For Gateway Holistic Care Group, CARF accreditation is more than a certification—it’s a declaration of trust, quality, and accountability. As one of Alberta’s few Black-led care organisations, Gateway Holistic shows that diverse leadership strengthens both service quality and community trust. This milestone is not only professional—it’s a symbol of inclusion and representation in the care sector.
Achieving a three-year accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) marked a major milestone for Gateway Holistic Care Group. CARF accredited all six of our programs—Respite, Residential, Supported Living, Community Access, Pathways to Independence, and Behavioural Support—affirming that every aspect of care meets international quality standards.
The special designation for Autism Spectrum Disorder care further validated our expertise and focus on serving neurodiverse children, youth, and adults with dignity and compassion. This recognition has elevated our visibility and strengthened the trust families, partners, and the broader community place in us.
This validation increased our credibility and opened doors for new partnerships, contracts, and community collaborations. It also reflects the strong collaborative relationships we have built with Family Supports for Children with Disabilities (FSCD), Autism Edmonton, Africa Centre, Child and Family Services (CFS), and the Centre for Autism Services. These partnerships enable us to deliver meaningful, person-centred care across Alberta and affirm Gateway Holistic as a trusted partner in advancing inclusive, high-quality supports.
Growing Through Accreditation
Accreditation strengthened our foundation and positioned Gateway Holistic as a trusted provider within Alberta’s autism care sector. It opened doors to new partnerships and engagement opportunities, helping families, funders, and partners understand the depth of our commitment to quality.
More importantly, we made it a priority to ensure that families, partners, and the community fully understood the significance of this achievement through ongoing engagement. Because we are primarily government-funded, we shared our accreditation status with Family Supports for Children with Disabilities (FSCD) and Children and Family Services (CFS).
This step is already enhancing collaboration and creating stronger pathways for sustainable, high-quality services for the families we serve. While still early in this journey, accreditation has clearly helped us build both the visibility and confidence needed to deliver greater impact for neurodiverse individuals across Alberta.
Centering Equity
At Gateway Holistic, we know that families navigating autism care face more than logistical challenges. Many also encounter systemic barriers linked to culture, income, and geography. Our mission is to remove those barriers by creating equitable, person-centred pathways for children, youth, and adults with autism and other developmental disabilities. CARF’s recognition proved that equitable, culturally responsive care isn’t a niche approach; it’s the benchmark of quality.
Being a Black-led organisation gives us a unique lens on this mission. We understand how underrepresented communities can be overlooked in the care system, so we actively advocate for inclusion, cultural sensitivity, and dignity in every program we offer.
Equity for us means more than access. It means creating care models that reflect the diverse realities of the families we serve. By pairing our accredited programs with lived cultural understanding, we stand beside families not only as service providers but as advocates for fair and responsive autism care across Alberta.
Culturally Competent Care
A story that captures the heart of our approach involves a young person of Black heritage supported through our programs. Her mother, an immigrant, had not been home in over ten years because travelling with her daughter, who has complex needs, was too difficult. For many immigrant families, returning home holds deep emotional meaning because it reconnects them with culture, family, and roots.
Through collaboration with the family and our case management partners, we developed a comprehensive plan that allowed the mother to travel home safely. We also advocated for additional funding to increase care hours so she could take that much-needed break while her daughter remained in capable, culturally sensitive hands. This reflects our belief that care must be culturally informed to be effective, it’s how we turn support into empowerment.
Building Forward
We plan to expand our programs to reach more individuals with autism and developmental disabilities across Alberta while upholding the high standards that earned us CARF accreditation. Innovation for us means creating flexible, responsive spaces that meet families’ evolving needs, including sensory-friendly initiatives and enhanced independent living supports.
Partnerships remain key. Working with government funders, advocacy groups, and private organisations helps us combine expertise and resources to improve family outcomes. We are excited about initiatives that promote inclusion and learning in underserved communities, keeping equity central to our mission. Accreditation strengthened our foundation and created new growth opportunities.
Scaling with Integrity
Scaling a care-based organisation takes balance. Growth must never come at the cost of compassion, quality, or cultural responsiveness. At Gateway Holistic, we are intentional about expanding in ways that strengthen our mission. Our CARF accreditation anchors that effort, ensuring every program meets consistent standards of quality, safety, and accountability.
Listening to families is equally vital. Engaging directly with caregivers and community partners helps us respond to real needs instead of using one-size-fits-all models. This approach preserves trust and keeps our growth rooted in lived experience.
As a Black-led organisation, we view cultural competency as essential, woven into our training, programs, and partnerships. Accreditation strengthened our foundation and continues to open opportunities that allow us to grow while upholding dignity and inclusion at every step.
Funding Growth
Funding has always been a challenge for Black-led organisations, and Gateway Holistic is no exception. As a government-funded agency, we support children, youth, and adults with developmental disabilities. To enhance facilities and expand services, we also seek additional support through our not-for-profit arm, Gateway to Care Society.
Accreditation strengthened our foundation and opened new opportunities by building trust with funders and partners. It validates our quality and accountability, showing stakeholders that their investments deliver real outcomes for families. Sustainability depends on relationships as much as funding. By fostering lasting partnerships with government, community organisations, and private supporters, we have reframed funding as a shared commitment to inclusion and equity.
Our goal is to stay financially resilient by diversifying income streams, pursuing grants, and strengthening partnerships. This approach allows us to keep serving families with excellence while creating innovative, culturally responsive care solutions for neurodiverse individuals across Alberta.
