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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1976-10-01-DAC-rpt.pdf 1 {. C l,._ . JE 1.1 1916 ''f1'+ —5 Pio 3: 13 LEX( UUTUNI, MASS. REPORT OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON YOUTH PROGRAMS AND SERVICES 1 OCTOBER 1976 LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS REPORT OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON YOUTH PROGRAMS AND SERVICES 1 October 1976 Lexington, Massachusetts Prepared by Jack Sarmanian Charles McManus Sheppard Clough Sumner Perlman, Chairman Approved by Selectmen' s Drug Advisory Committee Irving Mabee, ex Officio Dr. Frederick Mazer Dr. Jack Monderer Sumner Perlman Jack Sarmanian Marge Battin, Chairman a REPORT OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON YOUTH PROGRAMS AND SERVICES I INTRODUCTION II YOUTH NEEDS III PRESENTLY AVAILABLE SERVICES IV RECOMMENDATIONS A YOUTH DIRECTOR B YOUTH ADVISORY COUNCIL C COUNSELING AND CRISIS INTERVENTION CENTER--REPLACE D OUTREACH WORKERS E COMMUNICATION V TOWN COMMITMENTS VI FUTURE POSSIBLE PROGRAMS A FIRST OFFENDER DIVERSIONARY PROGRAM B PROBATION COUNSELING PROGRAM C SHORT-TERM RESIDENTIAL PLACEMENTS D PRE-RELEASE PROGRAM E DROP-IN CENTERS ATTACHMENT 1 REPLACE ATTACHMENT 2 JOB DESCRIPTION OF YOUTH DIRECTOR ATTACHMENT 3 DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES REPORT OF "h THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON YOUTH PROGRAMS AND SERVICES I. INTRODUCTION Lexington, like most comparable towns , has a need for youth services A number of groups have been working in Lexington to help come to grips with these needs These have been such groups as the Citizens for Lexington Youth, the Lexington Drug Committee, the Youth Commission, etc In 1969, the Selectmen formed the Selectmen' s Advisory Committee on Drug Counseling and, in conjunction with that, hired a counselor to be available to the town on a hot-line basis When the Selectmen' s Advisory Committee was formed, the primary concern was drugs Since that time, the Committee has come to the same conclusion that many other people in the field have; namely, that drugs, alcohol, acting out, etc , have their root causes in personal, emotional, familial and social problems . These point out the need for both crisis intervention and counsel- ing services Replace, which was founded in 1968, has been a major contributor in helping to fill this need Although these groups have contributed valuably, it is clear that there is a need for a coordinated, integrated town youth services program. The Subcommittee on Youth Programs and Services was formed by the Selectmen' s Advisory Committee to look at the town' s youth needs and to make specific recommendations . The Subcommittee is made up of the following persons Jack Sarmanian Charles McManus Sheppard Clough Sumner Perlman, Chairman This report describes some of the background, the needs and our recommendations . -2- -) II YOUTH NEEDS Lexington, with a population of 32,477, has approximately 8,000 people in the 10 - 21 age category The resources for youth described here have involved a number of this group "Problem youth" may be at least partially identified by reviewing the statistics of the Police Department, Concord Court Probation Office, Mystic Valley Mental Health Center; and Replace, Incorporated The Police Department reports that there has been a continual rise in juvenile arrests over the years In 1974, there were 122 arrests ; and in 1975, there were 268 arrests Alcohol-related offenses have increased markedly ; and offenses against authority, property, breaking and entering, larceny, etc , constitute the increase On probation from the Concord Court in October 1975 were 48 Lexington youth In August 1976, there were 61 Lexington youth under the jurisdiction of that Court The numbers on probation were higher during the "drug crisis" in the early 1970' s They decreased for a period and have once again increased The Concord Court has jurisdiction over seven towns, and it is important to note that the number of Lexington youth on probation is proportional to that of towns with similar population During 1975, Mystic Valley Mental Health Center saw a total of 85 new cases under the age of 21 The same year, 135 individuals were seen for counseling at Replace During this period, the Youth Counselor worked with 57 youths and/or families, some of whom are listed under the Replace statistics Thus, it is clear that a significant number of youths and families are involved in the process of counseling How many more need assistance is not certain; but, clearly, only a fraction of youth in difficulty are being reached Since counseling is not always effective -3- -) with this age group and is often not the treatment of choice, what other approaches are called for? Over the past year, there has been an increase in the number of youth groups congregating in various areas of the town as well as an increase in the number of youth group behavioral problems From the above, it appears as though there are several things that should be considered Available, non-threatening