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Adult Neurodevelopmental Services Program At The Center For Addiction And Mental Health

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I had the opportunity to complete a seven-week internship within the Toronto Adult Neurodevelopmental Services Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). During my time at CAMH, I had the chance to shadow multiple Developmental Service Workers to provide support for clients ages 16 and above diagnosed with Developmental Disability (DD) and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) presenting with mental health concerns or severe challenging behaviour problems. I also had the opportunity to work with over 10 different clients and their families to develop and implement comprehensive support plans. Overall, the time I spent at CAMH was filled with multiple instances that coincide with almost all the Learning Outcomes outlined in …show more content…

Dual diagnosis refers to the co-existence of a developmental disability (DD) and a mental health problem, and those who present with this type of diagnosis receive support from a number of different experts on CAMH’s interdisciplinary team. Before any client is admitted to the inpatient unit, the team attempts to collect as much information about the individuals as possible (i.e. past diagnoses, family history, psychological/behaviour assessments, etc.) and document this information on their online database and in separate client binders located on the unit. In order to build a rapport with each other clients, I started by first reading each of their binders and files. This information gave me a better understanding of their strengths and needs, as well as the best ways to communicate. For example, client PC, presenting with ASD, DD, and ADHD, was mostly nonverbal and communicated by touching your hand and guiding you or by using loud vocalizations. While becoming familiar with his file, I learned that he could read, write and understand basic math equations at a grade 3 level. Using this information, I prepared a package filled with different worksheets and sat with him in the lounge while he completed them. Although he was nonverbal, he would communicate that he wanted me to mark his math homework by passing me the sheet and handing

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