It is hard to believe that this might be our new day-to-day - at least for a while! The speed with which things have changed makes it hard to adapt and adjust and we are thinking of you. It is harder work right now to stay calm and regulate, and even more work to keep our loved ones feeling safe, calm and connected. We want to help. Your wellbeing continues to be at the forefront of our hearts. We hope you continue to stay safe and healthy. Providing you with support throughout these difficult times is now our main mission.

Together we can find a way through this crisis. At STAR, we are committed to serving our community in innovating new ways to stay connected. We have been working to get services online as fast as possible. The response from parents has been overwhelming! On Monday, we started a brand new online group for tweens and teens, "Critical Core" - a social skills program we have been using for some time at STAR.

Critical Core is a play based group offering connection and support for youth who struggle with social confidence. The feedback from these groups has been amazing. Over and over again, kids and parents talk about safety, a sense of belonging and a life-changing experience of enjoying other people and feeling seen. Building social self-esteem like this, for young people, who have always felt 'other' and 'outside' is truly transformative at every level.

Moving our services online means that children, whose ability to connect socially is very fragile, can still practice those skills and continue to build on their own social confidence and competence. It takes some of the strain off families who are spending long periods of time out of routine and stuck at home.

We have more groups that we would like to offer but we can't do it without you. We are ready to run groups for infants and parents, families that need urgent support with feeding, families of children who are non-speaking and more.

Help us do more. Donations from people like you, allow us to run these services and continue to reach out to children and families like these. This is so important at a time when we all feel vulnerable.

Will you donate today? We need your help to continue to provide support, programs and resources to our community.

"At many times throughout their lives, children will feel the world has turned topsy-turvy. It's not the ever-present smile that will help them feel secure. It's knowing that love can hold many feelings, including sadness, and that they can count on the people they love to be with them until the world turns right side up again." — Fred Rogers, You Are Special

Grateful for your support,

Virginia Spielmann
Executive Director