counseling services, Supervised group "therapy;" Street workers (Outreach workers) Drop-in Center It should be noted that there appears to be little communication or coordination between agencies dealing with youth in Lexington III PRESENTLY AVAILABLE SERVICES A School System The school system has guidance counselors for each house in the high school. They are concerned primarily with educational and career counseling While they attempt to provide personal counseling, their extent is limited by the load carried by each counselor (250) In addition, the high school has a social worker who deals with the emotional problems of the students At the junior high school level, there are 8 counselors who have responsibility for 280 students each. Their time is spent in individual and small group-counseling on educational, career and personal issues B Replace This counseling and crisis intervention agency is described in detail in another section of this report Replace provides free professional counseling service with an informal intake procedure for young adults (ages 13 to 21) and their families -4- -) C Mystic Valley This mental health agency provides professional counseling at scaled cost to the client The method of arranging for counseling is on a relatively formal basis , and the counseling is of a more clinical nature than that offered by Replace D Private Counseling Lexington has a few private counseling services available that are not utilized to any great extent by the town's youth E Religious Institutions Some churches/temples provide counseling to youth; although, few of these groups have personnel that are professionally trained in counseling Many of these institu- tions have Youth Groups that provide constructive activities for their members F Co-Op The Lexington Summer Co-Op is a student-run, student- oriented program, providing activities for students during six weeks in the summer The Co-Op has a budget of $10 thousand of which $6 thousand comes from the School Committee, and the rest comes from nominal course charges and from donations The program services about 1000 youngsters Adult volunteers serve as advisors The senior staff is made up of paid students and young adults G Hayden This facility provides recreational opportunities at small expense to the participants The programs tend to be structured and to appeal more to pre-junior high school children than to older youngsters The activities available are primarily athletic; and, except for the Youth Hockey Program, there is limited coordination of the programs with the needs of older town youth -5- H Town Recreational Programs The town provides recreational activities such as summer swimming, tennis and coordination of facilities for private town athletic activities Activities for young adults other than for highly athletic activities are limited The Co-Op has provided school facilities on an unstructured basis for the use of older youth I Private Town Organizations Many town organizations exist which provide recreational activities for Lexington youth Most of these programs are athletic, are relatively structured, are quite competitive and have appeal to a certain segment of Lexington youth Scouting and related activities involve another group of youth interested in programs of that nature It appears that more boys than girls are served by these groups; although, this is changing The number of young people participating in these programs drops ) off rapidly above the junior high school age J Lexington Counseling Service The Lexington Counseling Service is a branch office of the Family Service Association of Greater Boston and offers family counseling to all residents of Lexington and Bedford Their work is primarily with adults but may include children in the family unit They do work with individual teenaged youngsters referred by the schools They are staffed by two part-time social workers They do not do testing or psychiatric social work but refer to private psychiatrists or Mystic Valley Mental Health Center This service is supported by the United Fund and endowments A scaled fee of $1 to $25 is charged -6- IV RECOMMENDATIONS It is the recommendation of this Committee that an integrated, coordinated approach is required; and one of its key elements is the involvement and commitment of the town of Lexington We believe that the following is needed A single person charged with responsibility to coordinate and direct all youth-support activities A mechanism for this person to interface with the Board of Selectmen and Town Manager Provision for crisis intervention and counseling service for youth Methods for more fully meeting the total needs of our youth Open communication among all departments and services dealing with and relating to youth A vehicle for focusing the concerns of youth To fill these needs, the Subcommittee recommends the following A Youth Director A Youth Director be hired and retained by the town to handle all services relating to youth in the town The responsibilities of the Youth Director would include those items listed below He/she would coordinate