For Professionals

Referrals

MIM is delivered by Child Development Institute in Toronto, and through a number of licensed Affiliates throughout Ontario. If you are interested in referring a client to MIM, please find the location closest to your client and contact the agency directly.

Affiliates

Interested in becoming a MIM Affiliate? Check out the FAQ below to learn more.

MIM Affiliate FAQ

Who is the target population for Mothers in Mind?

Mothers in Mind (MIM) is designed specifically to meet the parenting needs of women parenting children under the age of four who have experienced violence and trauma, such as family violence, childhood abuse and neglect and sexual assault.

What makes MIM unique and innovative?

At first glance, MIM looks like any other mother-child play group: mothers play with their children and have group discussion. The uniqueness of MIM lies in the content of those discussions. Within the comfort and safety of the group, women are able to discuss the impact trauma has had on their parenting - how they feel triggered when they breastfeed their baby, how their toddler’s tantrum reminds them of their abuser, and how hugging their child doesn’t always feel good are discussions that occur regularly in MIM.

These conversations are necessary for healing, but many women don’t feel comfortable talking about these issues in regular parenting groups.

What are the goals of MIM?

The focus of the program is to intervene early in the lives of young children and their mothers in order to strengthen parent-child relationships, enhance parenting skills and reduce parenting stress.

What is a MIM Affiliate?

A MIM Affiliate is an organization that is licensed to deliver MIM. To become a MIM Affiliate, you will enter into a formalized licensing agreement with Child Development Institue that includes assessing site readiness, on-going training and consultation and a regulated quality assurance process.

What training and support is available?

Well-developed training and support materials are available for MIM Affiliates. As part of the licensing agreement, Affiliates participate in the Mothers in Mind Two-Day Core Training. All staff facilitating MIM must be trained by CDI. Once training is completed a consultation strategy is established for future years.

What are the costs associated with becoming a MIM Affiliate?

Direct costs:

  • Pre-implementation consultation
  • Two-Day Mothers in Mind Core Training
  • Ongoing consultation
  • Annual licensing
  • Training for new staff and/or refresher training

Ongoing Program Costs

  • Staffing
  • Program delivery space and supplies

For more information, please contact:

Lisa Sura-Liddell, MSW
Manager, Program Development & Implementation
Family Violence Services
Child Development Institute
197 Euclid Ave
Toronto, ON M6J 2J8
416-603-1827 ext. 2306
416-603-6655 (fax)
lsura@childdevelop.ca