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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-10-12-HSC-min.pdf Human Services Committee RePlace Subcommittee Minutes October 12, 1993 Present Donna M Hooper, Chairman; Rosalyn L Gittlemen Eva Havas; Jeanne S Luongo; Richard W Safford; Stephen Baran, Human Services Coordinator; Betty Ruth, parent Questions were formulated to send to Bill Blout, Director of RePlace and sent in letter dated October 13 from Steve Baran previously distributed to Subcommittee Additional questions coming out of this meeting Funding through marketing of CAPP program? What will happen when grant expires? Other types of fundraising? How are administrative functions being carried out? Has hot line been evaluated? How many kids are reached (as opposed to adults) ? Extent of RePlace communication with Martha Queenin and other staff at high school? Status of RePlace planning with Support Committee for Battered ( ) Women? How does RePlace assess need? Sources of referra' for counseling? RePlace Subcommittee Meeting 10/20/93 Present above with Roberta Black, President; and Judith Zabin, member of RePlace Board, ; Bill Blout, Executive Director Bill Blout handed out a written response to letter of October 13 from Steve Baran Roberta Black commented that she was proud of participating with the Human Services Committee; advocacy should be a joint effort; on the other hand, she was concerned about the adversarial stance that the Human Services Committee seemed to be taking Donna Hooper replied that these were difficult times, and the Committee was seeking to maximize resources with perception that RePlace had not always done this and that there had been a lack of direction on the part of RePlace 1 Minutes, Human Services Committee, 10/12, 10/20/93 Page 2 Eva Havas expressed a sense of frustration although we all have the same interests at heart; the numbers seemed small and RePlace seemed to be following a medical model (emphasis on one to one, clinical interviewing) Judy Zabin noted that groups were not one to one Bill commented that groups were renewed each year in response to changing needs Last year, there were five groups, and the year before there were four The model was not "medical" rather "community, non- traditional, alternative, originated by kids, " e g , as in peer counseling and CAPP programs In response to Eva's question about Hot Line not responding to Lexington youth, Bill said that the main purpose of the Hot Line was to help peer counselors to grow emotionally Last year, the peer counselors had not provided the anticipated amount of services, but that was an off year RePlace was moving away from the Hot Line, in any case, since it was ineffective Moreover, the kids involved--presently 20 with 16 new being trained--mainly did outreach The emphasis is preventive, not medical For example, Bill was contacted by a peer leader about a friend in trouble; Bill went out; the kid was in severe trouble and was helped through prompt intervention ( RePlace peer counseling was different from school 's peer educators led by Martha Queenin RePlace trains kids in learning counseling skills including empathic listening Each program is complementary to the other The Support Committee for Battered Women (under FY '94 contract) will participate in training peer educators Time frame for FY ' 94 Town funded violence program November and December training by Support Committee of RePlace peer staff; Support Committee training on domestic violence in middle school peer education workshops Part of delay due to lag in funding of the health education positions Steve asked how peer counselors were selected Were only natural leaders chosen? Bill explained that among those selected were young people who wanted to go into human services, those who wanted to help others and those who were going through hard times themselves Plans for peer counseling included more outreach to middle schools, greater visibility, involvement in Governors ' peer leader program (peer leaders from different schools meet each other) and connecting with peer education program in the School Department 1 Minutes, Human Services Committee, 10/12 , 10/20/93 Page 3 Eva asked why RePlace wasn't on the scene in the case of a liquor store selling to minors After all, this was a public health approach Donna commented that there did not seem to be a lot of interaction between RePlace and the schools or RePlace and the Police Department Bill responded that lately there had been increased contact--two contacts in the same month as opposed to much less in previous periods The RePlace model has been one of working extensively with collaterals, and this varied extensively among the staff in different organizations, e g , school and clergy Bill explained the outreach model The main function of the outreach worker is to reach out to alienated kids by hanging out with them, by building relationships with merchants, e g , liquor store owners, helping to respond to wild parties, etc Steve commented on his recollection of why the outreach worker was not continued--in response to School Department' s desireat the time to have a licensed clinician working in the high school and doing structured interviews As to evaluation of the CAPP program, see annual report which had been included among materials handed out this evening It contained a lot of evaluation Teachers were present in the role playing and presented as the main adult to be trusted Parents are given two workshops every year, but these are poorly attended even though all parents are invited RePlace intends to send questionnaires this year to all parents Parents are invited to sit in but not with own children; parents are encouraged to attend workshops, though not with their own kids, and watch videos of actual workshops CAPP ' s purpose to make kids empowered and come out feeling good There was a lot of research supporting the usefulness of the CAPP model Bill said he would get the material Bill knew kids felt good because they, and their teachers, told him The kids had said that they have handled situations differently because of CAPP They leave with the sense that there is a solution Eva thought it was dangerous to rely on anecdotal remarks Bill said they also had anonymous questionnaires Donna asked about marketing of CAPP Belmont and Burlington had shown some interest The curriculum would be revised next year for Lexington pre-schoolers were this to become part of the program Donna commented that Replace seemed to be basically where it had been two years ago in re marketing the CAPP program L Minutes, Human Services Committee, 10/12 , 10/20/93 Page 4 Determination of community need Sources of information 1 listening to service users and being accessible to them; 2 networking--as through attending meetings of the Association of Youth and Family Providers Replace has observed that municipal-based providers are not as much in touch because they are not independent Publicizing of groups--Eva perceived that RePlace served a core population only Bill responded that RePlace was thinking of publicizing through the PTAs ' Groups 50% of students actively drink Donna thought RePlace might need a group for alcoholic kids Bill said that RePlace had done such a group in the past Not many kids came Maybe a court diversion program was the answer ( A single parents ' group was building up again Replace had done a "tough love" group; now it was situated in Arlington Reimbursement Replace was trying to get more reimbursement Many of the kids they saw were not insured; few had Blue Cross Blue Shield Donna asked what would be the impact if funds were shifted from peer counseling to community outreach? Bill responded that much of what peer leaders were already doing was community outreach Steve asked if might be possible to combine in one staff person the functions of supervising peer counseling and outreach Level funding approach Donna asked for RePlace input into a level-funding approach Roberta and Bill expressed frustration that school had decided to hire a half-time community liaison without considering that the real need was for an outreach worker It was felt that Steve as Human Services Coordinator might have been able to play a role in getting these funds for RePlace Minutes, Human Services Committee, 10/12, 10/20/93 Page 5 Donna asked RePlace to present before Thursday, October 28 three FY ' 95 budgets 1 $89 , 916 amount initially requested by RePlace for FY '95 2 $67, 800 level-funded FY '94 level 3 $78 , 858 in the middle