A new look and increased visibility for a local organization.
Chatham-Kent Children’s Services is now known as Linck (pronounced Link)
Executive Director Teri Thomas-Vanos says the goal of the rebrand is to ensure the agency is more visible, recognizable, and representative of children, youth, and caregivers in the community.
“A 16 year old was sharing their challenge with having been able to find access to mental health supports, I was curious why didn’t you come to us, and he said ‘look at your name, it’s Chatham-Kent Children’s Services, I’m 16 years old, it didn’t relate to me,’” Thomas-Vanos explains, saying it was clear the agency wasn’t effectively reaching the adolescent demographic.
Thomas-Vanos says with integrated services covering child welfare, mental health, developmental services, and youth justice, one of the biggest challenges has been ensuring the agency is open and inviting to everyone from infants to adults.
“We support families too because we know that kids don’t exist in isolation, they have people around them as well, so we want families to know that we’re a resource for them as well.”
Linck has also released its strategic plan for 2022-25 outlining six priority areas:
- Timely access to the right support
- Linck is a learning organization that innovates, improves, and implements best practices
- Linck in the community
- Reconciliation, equity, and inclusion
- Empowered, collaborative workforce
- Youth & family Engagement
The organization supports nearly 450 children and youth each year with counselling and therapy services, as well as 200 families involved in the family services department. Another 150 children were served last year in the infant and child development in-home program.
For more information on Linck and its services, visit linck.org.