Centre for Healthy Active Living

A child or youth’s risk of obesity is largely dependent ongenetic and biologic risk factors. Weight loss and especially sustained weight loss is very challenging due to strong neuroendocrine mechanisms that protect against this. Healthy bodies exist in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Our focus when working with children, youth and families is on improving overall health and well-being. Evidence suggests that obesity is a chronic condition and while weight loss may occur in a few of the patients we see, this is not the focus of our program.

Our mission

To improve the health and quality of life of children with weight related health complications and support them and their families in achieving a healthy active lifestyle.

CHEO's Centre for Healthy Active Living (CHAL) works with children and their families with complex severe obesity by creating one coordinated and patient-specific plan of care that brings together specialists such as a pediatric endocrinologist, general pediatrician, psychologists, case management nurse, registered dietitian, exercise specialist, social worker and child and youth counselor.

Recognizing that healthy bodies come in a wide range of body shapes and sizes, CHEO's Centre for Healthy Active Living works with families to help them improve health through changes in health behaviours. Making changes to health behaviours — how and what you eat, how you move and how you cope — can lead to significant improvements in health and well-being, with little or no changes in body weight.

About the CHAL program and our goals

The CHAL program is family-based and designed to be short and intensive, lasting approximately 2 years. This will give families time to work closely with the CHAL specialists, participate in our group programing and learn tools and strategies to best manage their weight and health over the long-term. After 2 years, families will return to the care of their family physician who will have ongoing access to the CHAL team for consultation and support.

Program Goals

Teach families to focus on health behaviours they can control: how you eat, how you move and how you cope.
Engage the entire family in making lifestyle changes.
Improve the physical and emotional health and the quality of life for the youth in our program.

Key Points

CHAL is not a weight loss program
Healthy and strong bodies come in all shapes and sizes
Weight management is about improving health and well-being, not simply reducing numbers on a scale
Eating and weight-related problems are not the fault of the parents or the child
Nutrition, physical activity, sleep and stress management are our medicines

About our team

Our team includes physicians, nurse, psychologists, dietitian, exercise specialist, social worker, child and youth counsellor and a patient service clerk.

Information for healthcare providers

The CHAL program provides support and programing for 2 years. Patients are then transitioned back to the community to their Primary Care Provider. Patients with significant weight related health complications may return into the program based on availability and wait times. We are currently only accepting re-referrals for patients who have already completed the program and who are now interested in pursuing bariatric surgery and/or pharmacotherapy (if not already started) in addition to re-engaging in the 2-year CHAL program.

Make a referral

Our clinic is now accepting e-referrals with Ocean!

If you’re already on Ocean, look us up via your account by searching "CHEO".
If you don’t yet have an Ocean account, no problem - signing up is free.

Make a referral in Ocean

Patients must meet criteria and be referred by a physician. Please note that we do not accept out of province referrals. Our upper age limit of referrals is 15 years. You can make an e-referral using Ocean, or mail or fax the referral form to us:

CHAL referral form

Referral criteria and eligibility

Criteria

We accept and triage patients based on the followed criteria:

BMI greater than: a) 99th%- CDC growth charts; or b) 3 SDS- WHO growth charts; or
BMI greater than: a) 95th% (CDC growth charts) with associated severe medical or psychosocial co-morbidity or chronic illness impacted by obesity (see below); or b) 97th% (WHO growth charts) with associated severe medical or psychosocial co-morbidity or chronic illness impacted by obesity: (see below):

Hypertension requiring pharmacotherapy
Hyperlipidemia requiring pharmacotherapy-(LDL-C and/or Non-HDL- C > 4.2 mmol/L)
Technology dependent sleep disordered breathing (CPAP or BiPAP)
Persistent Impaired Glucose Tolerance or Impaired Fasting Glucose(over a 6 month period- defined as fasting plasma glucose > 6.1 mmo/L and/or 2h plasma glucose > 7.8 mmo/L)
Type 2 diabetes
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (elevated liver enzymes and U/S evidence of fatty infiltration)
Hypothalamic obesity (secondary to CNS tumor)
Genetic syndrome (PWS, BBS, etc.)

Tools and calculators

This table is produced by the American Academy of Pediatrics. For an accessible copy, please click the above link..

Sign up for MyChart to access your CHEO health record anywhere, any time.
MyChart is a secure, online patient portal that connects you to parts of your CHEO electronic health record and allows you to send two-way secure communication to your care team, complete any questionnaires your care team sends and much more.
To learn more about MyChart and sign up, visit our MyChart page and fill out the MyChart Access Request Form.

Contact us

Tel: 613-260-1477 x 221

Email: chal-info@cheo.on.ca

We are locatedat a CHEO satellite location, at 1355 Bank St, Suite 111 — our entrance faces Riverside Drive. There is a parking pay station located at the front of the building and the OC Transpo transitway is located across the street at Billings Bridge.