BC Summit on Navigation for Children and Youth with Neurodevelopmental Differences, Disabilities, and Special Needs
This event is viewed as the capstone event of our project in BC, as it represents an unprecedented bringing together of key stakeholders who support families through helping them to navigate to services and supports. The aim of the event is for participants to learn from each other, to seek ways to achieve a more seamless experience for families, and to create a new and sustainable movement to recognize and establish the role of navigation as an integral component of the service system for the families of children and youth with neurodisability. This is the long-planned embodiment of a vision of coming together now for a better future.
Held on January 18 and 19, we had hosted the Summit on a virtual platform that brought together over 120 participants including patients and families, service providers, researchers and decision-makers. The Provincial Advisory Group worked hard on participant composition which comprehensively represented sectors from education, healthcare, provincial government, non-profits, family-led services and indigenous-led services. Special attention was also paid to ensure voices around the table reflected the vast geographic spread of communities in BC including rural and remote communities, indigenous communities, low-income or socioeconomically vulnerable populations and regions outside of Metro Vancouver.
Overall feedback about the event was positive and the team is working towards a knowledge translation plan, with goals of:
- Sharing important key messages and learnings from the Summit;
- Building a community of stakeholders and practitioners of navigation of services and supports in BC and;
- Strategizing possible system changes.
View the BC Summit on Navigation for Children and Youth with Neurodevelopmental Differences, Disabilities, and Special Needs event programme.
Click on the image below to view the larger infographic.
BC Navigation Summit – Regroup
On September 20, we held a follow-up event with participants from the BC Navigation Summit in January. The event focused on reviewing together the main learnings and knowledge products that have emerged from the Summit in January. We also provided an update about activities and progress made since meeting in January. Much of the time was dedicated to collaborating with participants to explore how to keep the navigation community together and thriving in B.C. and to gather any other new and compelling ideas for strengthening navigational supports on behalf of families with children living with neurodevelopmental disabilities and special needs.
Click on the image below to view the larger infographic.
For more information about the Summit, please see our publication in BMC Proceedings.