Children's Mental Health Services: Finding Help In Your Own Back Yard
Photo: Kathy Lazear gives a presentation at EQUIPO training.
According to The Family to Family Initiative, designed in 1992 by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, there are many benefits to using natural helpers. Natural helpers:
- understand their own culture and more about other cultures in the neighborhood than people who don’t live there;
- are more likely to hear about problems before they become so severe that intensive intervention is the only option;
- are more likely to be available 24 hours a day to those they support;
- are in a better position than professionals to provide long-term support;
- are more familiar with the intricacies of public bureaucracies than many professionals because their personal welfare has often depended upon this understanding; and,
- know which strategies work and which do not within their neighborhoods.
An estimated 10,000 children in Hillsborough County currently experience serious emotional and behavioral disabilities (SED) - many severely enough to disrupt their ability to function socially, academically, and emotionally. A broad range of services is often necessary to meet the needs of these young people and their families. However, parents and caregivers are often frustrated in their attempts to navigate through the school and mental health systems to find needed supports.
A local program is responding by finding help closer to home for these families. Recognizing that informal helping networks already exist within many neighborhoods and communities, the EQUIPO project has developed specialized training for “natural helpers” such as neighbors and family members to enable them to partner with formal service providers in an effort to establish a comprehensive neighborhood system of care. This training focuses on the fundamentals of collaboration, community building, and team work.
“Training provides natural helpers with the tools necessary to support parents and caregivers of children with SED, and to help parents realize how relevant their voice is,” said Chamain Moss Torres, principal investigator of EQUIPO. “ Natural helpers teach families what to ask for, and empower them to handle situations when they may feel their voice is not being heard.”
EQUIPO has partnered with the Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health (FOF) to provide a three-phase training series for two neighborhoods within Tampa. In January, 11 participants completed the Natural Helpers Training in the University Area of Tampa and 15 completed training in the Plant City Area. The Hillsborough County Federation of Families was instrumental in identifying natural helpers and establishing the EQUIPO process in each of the target communities in Tampa. CFS staff within the Division of Training, Research, Evaluation and Demonstration (TREaD) provide the infrastructure for the EQUIPO training implementation and clinical oversight necessary to sustain and support the natural helpers.
The natural helpers from the University area have named themselves the “Success Makers” and meet regularly, rotating from home to home. Their discussions center on how best to reach those in need within their community.
“A natural helper may observe a family who has a child expressing deviant behavior,” said Chamain Moss Torres. “They may offer help at that point and ask if the parent needs to talk to someone. One natural helper recently said that she was in the waiting area of the WAGES office and talked to four families in need.”
“There are still many lessons to be learned about developing, nurturing, and sustaining natural helper and professional partnerships,” stressed Kathy Lazear, a CFS member who has been instrumental in the development of the EQUIPO training project. “It’s important to recognize that efforts to create neighborhood-based systems of care will fail unless the assets of formal and informal systems are brought together to work in partnership, and that both systems contribute equally to the well-being of children and families.”
“Professional service providers often do not know how to partner with and use the natural helpers to support and enhance their work with families,” added Moss Torres. “During their training in the University area, natural helpers were asked to put together a resource list that included all types of services/providers necessary to families in need.” They were each asked to contact one of the community providers listed and invite them to the Phase 2 training held during the last week of April at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at USF.
“The second phase of training not only introduced community service partners to natural helpers, but created a venue for collaboration through various activities that strengthened the relationships between families, natural helpers and providers,” said Moss Torres. (A similar training for the Plant City area will be held during the month of June.)
In June, a “Train the Trainer” series will be provided for all natural helpers interested in serving as future EQUIPO trainers.
The EQUIPO project is part of the Department of Child and Family Studies (CFS) at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at USF. It is funded by the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County and The Tampa Hillsborough Integrated Network for Kids (THINK) grant which aims to develop an improved system of care for children with severe emotional disorders (SED). The Federation of Families, housed within CFS, is also supported by the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County, via the federal THINK grant.
For additional information, contact Chamain Moss Torres at 813-974-9179 or Marcelle Maylott at 813-974-6402.
The Department of Child and Family Studies (CFS) is a department of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida. The faculty and staff of CFS are committed to enhancing the development, mental health and well-being of children and families through leadership in integrating research, theory & practice.