Family Continuity
In This Issue
Greeting from the CEO
Family Corner
Family Resource Centers Open for Services
Child Requiring Assistance (CRA)
Social Worker's Guide to Social Media
May - Mental Health Month
June - PTSD Awareness Month
Quick Links
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May - June 2015 Newsletter

Greetings from the CEO:    

 

May was a busy month for the Agency. Our staffs are working tirelessly with DCF regional staff and our Partners on Nantucket, Family and Children's Services of Nantucket, to open both of our new Family Resource Centers. The official opening day for Hyannis wasMay 29 and the official opening on Nantucket will be
June 11, 2015.

These resource and family activity centers will be open to all families seeking services for themselves and/or their children. Experienced clinical staff will be available for assessment, information and referral to community services and provide an array of important services for Children Requiring Assistance (CRA) under the MA CRA regulations. We are grateful to the State Legislature and DCF for supporting this initiative and look forward to providing this important resource. Please plan to drop in when you are on the Cape or Nantucket.   

 

We also participated in a Statewide Conference on May 12th in Worcester by presenting our Health Care integration partnership model with TriRiver Health Center in Uxbridge. We are grateful to Safdar Medina, MD who co-presented with me in a workshop entitled "Managing Behavioral Health in the Pediatric Setting: Evidence based approaches to Identifying and Addressing the Needs of Children and Families". The agency is now working closely with 7 Medical Practices sites and 8 school based settings throughout Central and Eastern Massachusetts.

 

I trust that you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and I wish you well as summer arrives in June!
 

Be well,

 

Barbara Wilson     

FAMILY CORNER

   

Kathleen Englehardt, COO -
Honored at Salem State University School of Social Work

 "Each year the Salem State University School of Social Work choose two Field Education Instructors who have gone above and beyond in assisting our students to complete their requirements for Field Education.  Kathleen was chosen this year as someone who has consistently taken students and facilitated the student in becoming  Professional Social Workers.  Each student comes with their own learning needs and challenges and Kathleen has had the unique ability to 'meet the students where they are at' and adjust her mentoring style to promote the most growth in the student.  Salem State has been very lucky to have Kathleen as one of our Field Instructors!"

 

Susan Goldman MPH, MSW, LICSW

Coordinator of BSW/MSW Field Education  

School of Social Work 

Salem State University

 

Kathleen accepting her award
left corner Family Continuity Interns mentored by Kathleen
The Cape Cod and Nantucket Resource Centers
Open and Providing Services

The Cape Cod & Nantucket Family Resource Centers are funded by the Department of Children and Families to provide services to all families.
Our helpful and understanding staff includes support workers, licensed clinicians, school liaison, and family partners.

 

The following services are provided: 

  • Helping families with CRA (Child Requiring Assistance) [formerly known as CHINS]
  • Information and Referral Services
  • Parent Education & Support (evidence-based and mutual self-help)
  • Help Navigating Resources
  • Child and Youth Assessments
  • School Liaison (including IEP and 504 assistance)

The Cape Cod and Nantucket Family Resource Centers are charged with serving anyone who is willing to accept services. All FRC services are free to all families regardless of insurance/need/community of residence.

 

The Cape Cod Family Resource Center is located at Family Continuity's office at 29 Basset Lane, Hyannis, MA 02601. Several other Family Continuity programs also utilize this office space.

 

The Nantucket Family Resource Center, in partnership with Family & Children's Service of Nantucket, Inc., offers services at 20 Vesper Lane, L-1 Gouin Village, Nantucket, MA 02554.

 

Both Cape Cod and Nantucket FRCs will be open Monday - Friday, and some Saturdays (1 x month at Nantucket FRC; 2 x/month at Cape Cod FRC).
  • Cape Cod Family Resource Center will have evening hours Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
  • Nantucket Family Resource Center will have evening hours on Tuesday.
Child Requiring Assistance (CRA)
 

Child Requiring Assistance (CRA) previously known as Child in Need of Services (CHINS) is in place to serve persons between the ages of 6 and 18 who: 

  • Repeatedly runs away from the child's parents, legal guardian or custodian, or
  • Repeatedly fails to obey the lawful and reasonable commands of the child's parents, legal guardian or custodian, thereby interfering with the ability to adequately care for and protect the child, or
  • Repeatedly fails to obey the lawful and reasonable regulations of the child's school, or
  • Is habitually truant, or
  • Is a sexually exploited child.

