{"id":33343,"date":"2023-07-20T18:02:48","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T22:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=33343"},"modified":"2023-07-20T18:02:50","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T22:02:50","slug":"its-your-journey-its-your-way-with-newly-rebranded-yssn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/its-your-journey-its-your-way-with-newly-rebranded-yssn\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s your journey, it\u2019s your way\u201d with newly-rebranded YSSN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Changing a single letter doesn\u2019t seem like the most drastic of moves, but, for the Aurora-based Your Support Services Network, it\u2019s a game-changer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your Support Services Network is a hub for developmental, mental health, and children\u2019s services that has been lending the community a hand as \u201cYork Support Services Network\u201d for more than 40 years. Its rebrand, replacing \u201cYork\u201d with \u201cYour\u201d reflects the significant growth YSSN has seen over the last four decades, expanding well beyond York Region to South Simcoe, Peterborough, and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe pandemic, like with so many others, made us look at our priorities and values,\u201d explains YSSN Executive Director Kimberly Thorn. \u201cWe recognized that maybe our name wasn\u2019t really reflective of who we were, so we took that to our staff, our board, people we supported, and it was really the people we supported in the past who gave us some really great insight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey talked about the fact they absolutely viewed us as a network and that they felt very supported by us when they came to our door. We recognized that, you know what, maybe there isn\u2019t anything necessarily wrong with our name but as we talked it became abundantly clear to us that everyone came to us with a unique story and a unique journey. It really is about the people we support. That\u2019s why we\u2019re here, that\u2019s what brings our staff together. That is really the underlying foundation of everything that we do. It became clear to us that the \u2018Y\u2019 we were there was \u2018You.\u2019 It was about each individual person who came to us looking for support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shift from \u201cYork\u201d to \u201cYour\u201d was a natural progression, she added, to \u201creaffirm our commitment to people when they come to us, they are getting supports that help them with the unique circumstances, that they have a unique journey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going hand in hand with the YSSN rebrand was the development of a new Strategic Plan to guide the organization forward. Thorn says they wanted to think about \u201cwho we were and also where we were going.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything they do, she says, is based on the people they support and there was an \u201cobligation\u201d on the part of the YSSN to \u201creally try to affect systems change on their behalf\u201d as people were coming to them with \u201cunmet\u201d needs, some of which were due to gaps in the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the things we have committed to is being a transformational leader from a systems perspective; we want to collaborate with our partners to really look at how do we create systems change for people so that their needs are being met,\u201d says Thorn. \u201cWe also wanted to make sure that we connect people and help people navigate the service system. As the system changes, people sometimes need assistance in navigating those pathways, so we really want to ensure they\u2019re streamlined for people and that we can guide them along that journey as they seek services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe other thing that we\u2019re committed to is really wanting to be more nimble and innovative. Times are changing and people\u2019s needs are changing and we serve across the lifespan \u2013 children to seniors \u2013 and people have different needs and we want to meet them where they\u2019re at and look at where we can be innovative so we are meeting people\u2019s needs as best we can. We are a human service agency and people do the work with people. We also wanted to commit to our staff to make sure they were thriving and feeling empowered in the work that they do. Our commitment when we talk about \u2018You\u2019 it is about the people we support but it is also about the people doing the work and making sure they feel well-supported to do the extraordinary work that they do today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, service changes seen by the YSSN include becoming an intake for adults with developmental disabilities, serving York Region, Simcoe County, Durham Region, Haliburton, Kawartha Lakes, Peterborough, and Northumberland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are seeking services where services are available. We really committed ourselves to making sure we\u2019re staying on top of changes in services so people are aware of anything new that may be beneficial to them, gathering that information and feeding it back to service agencies in those areas so they can develop services to meet the needs of people in their respective communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom a mental health perspective, we serve South Simcoe as well. We have a crisis line that, no surprise, has seen a huge increase in the number of people calling us, particularly over the pandemic, and that hasn\u2019t changed. As much as the pandemic feels like it is over, people are still really seeking crisis support for a variety of reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also recognize that people often need a break from their situations and recently made the decision to close their previous model of providing crisis beds from their centralized location in Newmarket, towards more targeted locations, particularly in South Simcoe \u201cso people in those communities could have the choice of staying in their community if they needed a break from their current situation, or they could come to York Region, again to provide people with choice and opportunity as we started to experience that increased need for crisis services.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to look at addressing unmet needs,\u201d Thorn says. \u201cWe know housing is an unmet need for people. We know that people accessing community services in lieu of hospital services\u2026 we have the mechanisms to track that. We want to see people directed to the right service at the right time, so throughout our partnerships we have police partnerships redirecting people away potentially from justice services to community services, reducing the risk of homelessness for people and having connections to supports and services in their communities [because] connections lead to people feeling like they matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving a meaningful life is something that grounds people, helps them feel that connection to community and knowing there are people out there who care about them is so integral to people\u2019s health and mental wellbeing. Can we create simplified pathways for people so it is easier for them to find services and they don\u2019t feel lost in the system? Can we create services that are responsive to people as needs change so that it isn\u2019t leading to a crisis situation, but it being more proactive and preventative?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe encourage people to continue to reach out as they need support and certainly we want people to understand that while we may have changed our name slightly we\u2019re here to support them as best we can and we hope people feel they can still reach out to us. Our name may have changed a little bit, it does not change the services we offer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more on Your Support Services Network and the resources they provide, visit yssn.ca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Changing a single letter doesn\u2019t seem like the most drastic of moves, but, for the Aurora-based Your Support Services Network, it\u2019s a game-changer. Your Support Services Network is a hub for developmental, mental health, and children\u2019s services that has been lending the community a hand as \u201cYork Support Services Network\u201d for more than 40 years. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":33323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-07-20-03.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8FN","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-12 22:09:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}