Growing up Safe · Grandir en sécurité

Six partners.
A shared vision.
So every child can thrive.

Six partenaires.
Une même vision.
Pour que chaque enfant puisse s’épanouir.

Why This Project is Needed

Gender-based violence remains a serious issue in Ottawa, deeply affecting children and their caregivers.

While shelters play a vital role in ensuring immediate safety and stability, many families still face the long-term emotional and developmental effects of violence. Children may struggle with anxiety, nightmares, or falling behind at school. Caregivers often carry their own trauma while trying to re-establish routines and a sense of normalcy.

Without specialized, child- and caregiver-focused supports, the impact of violence can continue long after families have left the shelter. The Growing Up Safe program builds on the essential safety provided by Ottawa’s shelters by offering trauma-informed, evidence-based mental health care that helps families heal, regain confidence, and rebuild strong, healthy relationships.

Harmony House

How the Collaboration Came to Be

The Growing Up Safe Project is a Partnership.

The Growing Up Safe Project is a partnership between Crossroads Children’s Mental Health Centre and five Ottawa shelters: Chrysalis House, Maison d’amitié, Nelson House, Harmony House, and Interval House. Shelters bring expertise in crisis response and safety planning, while Crossroads offers specialized child and family mental health care. Together, the teams ensure families are connected to the right supports at the right time, in an environment that feels safe and familiar.

How the Program Works

At each partner shelter, children and caregivers have access to a therapist and a child and youth worker who are on-site each week. Support might include:

  • Helping children manage worries, nightmares, or behaviour changes after trauma.
  • Working with caregivers to create calm, consistent routines such as bedtime and mealtimes.
  • Offering practical tools for communication and emotional support during transitions.
  • Helping families navigate forms, school concerns, and community resources as they move into stable housing.

Services are evidence-based, trauma-informed, and focused on creating lasting change.
Support continues even after families leave the shelter, ensuring continuity of care and smoother transitions into long-term stability.

A little girl sits on her mother's lap at the doctor's office as she is there for a check up. Their family doctor sits across them.
Pretty young African American employee speaking on corporate meeting, sharing ideas with group. Diverse female office team discussing business project, talking in lobby, brainstorming

Building Shared Capacity

An important part of the program is mutual learning between Crossroads and the shelter teams. Crossroads staff train shelter workers on topics like child trauma, emotional regulation, and strategies to support children’s recovery. In turn, shelter staff train Crossroads clinicians on recognizing signs of abuse, supporting safety planning, and understanding the resilience of survivors. This cross-training strengthens the overall network of care, ensuring that families receive consistent and coordinated support across all settings.

Latest News

Things We’re Working on With Families

March 18, 2026
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Across the Growing Up Safe partnership, child and youth workers and child and family therapists work closely with children and caregivers who are navigating stress, […]

Chrysalis House

February 17, 2026
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Chrysalis House is a 25-bed emergency shelter supporting women, gender diverse individuals, and their dependents who are fleeing gender-based violence. Serving both families and single […]

Growing Up Safe: Supporting Families Through Healing and Hope

December 16, 2025
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At Crossroads Children’s Mental Health Centre (CCMHC), we believe every child deserves
to feel safe, supported, and loved. That’s why, through the support of the […]

Strengthening Support for Children: Building Shared Skills Through Collaborative Problem Solving

December 16, 2025
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Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) Training

Across Ottawa, the Growing Up Safe partners are working together to strengthen how we support children and families who have experienced […]

Read All News

Inside Perspectives

Growing Up Safe offers the meaningful, family-centred emotional support that so many children and caregivers have needed but didn’t have before. Many families have witnessed or experienced significant trauma, yet previously lacked a safe, consistent space to process those experiences. By working one-on-one with families, the program creates a supportive environment where they can explore the impact of what they’ve been through and gain practical strategies to cope, heal, and move forward.

Caregivers living in shelter environments are often functioning in ‘survival mode,’ which can limit their ability to connect and build healthy attachments with their children. Growing Up Safe meets caregivers where they are, offering the support, tools, and encouragement they need to move from surviving to truly thriving. By strengthening caregivers’ confidence and capacity to parent with warmth, stability, and secure attachment, the program directly improves children’s well-being.

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