By: Wendy Dyke, Community Supports Coordinator | Membership

As we are in the process of our annual membership renewals, I wanted to highlight a membership benefit that we don’t often focus on.

In our mailouts for membership renewal you will be told about how vital keeping membership strong is to the Community Living Toronto movement. You will also be told about the great programs and events that are funded through membership donations. These are all great reasons to become a member or renew your membership.

What you may not know is how you as an individual you will benefit from being a member of Community Living Toronto. One of our primary roles as membership coordinators is to help families find services in their community for their loved one with an intellectual disability. We fill this role when we answer our main phone line 647-426-3220 called the Information and Membership line. Anyone can call this line to get help finding services and supports in the community. However, as a member of the association you will be creating a relationship with Community Living Toronto that allows the membership coordinators to communicate with you on an on-going basis. We do this primarily through email, sending you information about programs, social events and information sessions that the Association is hosting and will share community partners information with you as well. We will keep you up to date on issues and changes within the developmental services sector.

The relationship goes further than that. As membership coordinators we get to know our members and they get to know us. So, when a member runs into a situation and they really aren’t sure how to handle it, they can call the membership coordinator to ask for advice, direction and help.

As a member you have given us permission to contact you when we come across information we know will help you. For example, a member connected with me because she was looking for a life skills program for her daughter. At that time, there weren’t any programs being offered. However, the following week I received information about a new session starting the next  month. I was able to contact her directly about this program because she is a member and that provided me with permission to do so.

We do follow up with callers who contact us through our main line but with our members, it is a long-term relationship that allows the membership coordinators to initiate contact with our members when we get information that we know will help them whether that information comes to us the week after they were looking  or six months later.

I’ve been a membership coordinator for a long time and built wonderful relationships with our North York members. I really enjoy having members call on me for advice and assistance with everything from employment supports, finding recreation options, ODSP issues, help with finding a disability lawyer, to understanding the developmental services sector. Although we don’t do long term case management, we can provide our members with some short term supports and be there to help them with dealing with the complex developmental services system. We are a resource and connection to the sector. I frequently get told by our members, ‘You always come through for me when I don’t know where else to turn’.

To renew or become a member of Community Living Toronto please visit our website.

To learn more about membership please email contactus@cltoronto.ca or call 647-426-3220.