and integrate all activities within the town relating to youth This would cut across town departments as well as various groups and committees within the town The Youth Director would carry the responsibility for purchasing services from community groups and organizations as needed and as appropriate The main function would be to establish and develop goals and objectives for implementation. -7- He would continually evaluate and assess crisis intervention and counseling work done under contract to the town for the town youth He would be responsible for youth recreation He would focus on obtaining sufficient recreation facilities for the youth; this would include such things as the opening of school gyms on weekends and during vacations, the lighting of playgrounds in the evening, etc He would identify sources of support funding from state and federal agencies and would play a lead role in obtaining these funds to support Lexington youth programs This person would have prime responsibility for all information and referral activities that relate to youth It is recommended that the invaluable services of the Town Youth Counselor be continued as before working under the Youth Director To fill the need for a focus for the concerns of our youth, the Youth Director would function as an ombudsman for the youth of Lexington He could, as the need arises, make appropriate recommendations to the town via the Selectmen as to enlarging and/or modifying the support elements which could be done by expanding the contract to other agencies in support of the town The Youth Director would be responsible for the operation of the Co-Op Program, presently being advised by volunteers i -8- Th B Youth Advisory Council A Youth Advisory Council should be formed This council, which would be appointed by the Selectmen, would act in both an advisory capacity to the Selectmen as well as providing a vehicle for helping to coordinate the Youth Director with the other elements of the town It is recommended that this Youth Advisory Council be an augmented version of the present Selectmen' s Drug Advisory Committee and the Youth Commission The Council should have representatives of the School Department, Police Department and Recreation Committee; two youth representatives and three citizens at large This Council should be chaired by a member of the Board of Selectmen Although the intent of the Board would be to provide support to the Board of Select- men in this area, it would not act as a deterrent to the Youth Director operating directly with the Board of Selectmen or Town Manager when it is so desired Further, this Council would support the Director in developing and evaluating the budgets to be presented to the Board of Selectmen; in helping to assess programs; and in evaluating the Youth Director, himself (Refer to Figure 1 ) C Counseling and Crisis Intervention Center--Replace Replace is a private agency that is a well-established crisis intervention, hot-line and counseling center It is known and accepted by the youth In addition, it is a licensed drug treatment center We recommend that the town contract with Replace to continue to provide these services , maintaining a professional staff that will serve the needs of all segments of the community now and in the future. (Refer to Attachment 1 for further information on Replace ) -9- Th LEXINGTON LEXINGTON TOWN BOARD OF SELECTMEN MANAGER i i YOUTH ADVISORY YOUTH COUNCIL DIRECTOR - SELECTMAN, CHAIRMAN - REPRESENTATIVE OF SCHOOLS - REPRESENTATIVE OF POLICE - REPRESENTATIVE OF RECREATION COMMITTEE - THREE CITIZENS AT LARGE - TWO YOUTH REPRESENTATIVES FIGURE 1 -10- D Outreach Workers We see a need for two Outreach Workers in Lexington and recommend that they be contracted for through Replace Their primary responsibilities would include Making contact with youth Acting as a resource for youth; helping them to identify their individual and collective needs ; and referring them to appropriate resources, such as counseling, mental health, recreational, vocational or educational facilities , etc Acting as a liaison between youth and the Police, between youth and community government, and between youth and the general community Providing information to youth on request concerning drugs, alcohol, etc Helping youth, whenever possible, to implement projects or recreational activities that the youth are interested in and wish to pursue The Outreach Worker will not implement the programs for the youth but, rather, will act as a facilitator in helping the youths accomplish the implementation themselves E Communication Historically, there have been a number of interested parties who have worked in behalf of youth in Lexington, but there has never been a designated or responsible group who had ultimate charge of this coordination To assess, to bring together and to coordinate all the various interested parties is a major undertaking; but it must be done in order to develop communication among the Selectmen's Office, the Youth Advisory Council, the Police, other professional agencies, interested Lay Groups, Lexington citizens and, most