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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1986-03-26, Page 91 Huron now badly underserved 1 Timis-Advocatt, March 26, 1986 Page 9 Groups combine to serve adolescents Two Huron County social agencies and the Huron County Board of Education are working together to identify adolescents with problems in an effort to develop services to ad- dress their needs. Previously there has been no in- tegration of servicet for adolescents in the county but through the in- itiative of Paul Carroll, superinten- dent of student services with the board of education, the ad- ministrators of the Huron County Family and Children's Services and Youth are meeting regularly with teachers and special education resource personnel. The purpose of holding regular meetings between the two agencies and their education counterparts is to - open the channels of communication and co-ordinate interventions of behalf of children with special needs. The social workers and teachers sit down together and case conference the children who have been identified as having special needs. Since the implementation of the Child and Family Services Act in November, the school and Family and Children's Services cannot in- tervene unless the child is a victim of physical, sexual or emotional abuse or is suffering from emotional harm. The conferences identify the kids which would now fall through the system unless alternative services are devised to address their needs. "Huron is badly underserved com- pared to urban areas" with respect to community social services for young people, according to Paul Carroll. There is no one to co-ordinate the ser- vice of the needs of children and there are relatively few alternatives to direct intervention by by Family and Children's Services. The dialogue between the social agencies and the board of education has already led to the development of a project to identify gaps in social, health and educational services relating to the needs of youth. As many as 25 adolescents in the county will be involved in the $10,000 project, Youth Needs You, funded by the Secretary of State for Youth. Sponsored by the county's Com- munity Services Council, the project was conceived after the group of com- munity agency administrators decid- ed the needs of the youth in the coun- ty were not being met. The lack of alternative education facilities for high school drop -outs, the non-existence of a crisis centre for young people suffering from a fami- ly trauma and the lack of psychiatric counselling in the county were all identified by the administrators as gaps in service. "We're not talking about frills. We're talking about basic education, health and social needs that are not being met in the county," says Carroll. A youth working committee com- prised of two young people from each high school in the county is being formed to do research by various ways including a series of public hear- ings conducted by a youth panel, surveys, questionnaires, interviews with service agencies, spot surveys in malls or arcades, radio call-in shows and community cable TV programs. '"i'hese are lively issues," says Don Keillor of the Huron Centre for Children and Youth, who commends Paul Carroll for his initiative to have kids active in the research of solutions tq these problems. According to John Penn of Family and Children's Services, there are several alternative programs which could be set up to meet the needs'lef youth in the county. The alternative care program structures a child's after school hours and assists parents by providing supervision for the child outside the home for a period of the day. In the alternative care program, the child would attend the program after school where he would do his homework, receive a supper meal, participate in leisure activities and problem solving activities to address his emotional needs. "It bridges the gap between taking him out and leaving in the home," says Penn. Group counselling sessions are another service which could be pro- vided for the youth of the county, ac- cording to Don Keillor of the Huron Centre. These sessions must be sup- ported by providing transportation to the counselling centre if parents are unwilling or should not be providing the transportation. "There is no easy access to adolescents who should be seen in- dividually, because they cannot get to the centre," says Don Keillor, direc- tor. of the Huron Centre for Children and Youth. "It may not be ap- propriate for someone who is develop- 411111 READY FOR SPRING — Wearing spring attire at Thursday's fashion show presented by the Dashwood Business Association were Debra Miff, Jenny Wareham, Michelle Birmingham, Suzanne Wareham, Lisa Birmingham and Kelly Hern. T -A photo , Employment centres open It may be hard for many people to think about summer in the middle of March, but it will be here before you know it. The Canada Employment Centres for Students in Goderich and Exeter certainly know summer is coming and they are very busy plan- ning for it. Once again the offices are open and ready to serve area students and employers. This year the new supervisor is Jeff Surridge, a graduate of Brock Univer- sity in St. Catharines. He is expecting a good summer in terms of student employment as the economy remains bouyant and strong growth continues. Surridge is currently involved in distributing information on various Easter Bunny Baskets of Flowers Spring Bulb Pots Flowering Plants Easter lilies