| Hand in Hand Holds Holiday Party | |
Hand in Hand held a holiday party at BK's Creative Catering on December 17 for all wraparound clients and their families. Almost 200 attended the event. Every child received a toy while enjoying a visit with Santa and a variety of entertainment.
Special thanks to the following sponsors:
Bick's Construction Inc.
Calloway's Nursery
BK's Creative Catering
Larry's Carpet
Adams Real Estate Company
The Incredible Crumb
Monica Livas from Chipotle
Asher's Gourmet Shoppe
The following groups
and individuals provided entertainment at no charge:
The Power Hour DJ
Taz Ladiloxx
Miss Teen White Settlement
Breshell Hurley
The 501st Legion Star Garrison
Colleyville Heritage High School Jazz Choir
Numerous families also donated gifts and funds to make the party a success for the families.
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 It has been a busy two years for Hand in Hand, with the first year dedicated to planning the six-year, federally funded effort and the second focused on implementation of the plan. The second year, which ended on September 30, 2010, saw the development of new community partnerships across a five-county region that began addressing the mental health needs of children between birth and age 6.
Two of the programs enhanced by Hand in Hand are well known by Mental Health Connection members. DataLink, which pre-dates Hand in Hand but continues to be supported by the initiative, has seen dramatic growth during the past year. It now has 17 subscribing agencies and has more than doubled the number of referrals in the past year. At the same time, DataLink has added features while reducing the cost for subscribers substantially. The Cultural Competence Team trained nearly 200 executives and providers to enhance care for all of their clients. The team also developed a cadre of trainers to ensure the program continues to grow in the community. Plans for 2011 include working with national consultants to develop and begin implementing a cultural and linguistic competence plan at the organizational and system levels.
This newsletter will provide an update about some of the lesser-known Hand in Hand achievements over the past year. The initiative has been guided by recommendations from a strategic planning group that met in August 2009. Almost 45 stakeholders attended the meeting, including representatives from urban and rural communities, early childhood providers, schools, child welfare, private and non-profit organizations, family members and consumers. The result was direction to help Hand in Hand build a system of care for young children in the five-county area it serves. |
| Respite Care | | Responding to needs
 A workgroup generated from the strategic planning meeting focused on development of respite care in the five-county region. The purpose of respite is to give caregivers a break from the demands and social isolation associated with raising a special needs child.
Hand in Hand created a Respite Advocacy Committee to promote and expand the availability of this critical service. ACH Child and Family Services has answered the call by expanding the service region of its in-home respite care program beyond Tarrant County to include the other four Hand in Hand counties (Hood, Johnson, Palo Pinto and Parker). To support this expansion, ACH has committed to funding a full-time respite coordinator position for one year. The Committee is now exploring strategies to sustain the position beyond the one-year commitment.
In addition to in-home care, the Respite Advocacy Committee is working with area churches interested in implementing "parent night out" programs for special needs children. Hand in Hand has connected these ministries with churches that have already implemented successful group respite programs. As it fosters mentoring relationships between churches, Hand in Hand facilitates the creation of an additional resource for caregivers in need of respite support. |
| Community Outreach | |  Serving as a catalyst for change
Collaborations have played an important role as Hand in Hand has worked with communities in all five counties to create a presence and become a leader in enhancing mental health services for young children. For example, through its collaboration with Strong Fathers Strong Families, Hand in Hand provides free play groups for young children and their families. These groups teach the importance of play in child development, while providing tips and skills for parents that encourage playful interaction with their children. As a part of Hand in Hand's "Take Time to Play" social marketing campaign, play groups have been implemented in Granbury and Mineral Wells.
Hood County hosted Connect4Success, a training developed by Camp Fire USA and presented in partnership with Hand in Hand. The program provides tools for childcare providers to help them manage children with challenging behaviors. Thirty childcare providers from nine agencies participated in the intensive seven-week course in the spring. In 2011, Camp Fire and Hand in Hand plan to present the training in Johnson County.
The "Take Time to Play" campaign kicked off on Children's Mental Health Awareness Day in May. Hand in Hand worked with local child care providers, Head Start centers and Kindergarten classes to create art shows featuring children's work. The art was displayed at area banks, pharmacies, libraries and City Halls. Materials posted with the artwork stressed the importance of play to support children's healthy development. |
|
Family Leadership | |
Involving families 
Community members and families of children with behavioral and emotional challenges are partnering with Hand in Hand primarily through two family groups:
- Family and Consumer Connection (FCC), which trains families for leadership roles so they can advocate for systems change
- Community Evaluation Team (CET), which provides community oversight of the evaluation process that assesses the effectiveness of Hand in Hand's efforts.
