4 minute read
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT
Healing Haven—Behavioral Health and Autism Therapy Services
BY JOCELYN COOK
Healing Haven was founded in 2010 and provides ABA Therapy, Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Counseling and Developmental Testing and Assessments. Healing Haven’s foundation includes an emphasis on parent involvement and stress management for children and parents. The stress that parents of children with special needs face can feel insurmountable. At Healing Haven, the team works to support parents and children beyond simply delivering one-on-one therapy.
Healing Haven provides a unique blend of services not always offered together in a single clinic. Their focus is on the child first, rather than their diagnosis, by providing compassionate care where children can feel they are part of their own care team, and their voices matter.
The unique campus model Healing Haven created in Madison Heights includes three intentionally designed clinics to support children and teens at various stages from 2 to 16 years old. Each clinic allows for a variety of learning opportunities based on age and client skill level, including school preparation, social skills, prevocational skills, and more. And while the majority of their clients have an autism diagnosis, they do also serve family members and siblings with counseling and stress management services.
Healing Haven’s President and Founder Jamie McGillivary, MS, LLP, BCBA, LBA, has worked with children with autism for over 25 years. During the early years of her career, she saw how families struggled to get the support that they needed. Healing Haven was born from a need to address many of the unmet needs families and children with autism face on a daily basis.
Jamie received her graduate degree at Eastern Michigan University. After graduation, she went to work for a local hospital. The landscape of ABA was much different at the time, as there was no insurance coverage for families, and the costs of services back then were outside of the reach for most families. As such, there were very few providers in the area. Jamie worked in tandem with the hospital to create a unique program that taught parents how to teach their children.
Over the years, Healing Haven expanded to provide interdisciplinary services including speech and occupational therapies so parents have one service location for their children’s therapy. This factor alone helps reduce the stress parents are carrying. This also provides opportunities for the different providers to collaborate on goals unique to each client.
Healing Haven later added testing and assessments to the list of services provided, to help parents get answers to their concerns over their child’s development in a timely fashion.
The training that Healing Haven team members go through is extensive, thorough, and ongoing. But even with the training requirements, they strive to staff their clinics in a way that cuts down on the long waitlist time families typically experience to receive therapy services.
After working with children and teens on the autism spectrum for so many years, Jamie always wants people to remember that children with autism have an amazing way of seeing the world. Just like any other child, they look to their parents and adults for structure and support to shape them and guide them. “However, in teaching them, we should not lose sight of all the amazing lessons they have to teach us. They are outside-of-the-box thinkers, creative problem solvers, and hold intense interests and passions that can be inspiring,” explains McGillivary.
Healing Haven’s community involvement includes supporting the work of the Autism Alliance of Michigan through event sponsorships and promotions of their resources to families. The AAOM advocacy work and support they provide have a strong and positive impact on the autism community in Michigan. Additionally, Healing Haven financially supports a variety of local non-profit organizations that give back to children and their families.
Healing Haven
30821 Barrington St. Madison Heights, MI 48071 248-965-3916
https/thehealinghaven.net/ info@thehealinghaven.net
