Families in Transition (FIT) is a voluntary service supporting the emotional well-being of children and adults who are experiencing significant change brought on by separation/divorce. Our professional staff works with families to find solutions, explore options using a variety of tools and approaches that promote the emotional well-being of children and their parents.
FIT provides service to families who live and/or work in Toronto.
At FIT we offer:
Short Term Counselling services for separating, divorcing and blended families
At FIT we do not offer:
Staff can provide service in Farsi, Mandarin, Cantonese, and English,. When you call for an appointment, please let us know about your language requirements at intake.
To access our services you, the parent, must experience at least one of the following:
Your child(ren) must experience at least one of the following:
Call our Service Access Unit at 416-595-9618
There are fees for all services at Families in Transition and fees are based on a sliding scale to ensure that persons with all income levels can access our programs. Please go to “Services” tab at the top of the page to see the description of services offered and their corresponding fees.
For appointments, registration and information contact our Service Access Unit at 416 595 9618.
FIT offers a limited number of goal-oriented individual counselling sessions for parents and children.
Counselling focuses on issues such as reducing parent conflict, creating healthier co-parenting relationships, supporting a child’s grief process, dealing with parent’s anger, sadness, and grief, fostering healthier child-parent relationships, focusing on creating a positive way forward after separation or divorce.
Counsellors will work with clients to create a mutually agreed upon plan to work towards the goals clients bring to counselling.
Individual sessions fee: $150/session (sliding scale offered to ensure that persons with all income levels can access our programs).
There are several Groups and Workshops offered through FIT. For up-to-date information on current workshops and groups, please visit the Workshops, Groups and Events page.
If you are interested in any of the FIT workshops or groups, please contact the Service Access Unit at 416-595-9618. Please note that some groups will require screening by the group facilitator(s).
FIT services are designed to help children adjust to parental separation, divorce, and remarriage. Programming focuses on the issues that have significant impact on children whose parents live apart. These include:
Any member of a separating, divorcing, or blended family can benefit from FIT services. They are available to people living or working in Toronto. Services are provided in English, French, Tagalog and Spanish.
No. Research demonstrates that early support is important in helping parents plan how to care for children when they no longer live together. Parents who are already living apart learn about ways to help children adjust to the changing family circumstances.
FIT is a voluntary non-profit social service agency. We are not connected to the courts. Our services supplement assistance you may be receiving from lawyers or the court. We do not get involved in court proceedings. When you first see us, we will ask you to sign a document that you understand and agree to this.
Yes, the voluntary nature of our service means that parents must call us to request service. We will not accept referrals on behalf of a client from other third parties such as lawyers, the courts, other services providers.
Yes, when working with children we need consent from both parents. We can help children more when both parents work with us. We will talk with you about how we might involve the other parent because research demonstrates that interventions are more effective when both parents work with us. If one parent is unavailable, we will continue to help the parent who calls us.
We usually provide direct service for children 4 to 18 years. Youth 12 years and older may request service on their own.
Yes, you can still come to FIT even if you are in court litigating.
We do not provide reports to the court, even if you are attending FIT at the direction of the court. If you require such a report, you will need to seek service elsewhere. In order for children and parents to trust that we will remain neutral and unbiased, we do not provide reports for court or other organizations your family may be involved with.
FIT conducted two major research studies that document the effectiveness of our services. Our most recent study demonstrated that positive outcomes for children are more likely when:
Yes. Your written permission is required for us to exchange information with any other person, except in specific circumstances where we are legally required to break confidentiality.
No, this is not part of the services provided by FIT staff. If you are searching for this service, you will need to contact a private practitioner who does this type of work.
Group programs are scheduled throughout the year. It is important to check our website on a frequent basis. There may be a wait for an individual appointment.
Yes, we charge a fee for or services. Fees are determined according to your income and family size. Many of our group programs have set fees. Individual and family counseling is based on an hourly fee. We are able to reduce our fees below your assessed fee when need is demonstrated. Private insurance through your employer or another group plan may cover some or all of our fees.
We are located at 355 Church Street, just North of Gerard St. and South of Carlton St. The College Park subway station is 5 min away. Parking is not available at this location. Group programs operate from this central location. With advance notice, many of our educational programs can be offered from other locations in the community. Contact the FIT office at 416 595 9618 to discuss specific requests to provide programs elsewhere in the community.
Children Coping with Separation and Divorce
10 Ways to Minimize Conflict with Children
What can Families in Transition do to Help
Counselling and Reading Materials handout
The 519
Abrigo Center
The Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic
Canadian Hearing Services (for people deaf & hard of hearing)
Catholic Family Services of Toronto
The Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples
The Child Development Institute
Chinese Family Services of Ontario
COSTI Immigrant Services
Jewish Family and Child Service
Native Child & Family Services of Toronto
The Neighborhood Organization
Oasis Centre des Femmes
Riverdale Immigrant Women’s Centre
Scarborough Women’s Centre
Toronto Rape Crisis Centre
Tropicana Community Services
West Neighbourhood House
Women’s College Hospital Trauma Therapy Program
Women’s Habitat
Women’s Health in Women’s Hands
Your local Community Health Centre – look up Toronto Community Health Centre
Hospital of Sick Kids (Centre for Community Mental Health)
The Child Development Institute
Kids Help Phone
Lumenus
Open Counselling
Strides Toronto
What’s Up Walk-In
Yorktown Family Services
Youthlink
The following list outlines websites that contain publications of interest for separating, divorcing, and blending families. Examples of publications from each website are noted in bullets. Please access websites for full publication listings.