certainly, the youth themselves -11- -) The methods of communication would be multiple, such as Small selective meetings , Open forums; Media involvement; Telephone polling, Surveying of religious, cultural, civic and fraternal groups, Professional meetings; Community-wide appeals The goals of communication would be To determine needs ; - To get an accurate picture of trouble spots ; To help establish appropriate goals and objectives for youth activities, youth programs and youth involvement; To facilitate communication among all interested parties and to create the mechanisms for sound, comprehensive youth programs and solutions These open communications and mutual understandings among all those involved with youth are necessary in order to focus our energy on the problems at hand It is clear that the Youth Advisory Council has to play a significant role in working with the Youth Director and the other boards of the town as well as other committees and groups within the town to help this come about -12- V TOWN COMMITMENTS As noted above, if a program like this is to be successful, it needs a commitment from the town This commitment comes in two different forms ; one is the financial commitment, a commitment as to the funding of the resources needed to provide adequate support and to provide crisis intervention and counseling from troubled youth of our community The other type of commitment is one that provides both moral and administrative support for this program. In examining youth-help programs in other communities, it became clear to this Committee that those that were most successful in performing their job were those that had the full support of the town administration as well as the town' s people VI FUTURE POSSIBLE PROGRAMS At this time, there appear to be several needs that should be more closely investigated and appropriate recommendations made We feel that one of the responsibilities of the Youth Director would be to examine and make recommendations about these needs A First Offender Diversionary Program This program, which would be run in conjunction with the court and the Police, would provide a supportive and counseling program for first offenders B Probation Counseling Program The Probation Officers appear to this Subcommittee to be presently overloaded It would be desirable to provide counseling services to probationers C Short-Term Residential Placements Other communities have found this to be helpful in the case of some difficult youth D Pre-Release Program } E Drop-In Centers Identification of centers or areas within Lexington where youth can freely congregate ATTACHMENT 1 REPLACE Replace is a private, non-profit corporation Its primary function is to provide consultative counseling and referral services to individuals, families, groups, organizations and the community with reference to emotional and related problems , including drug abuse The goal and success of Replace has been its open and easy access to Lexington youth for professional counseling at no cost The paid staff of Replace during the past year has included a director reimbursed through state funds (DDR) , a psychologist compensated by the town for two afternoons per week (but actually working a considerably greater amount of time) , and a social worker compensated by the town for one afternoon per week In addition, two counselors were hired to run groups on a weekly basis These groups were run on specific topics for fixed periods of time during the spring Replace has been fortunate to have the cooperation of the Town Youth Counselor, Mr McManus, who is available for counsel- ing two afternoons per week and who is generally in attendance at the weekly meetings of the Hot Line Staff (to be described in detail) The availability of the Town Youth Counselor' s expertise to Replace has been essential in the operation and direction of Replace' s activities Replace maintains a "Hot Line" that is a manned telephone answering service from 6 00 - 11 00 pm on weekdays and 1 00 - 11 00 pm on weekends This service is operated by a group of twenty young adults from ages 16 to 22 approximately This staff is trained by the Director They develop skills in handling calls, including suicide threats, drug symptoms, birth control information and emotional problems The goal of the Hot Line is two-fold (1) to provide information to the caller and to provide a mechanism by which the caller can obtain professional counseling, and (2) to provide the staff a way of helping other people and, in the process, a way for them to see some of their own problems in a different perspective The weekly discussions that take place among the Attachment 1 -2- staff, the Director and usually a professional counselor, in itself, constitutes a therapeutic experience In the course of a year, due to turnover, approximately forty young adults are involved in the staff The responsible body for the operation of Replace is the Board of Trustees , consisting of seven adults and five student members In addition to the Board of Trustees, there exists a Board of Advisors composed of individuals interested in Lexington