Welcome to Spinnaker Psychological Services
for children and youth.
for children and youth.
At Spinnaker Psychological Services, we are committed to approaching families and youth with curiousity and compassion, to assist them in better understanding and supporting their own unique strengths and needs. We offer a model that highlights a child's early and ongoing development and experience of attachment, as well as lived experiences, to support understanding of their capacities and their challenges, how they participate and interact with their environment and how this has informed their template of themselves and those around them. We provide a comprehensive and tailored psychological service so that caregivers can make informed decisions in supporting and nurturing their child's ongoing development and resilience.
What We Offer
At Spinnaker Psychological Services we specialize in childhood and youth assessments: developmental, psychoeducational and psychological/diagnostic. Our training and experience is highly specialized in the areas of child development, Intellectual Disabilities, Learning Disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity (ADHD), Complex Developmental Trauma and other social, emotional and regulation concerns, including anxiety and mood. Our specialty is considering the whole child in the context of childhood development, spanning from preschooler through elementary and secondary levels of education. We offer a compassionate and collaborative approach, working with you and your child to ensure a comprehensive understanding of your child's strengths and areas of need, to help formulate an intervention plan, and better address their needs going forward. We also suggest and help link the child and family to other supportive interventions and appropriate community services.
ConsultationDo you have questions or concerns about your child but are not sure where to start or what to ask for? Our focus it to help caregivers become energized and aware of their strengths. We achieve this by listening to your concerns, suggesting next steps and customizing a plan that is right for you and your child. At this time we are not offering counseling or psychotherapy, but are happy to advise you about this. |
Developmental AssessmentAs you watch your young child grow, are you wondering if they are developing as they should? Are they having trouble keeping up or getting along with other kids their age? A developmental assessment in the early years looks at your child's profile of learning, regulation, language, social and adaptive skills to guide you in supporting their development. |
Psychological AssessmentIs your child feeling overwhelmed academically, socially, emotionally, or behaviourally? Do you have questions about why typical teaching or support strategies just aren't making a difference? A psychological assessment is a thorough, but also tailored evaluation, that can help to understand a child's learning strengths and needs, as well as how they cope with events in their lives, and will offer ideas on how to support them at school, home and in the community. |
Psychoeducation
Within our consultation and assessment with you, we hope to share knowledge and skills to add to your strengths and learnings.
We also hope to offer youth and caregiver groups. Topics might include co-regulation/ self-regulation, executive functioning, mindfulness, anxiety boot-camps, etc.. We will have links here when these are available. We are also available to come and speak to your caregiver, school or community group on topics you are interested in exploring together. Let us know topics you might be interested in! |
Who We Are
Pamela Brown and Susan Gross co-founded Spinnaker Psychological Services and look forward to collaborating with families in this region. We have been working together since 2009, as colleagues working within specialized developmental and assessment teams, and in a supervisee/supervisor relationship working with children and families to complete complex developmental and mental health assessments in a children’s mental health agency. We share the same vision and values; we strive to consider the child and family with curiosity and compassion, and we seek to support each person in finding their capacity for resilience, relationship and personal well-being.
Susan Gross
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Pamela Brown
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We at Spinnaker Psychological Services acknowledge that we live and work on the traditional territories of the Anishnaabeg/Anishinaabeg/Anishnabek/Anishinabek, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), Huron-Wendt/Huron-Wendat, Attawandaron (Neutral), Lenape, Ojibway/Chippewa, and Wendat Indigenous Peoples. This territory is covered by the Upper Canada Treaties.
We humbly offer this land acknowledgement as an act of reconciliation, an act of compassion, and an act of mindfulness. Recognizing the traditional territories we stand on is a small but important step we can all take towards recognizing and honouring the Indigenous Peoples who have lived on Turtle Island (aka: North America).
We humbly offer this land acknowledgement as an act of reconciliation, an act of compassion, and an act of mindfulness. Recognizing the traditional territories we stand on is a small but important step we can all take towards recognizing and honouring the Indigenous Peoples who have lived on Turtle Island (aka: North America).
"When educating the minds of our youth, we must not forget to educate their hearts."
- Dalai Lama
- Dalai Lama
Photos courtesy of Anna Kolosyuk, Artem Kniaz-Unsplash
