Our Children & Family service line has programs that provide safe, nurturing environments for children and families to grow. They come together to help families create a wide “village” of support and connections to resources in the community. Regardless of the uniqueness of each family, our Children & Family programs work to fill in the gaps that arise in their support systems. The programs offer |
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prevention and intervention |
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for many obstacles that our families face when trying to reach their goals as a family. Our programs evolve to meet new and growing needs each year. Keep reading to learn more about how two of our unique programs have overcome challenges, grown and adapted to help the families we serve. |
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Prevention
the action of stopping something from happening or arising |
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Over the past year, the Rebound Program and its core team of Life Skills & Resiliency Coordinators have overcome several challenges and a great deal of change. One of the biggest hurdles was being significantly understaffed. Through all the change and uncertainty, the team prevailed and provided quality prevention services to the youth of Schuylkill County without missing a beat. Our Rebound program works directly with the Children and Youth system (CYS) to provide diversion and aftercare. Diversion is when a family is referred to Rebound in order to prevent involvement in CYS and potential out of home placement. When there is involvement with CYS, Rebound provides aftercare for four to six months to maintain success and prevent recidivism. Rebound helps the children they serve resolve truancy issues, improve academic performance and more to help support the family.
Now that the program is once again fully staffed, the rebuilding process has begun. They are invested in cultivating an environment of self-care and work-life balance for the team. The most important thing is bringing the entire team into the discussion, encouraging them to give their input by asking the important questions: What will work, what won’t work, what will make this better, what can we do to support you, does this make sense and what do YOU think? This is all part of another change within Rebound – a culture change. Our staff are the backbone of our programs; they are the ones on the front lines working with our kids, doing the notes, the reports, coordinating with other agencies, day in and day out. They deserve to have their voices heard and to help shape the program as it grows. And that’s exactly what they are doing.
This team is a very close-knit group. They support each other and have each other’s back, they share both responsibility and accountability, every one of them has an enormous amount of dedication, compassion and commitment to the children we serve, and they certainly do know how to laugh and have fun! They are more than co-workers; they are a family. They understand the value of community and help each family served to build a “village” of support. The team is also having meaningful discussions around Trauma-Informed Care and serving the whole child – socially, emotionally, physically and spiritually - which means reaching out to other providers who are also serving our youth ensuring even more continuity of care. Creating efficiencies within the program and better communication with other providers allows our coordinators more time to do what they love most and that is mentoring our youth so that they can reach their goals and full potential. The trusting relationships built between our coordinators and the kids they serve are the key to effective prevention. |
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