Youth This Board has proven to be a useful adjunct to the Board of Trustees The two Boards meet jointly on a monthly basis The three functions that are of primary concern to the Boards are the operational policies of Replace, the staffing of the organization and the financial responsibility for the organization. Replace has expressed an awareness of a much greater need in the community for the type of services that it offers and, in addition, has identified a need for an Outreach program in Lexington that would enable Replace professional staff members to meet with groups and individuals at locations where youth congregate in town The key to the success of the program proposed here is the Director of Replace Replace has just hired its first director with professional training in the field of mental health for youth and with specific experience in the area of court referrals , effective interaction with school personnel, and the handling of youth having a history of acting out. It is anticipated that the new director will play a vital role in improving the availability of counseling and other necessary services to Lexington youth ATTACHMENT 2 Th JOB DESCRIPTION OF YOUTH DIRECTOR One way to develop an optimum youth program would be to designate a person as "Youth Director " This would allow for a maximum collaboration, communication and development of sound goals and objectives for youth programs and activities within the town This person would be charged directly by the Selectmen and may work under the guidance of a Youth Advisory Council The job description would be as follows The Youth Director is involved in coordinating and having knowledge of all programs that relate to youth (individuals up to the age of 22) This person has prime responsibility for all information and referral activities that relate to youth This necessarily means that the Youth Director must be aware of all the resources available for youth in the community, including but not limited to recreational programs, educational programs , counseling services, mental health services, law enforcement and civic activities The Youth Director carries the responsibility for purchasing services from community groups and organizations as needed and as appropriate This includes reviewing proposals as well as preventing duplication of efforts and services The main function is to establish, to develop and to maximize sound integrated goals and objectives for implementation The prevention of duplication relates to efforts toward coordination of all services as they relate to youth This includes contact with the public and private schools, the Department of Special Eduation, Guidance and School Adjustment Counselors, the Police Department, the Parks and Recreation Department, and public and private vendors of services to youth Attachment 2 -2- Th The Youth Director serves as a liaison between youth and municipal institutions, departments , agencies and organiza- tions rendering any type of services to the youth of the community In addition, as a delegated town official or office has the power to seek and accept State and Federal moneys , both as a recipient and a conduit for distribution of funds Proposal exploration and writing would be an essential part of fiscal acquisition and appropriations The Youth Director must be available to speak before civic groups and to meet with parents who seek solutions to specific youth-related problems , such as neighborhood problems or youth vandalism problems The Youth Director must also be available to hear complaints regarding specific youth programs so that solutions can be worked towards and implemented if necessary In addition, he/she should be open and available to municipal officials; Police; professional agencies; religious, cultural and civic groups as well as to the public at large J ATTACHMENT 3 Th DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES While this report has been confined exclusively to the problems of youth, there certainly is a broad range of additional problems within the town, which should not be left unmentioned, involving the elderly, the Veterans, the physically ill, the mentally ill, the poor, public health, the consumer, etc This broad range of problems, including problems of youth, could be coordinated, as several Massachusetts towns now do, by a professional person in the position of "Director of Human Resources " This position could be made either directly responsible to the Board of Selectmen or to the Town Manager This Subcommittee does not intend to imply, by noting this broad range of additional problems in this attachment, that the "Director of Human Resources" should become a substitute for the recommended "Youth Director," but that sometime in the future careful consideration should also be given to the establishment of the position of "Director of Human Resources" to which the already established "Youth Director" would then be responsible This Subcommittee, as our report has attempted to demonstrate, views the primary and pressing problem in the town at the present time to be the needs of our youth