A Family Requiring Assistance is a parent, guardian, custodian, sibling and any relative or caretaker responsible for a child requiring assistance.Key components of the CRA law are: 

  • Requires the Executive Office of Health and Human Services Secretary to establish Family Resource Centers (FRC), throughout the Commonwealth (one per county minimum)
  • Mandates significant changes to the court process
  • Some provisions of this law were effective as of 11/5/12, others subject to a 3 year timeline
  • Establishes a Families and Children Requiring Assistance Advisory Board. This Board oversees this whole process.

Family Resources Centers are available to serve all families not just those involved with the CRA program. Family Continuity is pleased to have been chosen to provide services to the Cape Cod and Nantucket communities at two newly opened FRCs.

Social Worker's Guide to Social Media

The primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty. A historic and defining feature of social work is the profession's focus on individual well-being in a social context and the well-being of society. Fundamental to social work is attention to the environmental forces that create, contribute to, and address problems in living.

 

Professional ethics are at the core of social work. The profession has an obligation to articulate its basic values, ethical principles, and ethical standards. The NASW Code of Ethics sets forth these values, principles, and standards to guide social workers' conduct. The Code is relevant to all social workers and social work students, regardless of their professional functions, the settings in which they work, or the populations they serve.

 

University at Buffalo School of Social Work has recognized Social Media as an area where social workers need to be aware of expectations of the population being served and the ethical responsibility in using social media. Please access this link to the University at Buffalo School of Social Work for a helpful Social Worker's Guide to Social Media. Social Media has created more ways to reach out to the population you serve.

Click here for your Social Worker's Guide to Social Media 
http://socialwork.buffalo.edu/social-media-guide.htm 

May -  Mental Health Month

 

Mental Health America (MHA) Sees Average of 1,000  

Online Screenings Taken Per Day

 

Mental Health America (MHA) kicked off its annual observance of "May is Mental Health Month" and marks the one-year anniversary of the launch of MHA's online screening tools. In just one year, almost 350,000 screens have been taken for depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) -an average of almost 1,000 screens per day. In the coming month, MHA will launch three additional screens for alcohol and substance use, youth (ages 11-17), and parents who are concerned about their children's mental health.

 

For over 65 years, MHA and our affiliates across the country have led the observance of May is Mental Health Month to raise awareness about mental health and mental illness. Addressing mental health before Stage 4-this year's theme for the month-calls attention to the importance addressing mental health symptoms early, identifying potential underlying diseases, and planning an appropriate course of action on a path towards overall health.

 

"When we think about cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, we don't wait years to treat them," says Paul Gionfriddo, president and CEO of MHA. "We start before Stage 4-we begin with prevention. So why don't we do the same for individuals who are dealing with potentially serious mental illness? Like other diseases, mental health conditions should be treated long before they reach the most critical points in the disease process-before Stage 4."

 

Research shows that not recognizing symptoms of mental health conditions causes people to wait an average of ten years to seek treatment, during which time symptoms often worsen. Intervening effectively during early stages of mental illness can save lives and change the trajectories of people living with mental illnesses. MHA launched last May its online screening tools at www.mhascreening.org and the results are staggering:

Almost 350,000 individuals have taken screens for depression, anxiety, bipolar and PTSD

  • 75 percent of the screeners are women
  • 71 percent are between the ages of 18-34
  • 67 percent of screeners have never been diagnosed before
  • 71 percent of those who took the anxiety screen tested moderate to severe
  • 58 percent of those who took the depression screen tested moderate/severe or severe

 For more information on May is Mental Health Month, visit MHA's website at www.mentalhealthamerica.net/may.

June - PTSD Awareness Month
(Post Traumatic Syndrome Disorder)

The National Center for PTSD promotes awareness of PTSD and effective treatments throughout the year. Starting in 2010, Congress named June 27th PTSD Awareness Day (S. Res. 455). For the second consecutive year in 2014, the Senate designated the full month of June for National PTSD Awareness (S. Res. 481). Efforts are underway to continue this designation in 2015.

 

Following trauma, most people experience stress reactions but many do not develop PTSD. Mental health experts are not sure why some people develop PTSD and others do not. However, if stress reactions do not improve over time and they disrupt everyday life, seeking help to determine if PTSD is a factor is important.

 

The purpose of PTSD Awareness Month is to encourage everyone to raise public awareness of PTSD and its effective treatments. We can all help those affected by PTSD.