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EASE-IN "Micro to Macro Projects" |
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Individual counseling and case
management
Youth, their caregivers, and
families receive weekly intern home visits, school visits, and family
sessions. During
a visit, an intern provides assessments (joint development of
a transitional living plan with the youth), educational
services (assistance in planning education, college or
vocational training), and individual and family counseling.
Interns integrate clinical case management,
bio-psychosocial assessment, psychodynamic, cognitive
behavioral, and crisis intervention modalities. Case
treatment plans
are developed collaboratively with the youth, intern
and Children's Social Worker, and the foster care provider. The
program offers supplemental assistance to the youth,
including tutoring, involvement in skill-building workshops, and
outings that expose youth to future
options.
Youth group
curriculum
EASE-IN Youth Group meets weekly during the school year.
Meetings are held Monday evenings at a local church building
in the community. The curriculum integrates a variety of
sources, including the Casey organization's Life Skills
Guidebook and creativity of the interns.Click for
themes
Monthly joint group and community
speakers
Supervised peer interaction with foster youth in similar
situations takes place at weekly groups, monthly guest
speakers, and group outings. Former foster youth
speak to the youth about challenges and successes in
emancipation, a career panel discussion includes
representatives from different occupations, and speakers from
independent living resource networks are invited.
Mentoring
program
The EASE-IN Mentoring Program promotes support and stability
to pre-independent living program youth by providing adult
role models to guide and encourage the
adolescent foster youth. Mentoring is a
one-on-one relationship over time during which an adult
fosters the development of character and competence in a young
person. The
emphasis is placed on experiences between two people and the
development of the relationship over time. Mentors help youth
focus on his/her thoughts, feelings and dreams over the course
of a minimum of a year. This develops the adolescent's sense
of importance, self-esteem and competence. EASE-IN is part of
a larger consortium facilitated by a mentoring partnership for
city youth. The EASE-IN mentoring program conducts
recruitment, training, mentor-mentee matches, and
on-going monitoring and support of matches.
EASE-IN
newsletter
The EASE-IN
newsletter, Teen
Flava , gives foster youth an opportunity to express
themselves creatively in a safe and supportive
environment.
Youth participate in group activities that encourage
self-expression around topics. Specific topics are chosen
which influence their lives as adolescents and foster
youth. The youth
take on leadership roles through designing the layout of the
newsletter, acting as peer educators in the Dr. EASE advice
column, soliciting contributions from the other EASE-IN
groups, and writing editorials about the EASE-IN program. As a result, they
build confidence in operating laptop computers, and advance
their expressive artistic and writing
skills.
Caregiver
participation
Caregivers participate in weekly individual sessions with the
youth and interns. They are invited to monthly joint group
forums and have engaged in caregiver support groups, family
night orientation, caregiver appreciation picnics and outings,
and youth graduation. Caregiver participation often
strengthens placement
stability.
EASE-IN
Outings
EASE-IN
Evaluation: Design and Development
Macro Project Highlights
2006-2008
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