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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-03-10-HSC-rpt.pdf March 10, 1980 REPLACE Report of the Human Services Committee Analysis and [Recommendations BACKGROUND REPLACE was founded in 1969 as a response to an apparent need for peer counseling during a period of severe drug abuse It is a non-profit organization, staffed by paid professionals and directed by a Board of Directors consisting of approximately twenty Lexington citizens No staff member sits on the Board REPLACE was modeled, more or less, after Project Place in Boston, and was designed to formalize and provide professional counseling as opposed to the strictly peer counseling being provided by an existing (then) , Lexington organization called "The Attic" The Attic was designed primarilly as a drop-in recreation center for peer relations amongst school-age children This program was sponsored by the Hancock Church and St Brigid's church The Attic has been out of exist- ence for about seven years now Although REPLACE was founded while The Attic still existed and had space in the same building (Hancock Church) , it tried to differentiate itself from The Attic in several ways First, it provided professional help. Secondly, it served less as a drop-in center in a recreational sense and more of a drop-in center las a place to rest, think, and chat with a few peers Although it was in the same physical building as The Attic, efforts were made to establish that their facilities were separate. REPLACE is sponsored by the Town of Lexington-and funded through both the Town, and the State Department of Mental Health, Division of Drug Rehabilitation Donations have been made to REPLACE by individuals, families, etc. to supplement the REPLACE budget and, until recently, they have received a grant from CETA for an employee REPLACE has a current paid staff of seven The Director, Mr William Blout, has a Master' s Degree in Social Work from Boston College along with several years of experience as a counselor in the Arlington, Massachusetts school system; Stephanie Monaghan, The Assistant Director, has a Master' s Degree in Education in the field of counseling and, as she herself has stated, is a sometime graduate student working towards a doctorate in addition, there is an outreach worker (Mr Ed Kurkul) , a half-time admin- istrative Assistant & three consultants on various part time bases (a psychologist, a psychiatrist, and the Town Social Worker, Mr McManus) There are also a graduate student doing an internship and twelve or thirteen volunteers The volunteers range in age from a minimum of 16 to, currently, 55 All of the volunteers take twelve two-hour sessions of train- ing prior to manning the telephones, the primary occupation of volunteers There are also ten families that volunteer to provide emergency housing when needed The premises consist of four rooms one for counseling (also used for telephone conferences) , the Director's office (also used for counseling) , an open administrative office, and a drop-in lounge. The quarters have been decorated by the youngsters and the overall appearance is that of a clubhouse, painted and furnished with hand-me-downs The premises do appear to be neat and clean, however The operating budget for the current fiscal year (1980) , is $64,807 This represents an increase of approximately 15% over the $56,392 spent in FY 1979, which in turn was about 9% greater than the FY '78 expenditure of $51 ,625 Lexington' s share of this budget has been about 50 per cent, It should be pointed out that The Town Social Worker is funded separately and in addition to REPLACE The Town allocates a maximum number of dollars to Mr McManus which he bills against on an hourly basis Currently this maximum is $6,600 REPLACE-2 ranging from $24,750 in FY ' 78 to $28,447 in FY '79, and currently $27,717 (There is some discrepancy in the FY '78 budget, two different amounts have been given the amount shown was in the REPLACE budget whereas the Town budget sheets showed only $27,697 We have not been able to establish which is the correct figure) In addition, the Town of Lexington paid the Town Social Worker (on submission of bills based on hours worked) , $7,850 in FY '79 and has budgeted a maximum of $6,600 for the current year The Town also pays for the so-called "hot-line" by allocating funds for that purpose to the health department ($600 in FY '79 and $300 this year) CETA has supplied an employee budgeted at $8,660 for each of the past two years and at $9,880 this year CETA is not offering this money for FY 1981 and REPLACE is asking the Town of Lexington to pick up most of this money in order that they may keep their Administrative Assistant REPLACE is open from 11 00 A M to 7 00 P M every week day, and the telephone hot-line is open from 7 00 P M until 11 00 P M. seven days a week_ According to Mr Blout, about 80 to 90 different youngsters "drop in" during a month, although there appears to be a core group of about 25 On any one day, about 20 different youngsters may drop in, but at any one time there are rarely more than five or six on the premises The youngsters range in age from 12 to 22 They remain on the premises anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours Counseling is done in groups as well as singly The case load has varied from a little over 40 in January of 1979 to about 75 in December of that year Cases, however, may include a group, a family or an individual. 