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Promising Practices in Children’s Mental Health Systems of Care - 1998 Series respite providers. Family members have been taken leadership roles in the design, implementation, and subsequent reporting of the respite program evaluation. In a 1997 evaluation of the respite care program in Vermont, Bruns found that 25-30 hours of respite care a month decreased out of home placement, produced higher optimism, reduced personal strain, and negative behaviors. Gradually, family-run organizations expanded the audience for their training programs to include professionals and providers in their communities. Because of their history, perspective, and experience as “clients,” family faculty educate providers and professionals about the impact raising a child with a mental health problem has on the entire family – not just the needs of specific children. Family faculty give providers and professionals the invaluable opportunity to hear first hand about what has worked from families who have designed and developed effective services for their children. Their personal experience brings to life what providers and administrators can only partially learn through textbooks. Family as faculty, and the curricula offered by family-run organizations, provide families an opportunity to develop strategies that dissolve some of the barriers that make it difficult for local systems and providers to be creative in designing services and supports for children and their families. They have offered themselves as bridges to link families and professionals together as equal partners, working collaboratively together for the best interest of the children. When family are faculty, they work to support not only the needs of the child and family, but also the needs of the providers and administrators. Family Organizations have provided education and technical assistance to schools, law enforcement, courts, child protective services, child and family services, churches, homeless shelters, clinics, pediatricians, public health nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, employers, substance abuse programs, abuse shelters, and day and after school care facilities, just to name a few. 52 Family-Run Organizations As Training Agencies— Hawaii Families As Allies Exemplifies The Role Like most family-run organizations, Hawaii Families As Allies began (approximately 12 years ago) simply to provide a network of support for families raising children and adolescents with serious emotional or behavioral disorders. They had a part time staff person and a few community family volunteers, who facilitated support groups. In the beginning, very little training was provided to these volunteers, due to limited staff and funding. Nevertheless, Family Volunteers hosted monthly meetings in their homes and served light refreshments to other families who were interested Volume I: New Roles for Families
Promising Practices in Children’s Mental Health Systems of Care - 1998 Series and joined in. They offered to facilitate discussions, share their personal experiences, and referred families with technical or complicated questions to the Hawaii Families As Allies office in Honolulu. The Family Volunteers called into the Honolulu office to touch base and submitted monthly reports. As simple as this sounds, it was not easy. These first groups were very small and inconsistently attended. Volunteer turnover, funding, cultural issues, locations, and lack of awareness and support from the service system were just some of the barriers. The scarcity of appropriate educational and mental health services statewide was a huge barrier. After a few years, families were no longer interested in just talking amongst themselves. They really needed information and help in developing strategies to establish and expand services for their children and their families. These early years gave Hawaii Families As Allies an opportunity to evaluate their capacity to provide support and telephone technical assistance to families. They reviewed the kind of help that was requested, and assessed their strengths as an organization. Hawaii Families As Allies leadership came to realize they had become very knowledgeable about how successful family members supported other families and the importance of developing services and supports in their home communities. They received funding to provide training to family members, but understood the importance of including service providers in their workshops. Hawaii Families As Allies put together two curricula. Developing Families as Allies, based on a program shared with them by Mississippi Families As Allies, was revised use in Hawaii. It is presented in 10 sessions running from two to three hours each. This curriculum stresses the importance of families and professionals working collaboratively and teaches the essential skills to accomplish this. Attendees identify their needs and refine their roles as they develop an action plan for the care of their children and families. The second curriculum, Impact on the Families, builds on Developing Families As Allies. Impact on the Families emphasizes the effect that severe emotional and behavioral disorders have on the whole family. Professionals and providers are very comfortable joining the families and feel they get different perspectives of the information offered because they are mixed together. Today, Hawaii Families As Allies employs 10 paid staff and over 14 volunteers. Four full-time employees develop, provide, and evaluate training. Hawaii Families As Allies now has a total of 16 curricula they offer statewide. Why Managed Care?, Effective Communication and Negotiation, Behavior Intervention for the Child with a Serious Emotional Disorder; Oppositional Defiant and Conduct Disorder, and Wraparound Process are just a few of the workshop titles. They average 130 regular workshops a year, with approximately 2,500 parent and primary caregivers, educators, service Volume I: New Roles for Families 53
Page 1 and 2: Comprehensive Community Mental Heal
Page 3 and 4: Table of Contents Promising Practic
Page 5 and 6: Foreword Promising Practices in Chi
Page 7 and 8: Acknowledgments Promising Practices
Page 9 and 10: Executive Summary Promising Practic
Page 11 and 12: certification, licensure, or a coll
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Page 37 and 38: n workshops on topics of interest;
Page 43 and 44: Supervision Helps Refine the Role P
Page 51: Chapter III Family As Faculty DESCR
Page 63 and 64: Parent In Residence Program Has A S
Page 77 and 78: Chapter IV Conclusion WE HAVE COME
Page 83 and 84: References Promising Practices in C
Page 89 and 90: APPENDICES Promising Practices in C
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Page 97 and 98: Addendum One Letter of Agreement CF
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Appendix E Promising Practices in C
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APPENDIX E (Continued) Promising Pr
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15. A representative from the Fisca
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APPENDIX E (Continued) Promising Pr
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Appendix F Promising Practices in C
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Promising Practices in Children’s
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