TORONTO – At the Massey Centre, parenting and pregnant adolescents are given a new chance and place to bond, learn and grow together.
Located in Toronto, this children’s mental health facility offers daily support for young moms seeking to provide a better life for themselves and their children.
“You know they’re under stress, they’re pregnant, they’re homeless, they have no social support, they don’t have financial resources,” says Ekua Asabea Blair, Massey Centre CEO.
“They come to us because this is the last place — the last place of resort”.
The centre is open to young women between the ages of 13 and 25.
It provides residential and transitional housing as well as an on-site early learning centre where mothers can drop off their children while they themselves attend secondary school offered, which is also on the property and in partnership with the Toronto District School Board.
“This centre has changed a lot of people I know, including myself,” says Jalisa Orr, a client of the Massey Centre and a young mother of two. “They got me into college and got me to get my diploma.”
These young women have accepted the fact that their lives have changed dramatically and will continue to change as they mature and their child grows.
“Being a young mom is not a death sentence,” says Blair. “It can be the start of something brand new and we see that every day.”
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