Field Placement Report

SW 4441

Ivy Schihl

Family Youth Interventions offers a wide range of services for young adults including an emergency shelter (Basic Center) for youth 12 through 17 years old, homeless youth program for ages 16 through 20, street outreach program and youth drop in center (the refuge), and through community outreach. The mission of Family Youth Interventions is to help families help youth become successful adults. This emergency shelter (basic center) is for youth ages 12 through 17 years old. This residential program can house a maximum of six youth from the ages of 12-17 for up to 21 days. The shelter is always staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and there is also a 24 hour crisis line for youth, families, and those interested in referring youth to the program. The basic center has a highly structured daily schedule and clear expectations of what needs to be met. The clients here at this residential program have to do at least 7 hours of activities everyday in which they are enrolled unless they go to school. Because clients are between the ages of 12 and 17, the parents are highly encouraged to keep their youth in school while they are attending the program. If the youth is expelled, suspended, or cannot attend school at the moment of being enrolled in the program, they have two study hours throughout their everyday schedule that is mandatory for them to do some type of educational work. Along with these two study hours, the clients are required to complete life skills activities which include preparing lunch and dinner from scratch, meal planning, household chores, etc., Interpersonal life skills which include positive communication skills, assertiveness, handling anger, conflict resolution skills, cultural diversity, etc., and they are able to have recreation time. Recreation time includes games, pool, wally ball, exercise, walks, playing XBOX, basketball, arts & crafts, and reading. My role within this agency is leading group activities and observing the youths at the basic center two days per week. By observing the youths living in the facility, I can learn the

norms, values, and beliefs of the youths and get a better understanding of them. All of the youths are at family youth interventions for different reasons, but most of them have similar goals. As an intern at family youth interventions, I get the opportunity to participate in field trips as well as the staff meeting on Tuesdays. In our staff meetings, we go over every open case we have of the teens living at family youth interventions at the moment. We then go over what the youth is working on in individual therapy as well as family therapy. By going over this, we can learn what we can do to help the youth reach their goals. The staff meeting serves as review in most cases, but my job as an intern as well is letting the staff know how the teens are on the floor and what their behaviors are like. By letting the staff know which teen has which behavior problems, they can focus discussions on certain issues pertaining to the majority of youths and this can help them in the long run. The young adults living at the basic center seem to open up to me more rather than the other staff because I am younger than most staff and I can relate to them on some things. By watching my guidelines and living by the code of ethics, I can successfully talk to the clients and make them feel comfortable enough to open up even if it is just a few sentences. My role at family youth interventions also includes taking crisis calls. When I first started doing crisis calls I was very nervous and did not know how to react to some of the things the parents were saying to me. While taking a crisis call, family youth interventions likes you to explain what family youth interventions is by letting the caller know that family youth interventions is a 21 day residential program for youth between the ages of 12 and 17 and it is all voluntary. After the explanation, I then have to get questions answered by the caller regarding the youth and if I feel that the youth is eligible based on the list we have, I set the youth and their family up for an assessment. While the youth in enrolled in the program, I document paper work as well stating what they did and their level of participation within our

group sessions. By documenting everything the youth does, the staff can see how the young adult was and see if they have made any progress throughout the day. Before youth can be admitted into the program, they must take part in a personal assessment by a staff member and then their participation within the program can be determined. All of the programs provided by Family Youth Interventions are voluntary and the youth must be motivated to reach some type of goal. In most cases, the parents of the clients call Family Youth Interventions asking about the services provided. The staff then fills out a contact record by asking whoever calls various questions regarding the youth. The youth themselves can call and speak with a staff member but a parent has to give verbal permission for the youth to enter the program within 24 hours and written consent within 48 hours. When asking questions regarding the youth and intake at the basic center, the staff is looking for the youth to be in the age range of 12-17. The youth must not be in foster care, have an open CPS case, be a convicted felon, drug/alcohol dependant, actively suicidal/violent, committed arson, in juvie, or noncompliant with prescribed medications. If the youth is associated with any of the above situations, they are not eligible for the basic center program and they must be referred to another agency more fitting of their needs. If the youth is eligible for the basic center, an assessment is set up with the guardian and youth and a staff member will assess their appropriateness for the program. The youth must be willing to enter the program and cannot be forced, coerced or court ordered. The staff then goes over the program rules and regulations with the guardian and youth along with the everyday schedule that is expected to be followed. Once admitted, in most instances, program admission will immediately follow the assessment. Once the youth has entered the program, they are assigned a room and a bed along with a dresser. The youth is to do their own bedroom inspection to make sure everything is working so staff can ensure that the

client did not break anything that they used. The staff then assigns the youth with a sheet and blanket set which gets washed and changed every few days. Along with sheets, basic necessities such as deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc. are given to the youth if they have not brought their own. The youth is then introduced to the other youths in the program and follows along with the rest of the days activities. Discharging clients goes one of two ways. The clients that stay for the whole 21- day program, and are unable to return home because their guardians do not want them back, then are shown how to apply for family youth interventions transitional living program (if they are 17-20 years of age). This transitional living program helps the client progress independently while still being monitored and offered guidance by staff and the counselor. This program houses youths ages 17-20 for up to 18 months, but the client must obtain a job and do community service to be eligible to stay there. If the client is not old enough to go to the transitional living program, other referrals are made and the client then goes there. Most of the parents/guardians do not want their child back in the home because of various reasons, but some guardians see changes in their child and welcome them back home with open arms. The main focus of this program is to have the child go back to their home and use the skills they have learned while at the basic center to make changes in their everyday lives. Throughout the program, the client must abide by the rules and regulations or else they will be discharged. Family youth interventions does not put up with distractions that take away the focus of this program. Usually a warning is given first if a client does not abide by a certain rule or regulation unless they have physically hurt themselves, staff, or another client. If the client then refuses to abide by the rules and regulations after a warning, their guardian is called and the youth is to be picked up as soon as possible and is terminated from the program.

Family youth interventions run off of government grants and donations. Normally the grants given by the government are used for supplies, learning activities, food, and educational field trips for the youths. This year however, the basic center did not receive their grants and now has to do fundraising within the community to stay afloat. The counselor of the basic shelter goes out to all the schools in the surrounding areas of Macomb and meets with the school counselors to get the word out about the program. Family youth interventions is big on volunteering within the community and make it a mandatory requirement for youths to fulfill while living in the transitional living program. Various local businesses in Mt. Clemens make donations to family youth interventions but it still does not seem like enough. Right now the facility has what it needs to last a few months but I am curious to find out how the agency will be doing once those donations run out. Overall, I am pleased with my experience at family youth interventions so far. I enjoy the environment I am in because I get to experience all types of situations and you never know who is going to come in next. The children vary in age and gender and all have at least one type of behavior issue that their parent(s) would like to address. By taking the crisis calls, I am learning the aspect of creating a client file and am gaining experience in documenting it. I am beyond excited for the next semester of my field placement and looking forward to learning new skills and gaining experience. Goals of Organization