Our main partner organization, posAbilities, is a social service provider that supports individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In their commitment to help each individual flourish, they realized that their supports focused on physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being, but excluded spiritual well-being. They are eager to understand how a non-religiously affiliated social service provider can include spiritual well-being and understanding in a relevant and appropriate way.

Together, posAbilities, the Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion (BACI), Kinsight, Curiko, and the CCRL are initiating a project to:

1. Understand how people with intellectual & developmental disabilities learn about and engage in spirituality,
2. Assess how agencies understand and enact their role in spiritual literacy and support, and,
3. Understand how family members feel and what they observe about their loved one’s engagement with spirituality.

Focus areas 1 and 2 of this innovative project were completed with the financial partnership of the Redleaf Foundation.

This project is a long-term exploration and collaboration. Preliminary findings from a literature review were shared at the Inclusion BC Conference in May 2024. Additional details will be published and shared locally and online afterwards.

Curiko partners with CCRL’s Dr. Margie Patrick and Dr. Alice Chan at the Inclusion BC conference in Nanaimo, displaying the four ways to connect spiritually – with self, others, nature, and the transcendent (May 2024)