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April 2011 Newsletter


In This Issue


The Family Corner: How Do You Raise a Child with Character?

 

Real Stories: Timothy's Story 

 

Program Highlight: Walking the Talk

 

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The Family Corner

How Do You Raise a Child with Character?

 

You will not always be around to watch over your kids. As they grow into their teens and young adulthood, even if you are there for them, they often look elsewhere to peers, the media, and other role models for guidance about the kind of person they should be. How do you raise a child with character? By teaching positive values. Values are the building blocks of character. If you provide your child with strong values, you give them a tremendous gift, a voice inside themselves that can help guide them in life. The Search Institute in its Developmental Assets: A Profile of Your Youth (Minneapolis, MN: Search Institute, 2005), has identified six positive values that are central to healthy development they are: caring, equality and social justice, integrity, honesty, responsibility, and restraint. How do you give your kids these values? It's been said, you impart values about 10% through what you say and 90% through what your kids see you do, how they see you act, and what you stand up for. Whether you realize it or not, they are always watching you, looking for consistency, evaluating your character. Here is what they are looking for:

The most common positive value young people (ages 12 to 18) report having is integrity (68 percent of young people report having this value). The percentages of young people who report having the five other positive values are: honesty (66 percent), responsibility (63 percent), equality and social justice (52 percent), caring (50 percent), and restraint (45 percent).

 

Researchers have discovered that the six positive values are associated with higher levels of self- confidence, positive behavior, better problem-solving skills, better critical-thinking skills, increased conflict-resolution skills, higher grades and test scores and as they get older, decreased likelihood of having premature sexual intercourse and having fewer friends who make bad choices. We all need to look in a mirror sometimes and see how we stand up as models of these values. Do we do what we say? How do we demonstrate our own integrity and caring? When we teach kids to help another person, that's a positive value. When kids stand up for another child, even though it's a hard thing to do, that's also a positive value. Teaching positive values does not guarantee that our children will never make mistakes (in fact, being human virtually guarantees that they will) but once we've laid the foundation, kids will continue to learn about and build positive values for years to come. There is nothing more rewarding than to see a value you've embraced reflected in your child.

 

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Real Stories

Timothy's Story

"Supporting family success in every community" is our mission. But just how do you describe a family's "success"? This recent letter provides at least one family's answer. 

 

To the Staff of Family Continuity's Therapeutic Home Care, a letter of THANKS!

From: Timothy's Mom and Dad

   

Our son Timothy is 14, in the eighth grade, and has struggled most of his life with ADHD and mood disorder. Tim is a teenager, and like most teens, balks at the idea of "counseling," but the improvement that we have seen here at home is remarkable. With the help of Tim's advocate and our family counselor, we work at all being on the same page as far as what we want to accomplish, and how are we going to do it. Their advice has been invaluable. We have seen such growth and maturity, in all of us really. Our overall communication has improved, as well as our ability to set expectations and work as a team to accomplish them. Tim is more cooperative with household activities (including chores) and has been able to set goals for himself: he is learning that he has to earn privileges by accepting more responsibilities. Thanks to the support of Family Continuity, this last year has been so much more successful!

Read More... 

 

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Program Highlight 

Walking the Talk

 

In this month's "Family Corner", we talked about how parents can demonstrate their values to their children as a key step to developing strong character. As an organization, Family Continuity must also demonstrate its values in order to maintain its own credibility and character. Family Continuity's values are: Family, Community, Advocacy, Leadership, and Change, all key components in how we view our role. While it is important to weave these values into the agency's services, it is also important to contribute in other ways, through advocacy and leadership in the community. Although we are funded to provide services to clients, these values are also demonstrated in activities for which Family Continuity receives no money. It is important to spotlight this work as well. 

 

Here is a sample of some ways that Family Continuity and its staff expressed its values in its "non-funded" activities within the last month:

 

          Participated in the Children's Budget Advocacy Day with the Children's League of Massachusetts at the State House in Boston. Thanks especially to the staff of Family Continuity's THC program in Peabody.  

          Helped Launch the Northbridge Community Coalition, supported by the Northbridge Public Schools, Family Continuity of Whitinsville, the Northbridge Association of Churches, the Whitin Community Center, People of Faith Against Domestic Violence, and a growing number of students, parents, and other organizations to examine the needs of students in the school system and develop ways to improve the health and education of area young people. Thanks especially to Craig Maxim and the staff of the Whitinsville Clinic. Read article Northbridge Church Launches Community Program to Benefit Students.

          Developed and co-sponsored the training conference "Getting Real About Family Voice and Choice: A conference for People who Care about Families", on March 22 at Bentley College, looking at how professionals and families can better work together to support children with mental health needs. Thanks especially to Kathleen Englehardt and Robin Risso of the Family Continuity Peabody staff.

       Launched the "It's Not Cool to be Cruel" anti-bullying public awareness campaign with wrist bands, anti-bullying tips and other advocacy activities. Read Bullying and Cyber Bullying- Advice on How to Handle It from a previous newsletter.

          Developed and co-sponsored a professional training entitled "Executive Functioning: A Practical Strategies Seminar Focusing on Organization and Self-Management Skills" on March 26, in Hyannis, to help parents learn many practical strategies to improve motivation, organization, and management of time and schedules in the home. Special Thanks to Kathy McHugh and Ann Beckert of the Hyannis Flex Program.  

          Provided 7 free trainings and consultation to organizations related to safety in the workplace, including the Department for Children and Families, KidsPeace, The Association for Behavioral Health, and North Suffolk Mental Health Services. Special thanks to Kevin Nicastro, Robin Risso and Skip Stuck.   

 

These are a few of the many committees, community initiatives, and advocacy activities that Family Continuity and its staff take part in every week. They demonstrate that beyond the social and mental health services that we provide professionally, the agency demonstrates its mission, "Supporting family success in every community" in a variety of other ways.

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.........