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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-09-16-HSC-min.pdf n Minutes Human Services Committee 9/ 16//92 Present Renee Cochin and Donna Hooper, Co-Chairmen; Eva Glick ; Ann Irving ; Dennis Murakami ; Rick Safford; Judy Zabin and Bill Blout, RePlace ; Steve Baran, Human Services Coordinator Minutes The Minutes of 9/2/92 were reviewed and corrected ( see attached corrected Minutes) Co-Chairmen Report The Selectmen were asked to accept the candidacies of Eva Havas and Ruthie Liberman for membership on the Human Services Committee Action on this, and renewal of memberships for other members, is expected before the end of the month Clarification is needed as to who is liaison to the Committee from the Selectmen Coordinator' s Report (I ) Steve reported a new infant preschool program is being set up by Choate Health Management, Inc ; open house on Monday October 5th; Steve invited members to accompany him; workshop sponsored by Community Partners on "Community Hopes, Community Dreams" will take place on Wednesday, October 14th; Steve volunteered to explore support for registration if any community members were interested ; a meeting is being planned between Committee representatives and the Trustees of Public Trusts regarding the Human Services Emergency Fund Community Human Services, Inc and Eliot Community Mental Health Center are merging to form the Eliot Community Human Services, Inc; Steve suggested meeting with their director to explore services to the mentally ill in Lexington Replace report Bill Blout and Judy Zabin met with the Committee concerning their Annual Report to the Committee with FY ' 92 and FY ' 93 budgets Renee complimented Bill and Judy upon the Report' s style and presentation It was felt, however, that the Report could be `•J improved in the future by further distinguishing between all services which RePlace provides as opposed to those which are I Human Services Committee, 9/ 16/92 Page 2 Town-funded For example, the Town only paid for 350 counseling hours out of the 1 , 100 hours actually provided Bill highlighted aspects of the Report as follows This has been a year of transition with lots of changes in personnel and a change of emphasis from counseling (phasing out of long-term counseling in favor of groups and short-term) to prevention largely due to the CAPP (-child assault prevention) program At the same time, the Agency has been responding to suicide and crises CAPP elementary program (Town of Lexington-funded) will be maintained, extended to pre and middle schools (Hancock Church funded) Figures estimating FY ' 93 CAPP utilization are on the conservative side "Outreach and community education" reporting category next year will be subsumed under CAPP Outreach coordinator who was half-time in RePlace and half-time in the schools has been hired by the School Department She had handled the bulk of crisis intervention A significant drop in referrals is expected RePlace is seldom called by the police Efforts will need to be made to publicize RePlace availability for emergencies Big increase in services to prevent suicide due to greater emphasis on early intervention, e g , friends coming in to express concern; young people expressing problems through suicide ideation rather than self- destructive acts ; fewer outside resources ; families having less health insurance due to unemployment or cutting back of insurance Close relationship with schools to be continued There are kids who need long-term counseling; unclear how their needs will be met The Hot Line will be re-evaluated, possibly phased out low volume Basic thrust for FY ' 93 CAPP in middle schools ; crisis intervention; more groups ; strong counseling; less crisis ; continued peer counseling including involvement with Outreach Committee for Battered Women; possibly other kinds of support to Outreach Committee for Lexington families U