Our Vision
Emu Education - Parent and Behaviour Support believes in providing behavioural and educational therapy to support children to reach their full potential. By building the skills of children and their caregivers, we can enable children to be confident and independent individuals.
Our Mission
Emu Education's mission is to provide effective therapy services so that caregivers have a toolbelt of strategies to support their children to reach their full potential and live a valued life.
By developing individualized behaviour therapy, we are walking side-by-side with parents and caregivers to create stronger connections with their children.
By knowing your goals and reality, Emu Education is helping you implement strategies to see your children develop skills and display socially significant behaviours.
Parenting is challenging, consistency is important, but realistically nearly impossible. Emu Ed walks alongside you when you are tired and stressed by sharing tips and tricks to manage behaviours in challenging times.
About Jess
Jess Swart is originally from Australia and calls Canada her second home. She is grateful to live on the homelands of the Îyârhe Nakoda (Stoney Nakoda) and other indigenous nations who frequented these lands. She has been working with families and children with autism and other disabilities since the late 90's. After reading the autobiography "Nobody Nowhere" by Donna Williams Jess became intrigued by autism and how this impacted individuals. She began to volunteer to support children with autism and soon created a connection with the children. Since these beginnings Jess has worked as an educator in Australia, London and Canada. The use of the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis, other evidence based strategies, care and compassion has played a majore role in Jess' success supporting hundreds of families. Jess has worked as a senior behaviour therapist for many years and in 2021 completed a Masters in Education (ABA) and became a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA).
​
With a focus on using positive behaviour support strategies to reduce challenging behaviours and increase adaptive skills, Jess has passion for sharing her knowledge and experience while continually learning from the families and children she engages with. Over the years, she learned how to understand people's needs and capabilities to tailor behaviour therapy for them. Every child is an individual and every caregiver has their own strengths. Jess will not lie, there are times when things will get worse before they get better and in these times caregiver health and self-care is crucial. Jess feels strongly about building children's skills so that they can be as independent as possible and ultimately have choice and control in their life.
​
Personally, Jess has an adventurous and playful spirit and doesn't mind getting her hands dirty in the process! She loves to be out in the mountains, sharing experiences with friends and her partner - whether it be climbing, hiking, skiing or biking. Jess enjoys continuing to learn about the first peoples of Canada and Australia, and their incredible knowledge of and connection to the land. Exploring the world, having fun adventures and experiencing different cultures are experineces that Jess also loves and looks forward to doing more of!
Why
"Emu Education"?
Emu... what even is an Emu?
​
Well, this is a hilarious Australian animal! We chose the Emu as our mascot because it represents a funny, goofy and playful creature... characteristics we like to embrace when we deliver services. When we are having fun we are more relaxed and receptive to learning. We are more likely to continue to do something when it is followed by a positive outcome. Therapy should be fun and positive!
​
'Education' - helping children to live their best life is about teaching them the skills they need to be autonomous individuals. A major aspect of reducing inappropriate behaviours is increasing skills. The more skills we have, the more control we can have in our life; something that people with a disability often have a limited amount of.
