August 6, 2026
Deepening connection with families is an important part of Our Partners priority in this year’s implementation plan. We are excited to focus on improving things for families through better communications, engagement, and spiritual care resources.
We look forward to what we will learn from families through a survey we have begun to work on. Families will be invited to give us feedback on how they experience communications with Karis and their ideas for improving communications. We have also reached out to districts to ask employees how they already engage families and how to share those best practices so all of us can better engage with families.
We have created a spiritual care framework for churches to help families. We are piloting this with our partners at Arlington Woods Free Methodist Church in Ottawa where Pastor Cliff Fletcher serves. You may recall part of Pastor Cliff’s story with Karis in the May Reflection. This innovative spiritual care framework has also been shared with the One-Way Ministries church network in Ottawa to help more churches impact more families.
Takeaway Actions from this Article:
Think about a family you know who may benefit from one or more of the resources we have already created. Feel free to share the link to these resources here our website: Disability Resources for Families | Karis Disability Services.
Stefan Thomas, Executive Director, Ottawa and Kingston (East District)