Hydrangeas, Cinerarias, Geraniums Mixed sprin of flowers bouquets Open until 10 p.m. Thurs., March 27th "Moonlight Madness" Moving Back Super Special Perms •35.3•0 On special for $23.0 all styles and types New Spring Hair Cuts Sure to put ZEST in your life. Reg. $14.00 includes hair cut, and blow dry On sale for $ 1 1 00 pecial starts Tues.; April lst. No Foolin' through to Saturday, April 12th The Hair Shoppe Joyce Mayer 227 Andrew St. S. Exeter 235-1410 r government programs to potential employers within the community. A number of these programs may be of interest to employers and job seeking students alike. The federal government's Challenge '86 program is geared towards creating career -related sum- mer employment for students and providing them with practical work experience. The program aims at "providing real jobs in the real world". Some other programs of interest in- clude: Experience '86, which places students in positions within Ontario government ministries, Student Ven- ture Capital, which provides loans to students to create their own summer employment, and the Ontario Youth Employment Program that offers employers a wage subsidy to hire students. Limited opportunities and tough competition make it very important that students interested in summer employment register with their local offices as soon as possible. Staff at the centres can help students apply for social insurance numbers, write a resume, or assist them with job search techniques. Many times, however, it is the student's own in- itiative and perseverance that pay off in a summer job. Surridge will be in the Exeter office at 305 Main Street on Wednesdays from 9 to 4:30. Students and employers from the Exeter area should feel free to register at the main office in Exeter at any time through the week. If the Canada Employment Centre for Students can be of service to you, please drop in or call Goderich at 524-2744 or Exeter at 235-0471 (235-1711 after May 1). Ladies meet at Kirkton Sy MRS. HAROLD DAVIS Kirkton St. Paul's A.C.W. met Thursday evening at the home of Mrs. Harold Davis. Meeting opened with a hymn and prayer. Mrs. Bill Waghorm read the scripture reading, Mrs. Burns Blackler the Meditation. Mrs. Waghorn introduced the guest speaker, Dr. Kelly Leigh Thomas, who gave a most interesting and humorous talk on her work as a veterinarian. A business meeting followed. The hostess then served lunch. Personals Dr. Albert Berry and daughters, Toronto, spent the weekend with Earl and Donald Berry. Mrs. ,loan McCormick spent a cou- ple of weeks recently visiting with Mr. and Mrs. John Hanniman and family of Renfrew. Mrs. Wm. J. Blackler, London, is visiting with her son and daughter-in- law, Mr. and Mrs. Burns Blackler. ing real initiatives to be made depen- dent on his parents fora ride to the centre (for counselling)," adds Keillor. There is also a problem where a family is not motivated and won't participate and sometimes should not. These kids can't get to the centre. Wherever possible kids can use the school bus system to attend sessions, suggests Keillor who would like to see adolescent groups organized for 2-3 month sessions where the group meets weekly for group counselling. "Often kids are having problems with social relationships with their parents, teachers and other kids because they are imcompetent or badly hurt or frightened," Keillor ex- plains. Through programs, kids can begin to learn how their behaviour af- fects other people. "Some kids are in great distress and we must continue to meet to come up with creative solutions," Keillor says. "Sometimes intervention really precipitates enormous crises and it's really hard to retrieve these kids. Sometimes our solution is a real pro- blem for the kids," says John Penn. "We have to develop successful ways of solving problems. The issues become more critical when they reach adolescence," explains Penn. "We're seeing more significent pro- blems. We better work well together or we all lose." People in the community see the family and children's services agen- cy as a repair shop where you remove the child from the family to deal with the problem, says Penn. It's a real frustration for the social workers because people phone family and children's services as a last resort and then say the agency didn't do anything because the agency didn't remove the child from the home. Treatment is much more family oriented today than it once was. "We have to involve the whole family because that is where the child did his learning," says Penn. Social agencies are rethinking the counselling of adolescents#and talking to the schools who know he children which need counselling offers the opportunity to identify the services required and then go after the funding to develop the services to address the need. Fur- ther communication between the schools and the social agencies will result in the appropriate allocation of services. "It's easy for money to end up in ur- ban centres where there are agencies who have staff who actively pursue such grants," says Keillor, "It is really important that the co- operation among agencies has a spin- -, off effect on services already in ex- istence. A clear bond of trust is developing," he adds. FRISH YOUNG HAYTIR TURKEYS (8 - 12 lbs.) Available for Easter Order your turkey now at your local store or phone 237-3561 (Freshly Frozen larger sizes also available)1 ,41.4..:141110 .. ,Your One Stop Bath,- Kitchen & Gift Shop! 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