Our event page provides opportunities for families to connect and experience new activities in a stress-free, accepting space. Check out our special events below for more information and dates. This calendar is updated regularly, so please check back often. Please get in touch if you have an event to share with us.
SESSION INFO: What is Sibshop?
A safe space for siblings to come together and share what it is like to have a sibling with a disability. Sibshops may be “therapeutic” for kids who attend, but they are not therapy. They are fun activities where the skilled facilitators “sneak” in big questions that the kids can explore in a fun, playful way. They’re a celebration of the many lifelong contributions made by brothers and sisters of people with special health and developmental needs.
Who is Sibshop for?
Sibs, of course! Sibshops are for siblings of kids with any disability, including health, physical, intellectual and developmental disabilities. Sibshops are for sibs in the 8-13 year-old age range.
Who facilitates?
We like to have both family members and professionals as a part of the Sibshop leadership. Parents are often the driving force in getting a Sibshop started. We very much like having “guest” adult sibs as Sibshop facilitators on occasion. All facilitators have gone through a rigorous two day training to become a certified Sibshop facilitator. We want them to truly enjoy the company of kids and have had experience working with kids; to be especially good listeners; and to have the ability to convey a sense of joy, wonder, and fun.
At this parent information session we will explain in depth what types of activities we will do with the siblings, brainstorm the best time for families to have their children attend a sibshop and frequency preferences.
Mandy Young is currently the Family Support and Projects Manager with the Family Support Institute of BC. As a mother of a typical nine-year-old son and ten-year-old daughter with a rare genetic syndrome and Autism, she has first-hand experience managing the complex care of an individual with special needs and trying to balance the needs of her son. This is what brought Mandy to become a Sibshop facilitator, Mandy sees the needs of her son being missed or overshadowed by her daughter’s high needs. Mandy also facilitates a support group for families with children aged 0-12 with special needs and P.I.E-Partners for Inclusive Education which brings together administration, teachers, EA’s, and parents to engage in inclusive educations from a place of “power with” and “nothing about us without us”.
Jessica Curry is a mother of two boys; aged 11 and 13. Her younger son has been attending Sibshops for three years, where he has gained a better understanding of his brother’s special needs, and found other children to connect with who are going through similar experiences in their childhood. Jessica has seen the benefits the Sibshop program has had on her son. As a trained facilitator, she wants to share this with others. When she’s not busy with her children, Jessica has been Scout leader for eight years and helps facilitate a parent support group for families who have children with special needs.
227 6th Street
New Westminster, BC
V3L 3A5
(604) 540-8374 ext. 523
Fax: (604) 540-9374
Support Line:
1-800-441-5403
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As a provincial organization, Family Support Institute acknowledges that our work spans across all of the traditional, ancestral and unceded Indigenous territories in BC. Therefore, we respectfully honour all First Nations, Inuit and Métis people, as well as their ancestors, who have lived here and cared for these lands. It is with gratitude that we can live, learn and do our work in the province now known as British Columbia.
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