The Elizabeth Stewart Educational Fund was established in July 2022 to support the next generation of family therapists, counsellors and advocates working for family wellness in Toronto.

Elizabeth (Betty) Stewart (1935-2012) was a Torontonian with a deep commitment to helping families overcome conflict and relationship breakdown. She drew on her first-hand experience as a single mother of three children, one with a significant developmental disability, at a time when services for families in crisis were oriented to institutional and correctional models.

Through self-advocacy and continuous professional education, Betty built a legacy of service, innovation and positive impact for families and children through her work with the Association for Community Living (ACL), the Ontario Housing Corporation, the Hincks Treatment Centre (now part of Sick Kids Centre for Community Mental Health), and the innovative Interface program at Thistletown Regional Centre.  She was still building that legacy when she retired from her beloved role as Director of the schools program at the York Centre for Families and Children in 2001.

The Fund is inspired by her example to support young professionals who courageously draw on their lived experience to inform their practice in the areas of family therapy, youth mental health and community services for families.

The fund will provide charitable donations for diverse educational needs, including professional development and knowledge translation, for practitioners at all career stages. At this time the focus of funding will be on strengths-based approaches for families and children experiencing crisis and relationship distress and a commitment to the social values of contemporary family therapy practice.

The Fund was established by Betty’s children in 2022. It will operate as an endowment to support worthy recipients for many years to come.

We thank each of our donors for their generous gift.

To enable the Donor Advisor to properly recognize donors for their contributions, Toronto Foundation will share your contact information and donation amount with the Donor Advisor unless you have checked the anonymous box on the donation form.