At UP Early Intervention Clinic, Inc., we are committed to providing a safe and inclusive workspace for our staff, clients, and community at large, where all individuals are treated with respect, dignity, and equality. We strive to foster and maintain an environment that is free of discrimination and harassment, where all individuals are empowered and welcomed to participate and contribute fully and are given equal opportunities to grow and fulfil their potential.

At UP Early Intervention Clinic, Inc., we recognize diversity is fundamental to building a strong and authentic workforce as well as establishing a collaborative culture. We will continue to recruit diverse candidates for new and current positions as our organization grows and expands in service of an inclusive company culture. We also strive to create an inclusive community by increasing diversity across race, disability, and sexuality in our print and physical materials, including our website, newsletters, and with the toys, books, and materials in our clinic. Our Anti-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policies communicate our zero tolerance policy for any discrimination on grounds related to gender, class and age, race and ethnicity, disability, sexuality, etc., and takes measures to work towards ensuring all individuals have a sense of safety or universal accessibility to equal experiences within the workplace and in access to services, as well as protection of individuals with serious consequences in place should these matters occur.

We are also including gender pronouns in our email signatures and clinic software as well as encouraging staff and clients to share their gender pronouns, depending on their comfort level, to ensure we are using the terminology the individual identifies themselves with rather than based on assumptions/cultural norm. Our goal is to create a culture that acknowledges that an individual may have chosen pronouns that differ day to day or do not match stereotypical expectations. We are actively committed to dismantle stereotypes with regards to what behaviours are “normal” to better support every human being to safely express their true and authentic self.

We are also committed to the new Code of Ethics for Behaviour Analysts, including by obtaining verbal and non-verbal assent from our clients wherever possible within our therapy services. At UP Early Intervention Clinic, Inc., we recognize there is much to learn and we are committed to improving as an organization in the large scope of Diversity and Inclusion through acceptance and understanding of culture and disability rights. We also acknowledge the inherent power imbalance between adults and children to promote safety, autonomy, and happiness above all else. We strive to be a neurodiversity affirming organization, and provide staff with opportunities for learning and critical thinking to move us towards this important goal.

At UP, we encourage and facilitate discussions about a wide range of topics from sexual health and autonomy, cultural diversity, sexual orientation and gender identities/expressions, accessibility, etc., in order for our organization to provide services that are best practice and guided by diverse community members. We will work to reach this goal by providing training and workshops from different professionals for all staff at UP Early Intervention Clinic, Inc. during professional development days and clinical skills team meetings.

Our policies are consistently reviewed on an annual basis, and we recognize that our work in being anti-racist and anti-ableist in particular are never finished. We also acknowledge that we may collectively as an organization or individually have engaged in or may in the future engage in actions that are harmful to individuals; we acknowledge our imperfections and our commitment to do better. We invite members of the community to call us in to participate in learning and unlearning opportunities for everyone’s education, health, and safety, including psychological safety.