Membership in FCC exploded in fall 2009 after meetings started to be offered in Spanish. The Spanish-speaking community has turned out en masse, eager for their voices to be heard. Evening meetings, complete with dinner and child care, are held bimonthly at Cook Children's Medical Center. As a committee of Mental Health Connection, FCC works to ensure that families sit on each of the other committees within the collaborative organization. The group has also been active in other Hand in Hand activities, including development of a fact-filled Family Guide to Hand in Hand and Wraparound and development of a brochure in English and Spanish for families interested in learning more about wraparound.
The CET, sustained from the previous Community Solutions system of care initiative, is a seasoned group of families familiar with the concepts of evaluation. Their work culminated in a published peer-review journal article detailing how they implemented an innovative qualitative study of families' experiences in wraparound. Click here for more information about this family-run study. Recently the CET began adding new members from Hand in Hand families to its membership. |
| Evidence-Based Practices | | |
Enhancing early  intervention
A key goal of Hand in Hand is to focus attention on proven early interventions for young children. After the 2009 Bridging the Gap Symposium, which focused on early childhood, Hand in Hand became the champion of the Early Childhood Journal Club. Over six months, staff members from 10 agencies came together with parents to review the recent scientific literature around four evidence-based practices for young children:
- Nurse Family Partnership
- Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)
- Incredible Years
- High Scope Curriculum
The literature revealed that early childhood interventions lead to lifelong benefits for individuals and for society at large. Studies showed significant measurable outcomes that lasted as long as 30 years. By catching problems early - when the brain is still developing - the community might prevent children from ever getting involved with high-cost systems such as juvenile justice, child welfare and psychiatric hospitals. Click here to read the final report from the Early Childhood Journal Club.
Although each of the four reviewed practices has had some recent presence in our region, none has been broadly implemented yet. Hand in Hand seeks to call attention to the importance of early intervention models, along with the impressive return on investment these approaches can yield. In the year ahead, Hand in Hand will focus on strategies to bring early childhood evidence-based practices to children in the five-county area. |
| Wraparound | | |
Focusing on training and enrollment 
Hand in Hand has invested in grassroots organizations during the past year, bringing new resources to Hood, Johnson, Palo Pinto and Parker Counties. Ruth's Place in Hood County, for example, provides free medical care for uninsured and under-insured individuals in the community. It has now added wraparound to its array of services as a contract facilitator for Hand in Hand (see video on Ruth's Place).
In Johnson County, Hand in Hand has funded Promises Community Ministries to add wraparound to its services. Promises also provides play therapy, individual counseling, a food pantry and a clothes closet
These agencies and established Mental Health Connection members have provided wraparound care to 40 families across the five-county region. Other agencies providing wraparound facilitators are Catholic Charities, Lena Pope Home and The Parenting Center. All of the facilitators received in-depth training and continue to receive consultation and feedback from national experts. Click here for an evaluation report on 2010 wraparound services.
After seeing Hand in Hand's success with wraparound, The Child and Adolescent Division of MHMR of Tarrant County asked to have several team members trained in the process. A five-agency training team partnered with families to implement a high-quality wraparound training program tailored to fit the individual needs of MHMR. After this pilot presentation, Hand in Hand is ready to present similar individualized programs to other agencies in the year ahead. As a part of its focus on training, Hand in Hand is also joining with other system of care grantees in Texas to develop a statewide certification for wraparound facilitators. Click here for more information on wraparound. |
| CCHAPS | |  Partnering to engage the community around children's healthHand in Hand is proud to be associated with the Cook Children's Medical Center visionary initiative known as the Community-wide Children's Health Assessment and Planning Survey (CCHAPS). The initiative is a collaborative effort focused on mobilizing the community around children's health. CCHAPS is based on a comprehensive survey of more than 7,400 households across a six-county region. Cook Children's is using the data as a basis for community-level strategic planning, with a goal of making the CCHAPS region the healthiest place for children by 2020. Click here for more information on CCHAPS.Access to quality mental health care is one of seven target areas identified by Cook Children's as a focus of activity. Hand in Hand is answering the call by taking a leadership role in systems change as it relates to children's mental health. Through the county-level Children's Health Summits sponsored by CCHAPS, Hand in Hand has been a major presence in four counties, keeping children's mental health issues in the forefront. In each county, CCHAPS has formed advisory committees made up of key community leaders. These leadership groups provide a critical window into the local communities. Through these groups, Hand in Hand can build consensus to address the needs of young children.Hand in Hand has also leveraged the CCHAPS initiative to better understand the population it serves. Through its innovative web portal, CCHAPS has opened a rich repository of child health data to the community. Click here to see Hand in Hand's report on using CCHAPS data to paint a portrait of its target population.
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Mental Health Connection is a collaboration of public and private agencies, as well as individuals who need mental health care services and their caregivers. The organization works to revolutionize the mental health delivery system, with a vision of creating No Wrong Door to the Right Mental Health Resources.
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