approaches that look similar on the surface but shape emotional development in completely different ways.

This simple truth sits at the heart of brain-based, connection-focused discipline. Regulation is taught through presence, not isolation — and today’s posts will explore exactly why.

11/12/2025

They say it is easy. They say it is low skilled. Right. Because:

It takes no skill at all to de-escalate fear with calm.
No skill to understand someone without words.
No skill to turn a bad day into safety and laughter.

Funny how the hardest skills are the ones that don’t fit neatly on a resume.

Support work is invisible until it’s not done, until someone isn’t listened to, isn’t understood, isn’t safe. Then the world notices.

Direct support professionals do the quiet work that holds everything together.

And that’s not “easy.” That’s essential.
..

ID: Image shows support worker with two other people. Words read: Disability support work is easy.