30 to 35 youngsters are included in this case load (and, again, may be either singly or in groups) About half the people that they see are parents, which may be included in the 10 family groups that are part of the case load I personally found it difficult to measure the specific number of people served by virtue of the mix and the way a case is defined For example, the 75 cases referred to above consist of 23 counseled in a group, 14 in a family situation, and 38 individual cases The hot-line takes about 100 calls per month, according to Mr Blout, of which less than 10% are crises Most callers are looking for anything from just having someone to talk with, to seeking advice on peer relations, pregnancy or drugs There is some interplay between REPLACE and the Lexington Schools (mostly through the outreach worker) , and some with Mystic Valley Mental Health Center, but these appear to be very limited There is no direct relationship between REPLACE and the Lexington Police Department although one of the members of the police department does serve on the Lexington Youth Commission which can, if called upon to do so, serve as an advocacy group for REPLACE (or any other youth oriented organization in Lexington) All services rendered by REPLACE are without charge There is, in fact, no attempt to obtain reimbursement either through the party involved or through third parties such as insurance Donations are accepted, as indicated above, but are, apparently, not solicited Although REPLACE appears to be better organized recently than it had been prior to Mr Blout' s appointment, there are still a number of questions that have been raised by virtue of a lack of'precise records, financial or related to the case load kderefer to statistics and do not mean to imply that there is an attempt to either hide information or alter it V REPLACE-3 ANALYSIS The Committee' s observations indicate that REPLACE may serve as a positive influence in Lexington by emphasizing their drop-in and peer realtionship functions The appeal is predominantly to the more potentially disruptive and the more needy youth of the Town_ In the past two years, REPLACE has increased its counseling programs and developed a working relationship with the Lexington Public Schools through the school guidance program Much of the latter program is in the field of drug education and is handled by the REPLACE outreach worker In addition, REPLACE maintains a hotline, emergency housing, and general counseling services for children and families as described earlier in this report REPLACE relies heavily on the Town of Lexington for its funding It does not look to third party reimbursements such as could be obtained from Medicaid retention money, federal funding through the Mystic Valley Consultation and Education function or funds from the Department of Mental Health in areas other than Drug Rehabilitation The Town could be of assistance to REPLACE in exploring these possibilities. The Committee would also like to see a closer working relationship between REPLACE and Mystic Valley Mental Health Association and other areas within the Lexington School System The consensus of the Human Services Committee is that REPLACE has potential as a service within the Town and should be encouraged It can be encouraged not only by funding, but by management assistance and by help in integrating it with similar services within the town and cachment area to expand its capability while reducing duplicate services RECOMMENDATIONS The Human Services Committee recommends that, for Fiscal Year 19810 the Town of Lexington allocate the sum of $30,488 towards REPLACE under account #3330 This represents a 10 percent increase over the $27,717 allocated in the fiscal Year 1980 This allocation is exclusive of monies allocated to the telephone hot line ($300 ) , and to the Town Social Worker ($6,600 ) , all under account #3330 It should be pointed out that even though this amount is less than the $34,423 requested by REPLACE, it should not reflect on the potential of the organization It reflects, instead, that our recommendations are offered with the intent of giving REPLACE an opportunity to prove itself in the coming year We encourage REPLACE to seek funds other than Town and DMH as indicated above, (additional donations should also be encouraged by private individuals or organizations) The committee also recommends that REPLACE make concerted efforts to improve their financial and management record keeping so that this committee will be better able to evaluate the needs of REPLACE next year Part of the committee's reticence in full funding this year is based on their sense that management help is needed from the REPLACE Board and from the Town of Lexington, and the fact that there are duplicate services being funded by the Town in some of REPLACE's areas