NTENSIVE FAMILY SUPPORT SERVICES
A brief, intensive, in-home, community-based service that serves families in London and Middlesex County. Families that will voluntarily utilize this service:
• will have youth that are at risk of out-of-home placement
• are experiencing high levels of family conflict
• are seeking assistance with family reunification
• have youth that are experiencing behavioural difficulties at home, in school and in the community
Exclusionary criteria include geography (outside of London-Middlesex area) and safety (worker or youth).
Families are placed in this program through referral to the Crisis Intake Team (C/IT) and will have undergone an assessment that could include an RNA, CAFAS, and BCFPI. Scores from these assessment tools that indicate high risk and high needs will be a priority for admission. Risk of out of home placement will also be a priority for admission to the program. The program will be offered for 10-14 weeks (approximately 8 hours per week) as an intensive component. There will be a follow-up plan that will be scheduled with all families at one, three and six-month intervals following discharge.
The program’s flexibility is responsive to the schedules and needs of the individual family, which includes a 24-hour/7 day per week on-call system. Goals will be identified by the family and interventions will be solution-focused using family strengths as the catalysts of change. We would offer bi-monthly parent educationals that would be open to parents involved in our programming, as well as, the community at large. We will also utilize formal and informal systems to enhance family growth.
Goals
• To help families utilize community resources
• To prevent out-of-home placement
• To advocate on behalf of families
• To enhance and develop parenting skills and strategies
• To increase the family’s ability to independently resolve conflict and access appropriate community support
• To increase positive affect between family members
• To teach and model effective problem solving
• To help parents understand contributing factors to their children’s behaviours
• To assist families in developing and improving communication skills
• To help families develop behavioural plans
• To help families understand the developmental stages of adolescents
CRISIS INTAKE TEAM
This is a collaborative project of four agencies; Madame Vanier Children’s Services, Craigwood Youth Services, Western Area Youth Services and the London Mental Health Crisis Service. The team is responsible for providing intake assessment, crisis intervention, brief solution focused counseling and support services for children and families with serious behavioral, emotional and social problems.
DAY TREATMENT
The Family and Community Support Program offers a Day Treatment component consisting of a special classroom located at 520 Hamilton Road, which was developed in cooperation with the Thames Valley District School Board. The focus of our Day Treatment classroom is to re-integrate youths into the traditional school system or into a suitable alternative as quickly as possible.
Our professional staff develop individual treatment/educational plans collaboratively with the youth, and their parents, in an effort to “tailor-make” a program that will meet the specific and varied needs of each youth. We promote and provide a positive learning environment, which emphasizes the strengths of the youth, and encourages the tackling of daily challenges such as: routines, personal frustrations, interpersonal social skills, conflict resolution and problem solving. We expect each youth to make a commitment to attend daily, to participate in the program and to follow the rules and routines, all to the best of their current abilities.
Parental involvement in the child’s education is an essential ingredient of academic achievement. In many ways, parents can have a greater impact on their child’s education than can educators. The most influential way is to express strong interest in the child’s effort.
The Day Treatment team believes that each youth wants to be in school, that they are in control of their own behaviour and that courtesy to self and others is vitally important in being the best they can be.
GROUP TREATMENT
Groups are typically run at Craigwood Youth Services. There may be an occasional short-term partnerships with the Thames Valley District School Board so that a group could be run in a community school. Groups offered are:
• Child Witness of Woman Abuse Group
• Anger Awareness and Interpersonal Skills Group
• Victim Awareness Group
• Parent-Teen Conflict Group
• Sex Offender
Child Witness of Woman Abuse Group:
The purpose of this group is to provide youth with the opportunity to process and understand the violence and the abuse of power and control that they have witnessed. This group will help youth identify and express emotions surrounding violence, separation, shame, guilt, and/or loss. The youth will learn to recognize that their feelings are very important and be given the opportunity to deal with their feelings constructively. The group is directed toward dispelling the destructive myths regarding violence and gender stereotyping. Discussion around power and control in relationships and responsibility help youth understand who is responsible for violence. Positive conflict resolution through role modelling and play helps youth learn new ways of solving problems. Group guidelines help to create a safe, predictable environment for youth to share their experiences. Safety planning, in the event of further violence, helps youth to make safe choices for personal protection. Finally, enhancement of self-esteem is ongoing throughout the group.
This group runs in conjunction with the Community Group Treatment Program in that we combine our referrals with theirs through this Children's Aid Society led program. This group is 8 sessions in length and can accommodate up to 10 youth. This group will run approximately 3-4 times per year offering service to approximately 30 youth.
Anger Awareness and Interpersonal Skills Group:
The Anger Awareness and Interpersonal Skills Group is a 12-module, cognitive-behavioural group focusing on experiential learning. The goals of the group are: to provide participants with greater motivation and rationale for wanting to express their anger constructively, to learn the components of self-control and increase their skills in interpersonal problem-solving and value enhancement, and to provide specific suggestions for using their new skills at home, school and in the community. This group is 8 sessions in length and hosts up to 10 youth at a time. This group runs concurrently 7-8 times a year.
Victim Awareness Group:
The Victim Awareness Group is a comprehensive and integrated program designed to focus youth on the victims of their criminal, irresponsible and hurtful behaviour. Our focus is to attempt to help our youth look at the impact of their victimizing behaviour and develop victim awareness and empathy. We will also attempt to help youth decrease their victimizing behaviour and help them become mature, responsible, accountable, positive and productive members of the community.
We will work to foster accountable and responsible thinking and behaviour and increased self- respect in our youth. This group is 8 sessions in length and can serve 10 teens at a time. Typically, we run 4-5 groups in a year, based on referrals, and anticipate approximately 50 referrals per year.
Parent-Teen Conflict Group:
The purpose of this group is to enable parents to begin to focusing on themselves, learning to acknowledge their skills and expertise, learning how to take care of themselves, and beginning to give and receive support from peers, family and community. The group will provide parents with the opportunity to share experiences related to parenting. Topics which may arise include: parents who feel they are doing too much, yet not enough for their child, making a call to the police--"do I, don't I?", when to look to family/community for support, living with the child who has taken on parental responsibilities, communication with the school--"can we talk?"
This group setting is an ongoing opportunity for parents to get together on a weekly basis to share their experiences with one another. The group averages approximately 6-7 parents at any given time and is facilitated by two qualified staff members from Craigwood who will provide leadership and support to the parents involved. For further information contact:
Crisis Intake Team (519) 433-0334