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July 2010 Newsletter
 
In This Issue
The Family Corner
Program Highlight
Service Recognition Awards
Volunteers Needed
Real Stories

The Family Corner- Home Safety

Home Safety Month is a perfect time to prepare yourself and your family for an emergency. Planning ahead can keep you and your family safe if a flood, fire, flu pandemic or other public health emergency strikes.  Take these steps to prepare for an emergency:
  • Do a walk-through of your home.
  • Check your smoke alarms, child safety locks and first aid supplies.
  • Get an emergency supply kit.
  • Make a family emergency plan.
  • Stay informed.
For more information, visit this link to Home Safety Council website for more tips.


Program Highlight- Family Partners
Have you struggled with a problem, in an area that you know nothing about? What if it relates to one of your loved ones, a child, his health or mental health? Your whole family is in turmoil, you know you need help and advice. You start asking around; friends, school officials, your physician, but you feel that you are getting the runaround. While everyone has answers to part of your questions, no one has them all. You begin to think that you're crazy and you suspect that everyone you talk to thinks so too. You're alone and frustrated.
 
This is the situation that so many parents of children with serious emotional and behavioral problems too often find themselves in. It is the problem that Family Continuity's new " Family Partners" program is designed to address. Funded through the Children's Behavioral Health Initiative (CBHI) the program is formally known as "Family Support and Training", but the term "partners" captures the core mission and value of the program so much better. Family Partners provide peer support to parents of children with Severe Emotional Disturbance (SED). They are peer mentors to families, supporting them through parent training, advocacy, behavioral support and family decision making. All Family Partners are (or have been) themselves caregivers to children with SED and use this experience to help others facing similar challenges.  They've lived through them and have come to gain a real understanding of the system of care and insights into the fears and confusion that parents feel.
 
This program has been offered in Lowell and Lynn, and as a large part of Family Continuity's Hyannis services for almost a year now. Feedback from families is unanimous that this support has been crucial in their gaining control over their lives and help for their children. In the next year the agency will begin offering Family Partners at all of its hub sites.
 
For more information, log on to our website www.familycontinuity.org, or call the information line at 866-219-3320.
 

Service Recoginition Awards
This past month, Family Continuity's leadership took time to recognize the staff members who were celebrating their five year, ten year and 20 year anniversaries of working at Family Continuity.  We are honored to have such dedicated employees.  Below is a photo of Jennifer Harrison, left, receiving her 20 Years of Service Award from COO, Kathleen Englehardt.
Jen Harrison receiving award
20 Years of Service

Jennifer Harrison, Caris-Desveaux House

10 Years of Service

Sean Daughtry, Beverly Clinic

Melvin Hollinhead, Caris-Desveaux House

Carole Johnson, Whitinsville Mental Health Clinic

Carolyn Judge, Plymouth Counseling Services

Craig Maxim, Whitinsville Mental Health Clinic

Martha Roberts, Plymouth Counseling Services

5 Years of Service

Ana Abreu, Lawrence Home Based Team

Amy Bernard, SAIL Program

Linda Blair, Whitinsville Mental Health Clinic

Diane Campbell, Hyannis Home Based Team

Robert Ebersole, Beverly Home Based Team

Brandi Fraser, Caris-Desveaux House

Marcia Gray, Beverly Home Based Team

Heidi Herrick, Caris-Desveaux House

Cheryl Maxim, Whitinsville Mental Health Clinic

Kathleen Mooney, Plymouth Home Based Team

Susan Murati, Hyannis Mental Health Clinic

Kevin Nicastro, Regional Director

Gloria Pierce, Whitinsville Mental Health Clinic

Candace Savage, Plymouth Counseling Services

Claire Sparks, SAIL Program

Stacey Trull, Lawrence Home Based Team

Joseph Yarid, Lowell Wrap Program



 
Volunteers Needed
You don't need to be a professional to change the lives of families, children, elders, and other of your neighbors. Family Continuity provides services at almost 20 sites around Massachusetts, and each one offers opportunities for volunteer work that can make an important contribution. We are looking for men and women for volunteer work in our hub offices to support the important work that we are doing in the community by performing light office work. 

For additional information,please call our Information Line at 1-866-219-3320.

 
Real Stories
Real Stories are submitted by clients who want to share the success they had thanks to the support and services provided by Family Continuity.  

Andrea's Story


My name is Andrea and I have a four year old son Sam who attends our local school's special education preschool program. I am a single parent whose job requires me to be at work before Sam goes to school. Luckily, Sam has been going to a family day care home about two blocks from our home. Just as school was ending in June, I started to hear rumors that our town was going to stop providing transportation for children in day care homes. I was told that he would have to be transported to and from my home. I was lost and did not know where to go for answers. One of my relatives told me about Family Continuity and the services they offered. She said that although the person she knew had lots of experience in special education laws, her office was located about sixty miles away.

I contacted the Lowell Wraparound Director and explained my dilemma. In this economy, I could not take the chance of losing my job, but I also could not allow my four year old to stay home alone waiting for his transportation to school in the morning. The director asked me to send her Sam's education plan and any other documentation I had so that she could review his records. A few days later, she contacted me asking if we could possibly meet to discuss the situation. The only day we could do it was on a Saturday, but that wasn't a problem for her.  Read More.

Family Continuity's Mission Statement:
Supporting family success in every community by empowering people, enhancing their strengths, and creating solutions through partnerships to achieve hope, positive change and meaningful lives.
 
Agency Values: Family, Community, Advocacy, Leadership, and Change
 
Treatment Philosophy, founded on the belief that positive change is always possible: 
 
*  The most effective treatment provides a continuity of care, acknowledging that connected, relevant supportive services to clients/client families promote recovery, stability, self advocacy and permanency in the midst of changing needs. 
 
*  Therapeutic change occurs in the context of a dynamic treatment partnership between clients and helpers that is founded on choice, respect, honesty, and a shared responsibility for and participation in the development of solutions.
 
* Effective treatment is empowering and strength-based, recognizing that all clients possess resources for change and that change is possible when these resources are utilized.
 
* Creating meaningful lives starts with identifying goals and connecting that to individualized, flexible and creative treatment planning that incorporates a client's family/community relationships, culture, and context.
 
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 To Be Continued.........