Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1976-10-27-YAC-min.pdf r Minutes of the Youth Advisory Commission Meeting, October 27, 1976 Members Present Nancy Abelmann, Chairman Peter Miller, Vice-chairman Mary Fran Anderson Winston E Flynn Mary W Miley Stephen Politi Margaret Cole Laura Gallant Jeffrey Spencer Martha Eddison Guess Speaker Jim McKay, Director - Replace Meeting convened at 7 30 p m. in the second floor office of Replace Chairman Nancy Abelmann presented an agends of six items for discussion at this meeting Item I Discussion of the Executive Committee Purpose of this discussion was to determine the necessity, usefulness, and purposes for such a body within the present structure of the Commission. Flynn recommended the Committee be retained but used more sparingly Anderson suggested the abolishment of the Committee and substitution of extra general meetings on a weekly basis A motion was made by Spencer that the Executive Committee be re- tained for use at the discretion of the Chairman Included in this motion were decisions for possible agenda structuring by entire Commission at each regular meeting as well as recognition of the Chairman's needs for support of and sugges- tions from the Committee during initial phase of YAC's work. This motion was duly seconded and passed by a vote of affirmative - 6, negative - 2, and 1 abstention Subsequent to this vote, each Wednesday evening was designated as a general meeting night Commission members should try to attend as many as possible After a discussion of meeting notification details, the Commission decided to retain temporarily the present system of notification by the Chairman and the Secretary Miller pointed out that the YAC meetings are never reported in the Minuteman calendar, and volunteered to take care of this Miller's suggestion was approved Jim McKay gave a brief history of Replace and a summary of projected goals, staffing, and orientation Replace began as a drug-crisis measure, evolved into a drug treatment facility (1970) , presently operates Hot Line, Drop-In Center, and Crisis Intervention Program--all youth-oriented A volunteer staff of juniors and seniors from the high school maintain the Hot Line after appropriate short- term training McKay felt this has been a successful program and should be con- tinued He pointed out that peer counselling had lessened somewhat, but was unable to give reasons for this decline Replace now has a professional staff of four professional counsellors and one psychologist for the formal counselling and Crisis Intervention Programs He anticipates more emphasis on outreach this year, -l- as well as the possibility of expanding their staff to include one or two "street workers" His goals include better recognition of Replace's services by the community, coordinating Replace with school administration and counsellors, and with other. "front-line" workers At the present time, he estimates an average of 80 youths annually are helped within the organization's present structure, and hopes to double this number in the coming year McKay discussed the need for preventive mental health programs including groups for parents to discuss developmental problems, more specialized court counselling, and group or individual therapy for children from broken homes Some of this will, of course, be coordinated with Mystic Valley Mental Health Association In a discussion of the Hot Line program, McKay mentioned some of the most frequently requested information primarily, the calls concerned questions about sex, such as VD, pregnancy tests, etc He felt that a weakness of their present program was a lack of feedback--after referral to another agency, such as a laboratory or mental health facility, there was no follow-up Anderson asked questions about sex education in the schools (type and availability) , planned parent programs available to young Lexingtonians (nearest facility is Boston) , stressing the need for attention to and possible research on this prob- lem McKay pointed out that inevitably, in dealing with the sex education prob- lem, the problem of abortion counselling will be raised At the present time there is no work done by Replace among the junior high students in the community, but McKay expects to begin some sort of problem in the near future He hopes a closer working relationship with the YAC can be worked out To Cole's suggestion of a formal observer to the Board of Replace from the YAC, McKay responded favorably Flynn recommended this be done by formal letter of request to the Board This motion was duly seconded and passed by unanimous vote The Chairman was asked to write such a letter McKay outlined Replace budget as $24,000 annually, including salaries of $8,000 which are paid directly to taff members by Town of Lexington and a grant of $12,600 from the Department of Mental Health. Item II Discussion of Brainstorming List It was decided that this discussion should be postponed until next Wednes- day because of time limitations Next meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 3rd at 7 p m. , in Room 111 at High School Item III Report and Discussion of our Budget A total of $400 per year is set aside by Selectmen for use by the YAC for FY July 1, 1976-77; Miley doubted if more funds logically could be expected from either Selectmen or Town funds unless adequate justification could be made by YAC It was decided to postpone any request for additional funding until next week. November 1st is deadline for budget requests -3- Item IV Discussion of Drug Advisory Report Politi moved that a subcommittee be appointed to study the Drug Advisory Report, and to report back to YAC with recommendations This motion was seconded and passed by unanimous vote Members selected for this subcommittee were Politi, Anderson, Cole, and Spencer Cole was appointed Chairman of the Subcommittee and a meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, November 2nd, at Carey Memorial Library, at 7 p m. Item V Town Report Flynn suggested the Chairman write a draft YAC statement of projected pro- grams and goals for this coming year, and submit to Commission for discussion and finalization at next meeting This was duly seconded and passed Item VI Minuteman Article Commission agreed on timeliness and necessity for such an article Cole recommended the Minuteman be requested to interview the officers of the Commission and encouraged to give front-page coverage with photographs This was seconded and passed Chairman will make arrangements with Minuteman Minutes submitted by Margaret Cole acting for Ellen Boyle