Family Continuity
 
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Real Stories
News
Family Corner
Program Spotlight
REAL STORIES 
 

The decision to change is a critical one...it is lonely, nobody can do it for you. But actually making the changes necessary to lead a productive and happy life, usually that's where friends, partners, and relationships come in. Rebecca's story illustrates this point.

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News:  
 

Family Continuity starts its spring offerings of therapy groups:

 

Although the services we most often provide are those directed at individuals and families, we know that some clients benefit from various group therapies, support groups and topical groups that work with clients around a particular issue. While some of our groups are ongoing, and have operated for years, others are time-limited, and we offer these when we see a particular issue arise for enough people to make a group approach feasible. The variety of issues addressed through our group work is broad. Groups for children and adolescents cover topics such as:

  • Social skills building (Making Connections)
  • Early Recovery and life   skills  for Adolescents
  • Handling divorce
  • Play therapy

Groups for adults look at issues like anger management, parenting skills, recovering from domestic violence, a "Just Dads" group, and "Healing Grief and Loss", a group that is accepting referrals and starting soon through our Whitinsville Clinic.

 

Follow this link to find out more about this group, and check out the "Events" tab at our website, www.familycontinuity.org to see what else we have scheduled.

Thank you to our contributors.

 

 

Anonomyous

  
   
Newsletter               March 2014
 
Greetings from the CEO,  
   

Everyone is sick of the weather by this time of the year, especially this year, when it has snowed nearly every week. But being sick of the weather is not the same as being made sick by the weather. See our Family Corner to find out more about "Seasonal Affective Disorder", a malady that changes our moods and behavior in some pretty startling ways, and how you can get out from under it.

 

Also,  March is National Social Work Month, to honor those who help us get through the winter and a million other trying times (see more at www.socialworkers.org). And while you are at it, all of you bosses out there, Employee Appreciation Day is March 7th. Our appreciation goes out to everyone, social workers as well as all of the other employees who help Family Continuity meet its mission of "supporting family success in every community".

 

Thank you for many jobs well done!

 

  
Sincerely,                                              

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Earl "Skip" Stuck

 

   

Family Corner 

 

It's a SAD time of year...

At this time in the year, you often hear someone say, "This weather is making me crazy!" Too few hours of daylight,  gray, snowy, and bleak days, especially when they seem to happen every week, certainly can have an effect. For some of us, this statement is a way of venting, yet for others it may have a more literal meaning. For some time now, clinicians and researchers have been looking at the effects of Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. They have defined it as a type of depression that affects a person during the same season each year. If you get depressed in the winter but feel much better in spring and summer, you may have SAD.

Anyone can get SAD, but it is more common in:

  • Areas where winter days are very short or there are big changes in the amount of daylight in different seasons. This is especially true and can come on very unexpectedly when a person moves from a southerly latitude where winter daylight is longer to a northern area where the amount of daylight changes dramatically.
  • Women, who are more likely to associate these symptoms with seasonal changes.
  • People between the ages of 15 and 55, with the risk of getting SAD for the first time diminishing with age.
  • People who have a close relative with SAD.
  • People who have a history of general depression.

It is rarely associated with spring, summer or fall, but usually winter, which provides some clues as to what might contribute to  its cause. Although experts are not totally sure what causes SAD they think it may be caused by a lack of sunlight. Lack of light may upset your sleep-wake cycle and other "circadian rhythms", and it may cause problems with a brain chemical called serotonin that affects mood.

SAD shares symptoms with many other forms of depression. If you have SAD, you may:

  • Feel sad, grumpy, moody, or anxious.
  • Have generally low available energy, lose interest in your usual activities.
  • Eat more and crave carbohydrates, such as bread and pasta.
  • Experience weight gain.
  • Withdraw socially.
  • Sleep more and feel drowsy during the daytime.

Once SAD symptoms are identified, they seem to come and go at about the same time each year. For most people they start in September or October and end in April or May.

How is SAD diagnosed? It can sometimes be hard to tell the difference between non-seasonal  depression and SAD, because many of the symptoms are the same. To diagnose SAD, your doctor or clinician will want to know if:

  • You have been depressed during the same season and have gotten better when the seasons changed for at least 2 years in a row.
  • You have symptoms, such as those described above that often occur with SAD,
  • You have a close relative-a parent, brother, or sister-has had SAD.

Over the years some treatments have been identified that show good results. To see more click here 

Program Spotlight

 

Client Satisfaction.

Every quarter we compile and review feedback from our "Client Satisfaction" surveys. This quarter, we received 270 returns and the comments are reviewed  and result in a quarterly assessment of our client centered goals, our success in meeting them and the development of new goals that can improve our performance. Although many of the findings are consistent over time, we learn something new every time we look. Here are a few highlights: 

  • Overall satisfaction with services this past quarter was the highest in memory that with 99.3% stating they agree or strongly agree for that category.
  • The scores on the question, "Overall the service has been helpful" have increased slightly this fiscal year from the average of 4.6 (agree) to 4.8 the past 2 quarters.
  • We continue to bring in over 250 returns per quarter total, with the highest returning site typically being our Hyannis/Cape Cod and Islands office.

Though not statistically relevant, some comments tell a story of their own  (names changed to protect confidentiality)...

"Sue helps me better understand my responsibilities as a parent. She helps me improve my attitude and emotional regulation.",

"Liz was there to help me in everyway possible and had to push me a bit but she did it." ,

"Counseling and community advocacy have helped me recover from the trauma of losing my partner.",

"Some days Matt came to my house he was the only person I saw all week. I was isolating myself and did not leave the house. I felt safer just knowing he was coming."

 

Nice things to hear, but these surveys have also helped Family Continuity alter its office hours, organize paper work, and facilities, train clinicians and receptionists alike to be more responsive to those who come to us for help.  

 

We also welcome feedback from the readers of our Newsletters and others who come in contact with our agency. Please share your thoughts with us at info@ familycontinuity.org.

 

And, for those of you who really want to "get into the weeds" and see all of our results,  click here to see a PDF of the complete report.