What We Do
Welcome to blueballoon
blueballoon Health Services specializes in paediatric assessment and direct treatment in a family-focused, warm, compassionate clinical setting. blueballoon collaboratively delivers integrated healthcare services including Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Speech Language Pathology, Music Therapy, Behavioural Therapy and Psychology.
Jump to a section:
Our vision at blueballoon Health Services is to be the place that fills the gap between the home and the hospital for our clients and their families. Our clients range in age from infants to young adults who can benefit from our professional support in the areas of developmental, physical, cognitive, behavioural, emotional, learning and social challenges.
Our mission is to promote the best possible developmental outcomes and foster lifelong wellbeing for our young clients. We set ambitious yet realistic goals so that clients can fully participate in healthy relationships with others, recreation and leisure activities, and school and work life. We help clients achieve these goals through providing high quality coordinated multidisciplinary services.
blueballoon Health Services offers assessment, treatment, and support in a range of multi-disciplinary health services including:
- Occupational Therapy
- Speech/Language Pathology
- Physiotherapy
- Music therapy
- Psychology Services
- Behavioural Therapy
Dedicated health care professionals deliver services within a well-equipped, family-focused, warm and compassionate environment.
blueballoon Health Services Inc.
(bbHS) operates blueballoon Health Services facilities and develops and manages the many business and administrative processes that support blueballoon Health Services. First and foremost, blueballoon Health Services is focused on clinical excellence and blueballoon Health Services Home operates as a true strategic partner to blueballoon heath care professionals. This allows blueballoon health care professionals to focus on delivering top quality services to our clients while bbHS works to ensure that their full blueballoon experience is as convenient and enjoyable as possible.
blueballoon Health Services Advantages
We are committed to clinical excellence in our respective disciplines - but in an environment that kids are excited to visit. You can see this commitment in our facilities where we have top quality clinical equipment and tools arranged in a way that makes treatment sessions fun.
blueballoon Health Services therapists are highly qualified professionals at the leading edge of their fields. Ongoing training and education is a priority for all our staff.
Our commitment to our families goes beyond the clinical. We have an easily accessible facility with a bright and clean waiting room with wireless internet access. Parents have the opportunity to observe treatment sessions from our one-way viewing room.
No doctor referral is necessary. Please complete our Self-Referral Form - Click here.
blueballoon Health Services operates three gym facilities, in Toronto, ON, Burlington, ON, and Aurora, ON.
We are a state-of-the-art facilty with two fully accessible, floor-matted treatment areas, fine-motor and music rooms. We have specialized equipment including swings, a kinder-gym climbing mountain and a ball pit. Ample free parking is available and our facilities are wheelchair accessible.
A number of treatment rooms are available for children receiving therapy. They are set up for treatment and/or for children to learn through self-direction under the guidance of a therapist. The programs used in the treatment rooms are adapted for each child's individual needs or for group requirements.
Available treatment rooms at our gym facilities include:
- A large gross motor gym (equipped with a variety of swings, ball pit, ramps, therapy balls, balance beams, trampoline and more)
- A small gym - for individual assessment and treatment
- A fine motor room which is used to develop fine motor skills including manipulation and dexterity, printing, drawing and painting. Here a child will also learn the range of responses associated with touching a variety of textures, including water, sand, playdough and more.
There is also a one-way viewing room equipped with one-way listening devices. We encourage parents to view and listen to their child's treatment sessions in the large gym allowing your child the necessary focus required for treatment.
Heather MacEwen, Director of blueballoon Occupational Therapy, graduated from the Unviersity of Western Ontario with a BA. in Psychology, and a M.Cl.Sc. in Occupational Therapy. She has since practiced in the USA and Canada in Paediatrics within both educational and clinical settings. After practising and seeing the benefits of on-going, intensive therapy and clinic-based treatment for children, she found herself inspired by the collaborative, integrated and interdisciplinary processes in place. Upon Heather's return to Canada, she was challenged to find a similar environment where she could receive the supports to deliver direct treatment and work in a truly interdisciplinary team. Around the same time, Heather's brother Stephen had also returned from working in the US and having a child with special needs, was searching for appropriate services in Toronto. The idea for blueballoon came out of a desire to meet these needs and to deliver top quality clinical treatment to children with unique challenges including developmental delays and learning disabilities.
blueballoon Health Services began operation in mid 2004 with Heather delivering the first therapy services out of the then partially finished "The Links" site in Toronto. Stephen joined the team full time in late 2006. The "clinical meets management" partnership has thrived, with management skills and resources being deployed to empower and enable the clinical professionals. Below is a timeline that summarizes key events.
