Programs and Services...
Advocacy and Family Partner Program
PFSA’s core program is its advocacy and outreach work
with families with children at risk, most of whom are
mentally ill. For PFSA, advocacy is:
• Helping families help themselves
• Providing families with the necessary tools for
appropriate and informed
decisions
• Supporting efforts toward independence
• Bringing parents and groups together for mutual
support and action
• Partnering with families with mutual sharing of
information and tasks
• Providing assistance in locating appropriate
services
• Broadening families’ understanding of and
perspectives of mental health
• Advocating for essential legislation
• Informing families of their rights
Its advocacy is concretely manifested through the
support, referrals and information for families with
children at risk as well as serving as the families’
voice in coordinative meetings with various service
providers.
PFSA serves families directly though its family
advocates who partner with each family to review and
exhaust available options in addressing their
particular at-risk situation. Family advocates work
with families, not for families. They are
knowledgeable about procedures, services, policies
and realities of family crises, public schools,
particularly special education services, family
courts and the probation department, the local
hospital’s emergency room and psychiatric hospitals,
social services and mental health, including
Medicaid, residential placement, as well as local,
regional and national resources. With their
knowledge, skills and experience, they are able to
support and steer families towards self-advocacy.
Families in Need of Support Program (FINS)
By providing a safe, warm, and welcoming environment
where families can regularly and openly share their
concerns, PFSA is able to draw out and expand the
well of support and encouragement that each family
needs to advocate for themselves. The families’ need
to exercise greater control regarding their status
and situation is validated in this program. Learning
that they can be capable and successful in overcoming
their situation prevents them from quitting or
surrendering. By sharing their concerns and being
offered emotional support, families are empowered to
seek timely professional assistance.
Families feel less isolated as they meet others who
are going through similar pain, confusion, anger,
helplessness, and frustration. Families are also able
to form supportive and lasting connections with
others, thus easing the transitions they have to make
when working with the available services and options
for their children at risk.
More than just “sharing meetings”, families jointly
develop pro-active coping strategies . Problem
solving, communication skills, stigma awareness,
self-care and advocacy are highlighted. Resource
speakers for other topics relevant to the families
are also invited to inform, educate, and broaden the
families’ perspectives regarding their specific
situations.
The regular self-help meetings are held every 1st and
3rd Tuesday of each month during the spring and fall
seasons. Each meeting held leaves families more
hopeful and ready to face the realities of dealing
with their children at risk, in crisis, and/or with
special needs.
Public Information / Community Outreach Program
Building and increasing public awareness in the
community regarding the situation of families with
children at risk, in crisis, and/or with special
needs is the outreach program’s objective. Through
increased public awareness, stigma and discrimination
against the mentally, emotionally, socially troubled
children and their families can be mitigated.
Increased awareness can also result in increased
public vigilance and advocacy toward improving the
quantity and quality of services for the mentally ill
and their families.
More importantly, this program reaches those families
with children at risk who are unaware of the
available services they can obtain and at the same
time are apprehensive about accessing such services
because of fear and shame of their situation.
Workshops are held at least once quarterly and is
geared to targeted industry segments, service
providers and various public entities in Putnam
County towns. A newsletter is also released quarterly
to families served, service providers, friends, and
other community sectors.
Parent Skills Training Program
Parent training is considered a vital component to enable families with children at risk to better understand, communicate clearly and adjust to difficult/specific situations. PFSA conducts parent training courses, specifically the Common Sense Parenting Training Program developed by Boys’ and Girls’ Town, a practical, skill-based, interactive workshop. This program emphasizes preventive and corrective teaching skills for parents of adolescents and toddlers in both English and Spanish to assist them in being more effective in providing discipline and guidance to their children.
Information and Referral Services
PFSA offers and provides a wide range of information
that is relevant to families, service providers,
students in the social service fields, and anyone who
wants to better understand the family situations and
factors which put their children at-risk. The
information provided comes in various forms - topical
booklets, magazines and newsletters, fact sheets,
videos, books, directories, or information culled
from conferences, trainings, and meetings attended by
family advocates. The information that families learn
from family advocates helps them understand what is
happening and thus contributes to more effective
decision-making. PFSA continuously collects and
updates its information and maintains a mini-library
open to the public.
PFSA provides referrals on the basis of the
information it collects and culls from various
reputable sources.
|
