Catholic Family Services of Toronto provides family services to a highly diverse community and provides these services within a Catholic values framework.
At Catholic Family Services of Toronto, we believe that people can heal, change, and grow, and with support, can overcome constraints, hardships and trauma to lead fulfilling lives. Through our professional individual, couple and family therapy, our Family Life and Wellness programs, we bring a message of hope and healing to the people we serve.
The passionate belief in the capacity of people to change is at the heart of our Statement of Philosophy. It motivates the Agency to identify and bear witness to the value system and social teachings of Catholicism. We believe that every person deserves to be valued and respected as a unique creation of God, living in relationship with others.
In its ministry, Catholic Family Services of Toronto is committed to service and to social justice. We choose to make our services accessible, particularly to poor and vulnerable community members. The Agency provides services to all people without discrimination, regardless of religious, ethnic and social identities. Every person is treated with dignity, respect and compassion.
It is the ultimate purpose and function of the Agency to protect the right of individuals to freely seek and choose the appropriate service for their need, either by providing direct service or by referring the individual to appropriate community resources. We believe in the right of a person to exercise autonomy in choosing their personal goals and the means to achieving them.
The skill and quality of the services we offer must meet the most demanding standards to achieve the purpose inherent in our mission. We are encouraged by our Catholic faith to take an integrated and holistic approach to service delivery, to form partnerships and to undertake appropriate social ministries in order to be responsive to persons who are seeking care and assistance.
Counselling services facilitate support, reconciliation and healing through the medium of a person-to-person relationship. Family Life Education and Wellness services adhere to the principles of education to promote health and personal growth, strengthening family life, and preventing the development of intrapsychic and interpersonal problems. Every individual who chooses to utilize the Agency’s services is assessed according to their economic, cultural, linguistic, physical, emotional, social, psychological and spiritual needs, to facilitate the fulfillment of their values and ideals, and achieve their specific purpose and calling.
Every individual has rights and responsibilities. The Agency has an obligation to take action to eliminate obstacles to individual and family well-being by actively pursuing its commitment to social justice through engagement in advocacy. Advocacy includes the initiation and support of effective programs of education to meet identified needs, involvement in community planning and social action, and formally expressing concerns about legislation that is detrimental to individual and family well-being.
People working together with a shared vision and a shared purpose are the foundation for the ministry of the Catholic Family Services of Toronto.