Director of Child & Family Services Report (July - September 2012) - Dean Wilson
Alcohol & Drug Community Plan
On Oct. 3rd, a community meeting was held to solicit ideas for the community to begin tackling the problem of drugs and alcohol. 45 adults, 16 of whom were Elders, presented their ideas.
On the next page all of the suggestions have been charted on a Continuum of Health Services. This chart categorizes the suggestions based on whether they are PROMOTING healthy behaviours, PREVENTING alcohol & drug use, providing EARLY INTERVENTIONS to stop those just starting, TREATMENT options for those addicted who need help, or call for the development of RESIDENTIAL treatment services).
On Oct. 9th, the organizing committee, composed of community members and staff began taking the suggestions and developing a plan to accomplish them. Some of them can begin right now! Presently we have started:
Ø Promoting cleanliness
Ø Planning a Volunteer Community Cleanup (call our office or join the Facebook event to volunteer)
Ø Planning a volunteer Halloween party
Ø A youth meeting was held Oct 12th to begin planning a Youth Council
Ø Family run Spiritual Services are being held
Ø We are promoting Church services
Ø We are working on a partnership and protocol with the Crisis Line
Ø A roadblock was held Sept 28th (more to come!)
Ø A&D Counseling is available (undergoing changes due to a new Case Management system)
One of the challenges we have is that the need in the community is greater than we can manage with the small amount of funding and staff we have. The statistics below will show that we barely have enough staff time to provide the services we presently have.
Statistics
Our Child & Family Services Department (Alcohol & Drug, Mental Health & Family Support) had the following contacts with community members to delivery services since April 1st:
Children 0-6 |
Children 7-12 |
Youth 13-18 |
Adult 19-55 |
Elder |
Totals |
|
April - June |
84 |
361 |
220 |
730 |
37 |
1432 |
July - Sept. |
142 |
168 |
171 |
594 |
41 |
1116 |
Totals |
226 |
529 |
391 |
1324 |
78 |
2548 |
The months of July - September see drops in services in programs due summer activities, and staff holidays. It is important to note that these contacts have also all been accomplished while we have been going through enormous changes.
Response to Community Tragedy
In September our C&FS team and the Health team created a community response due to the tragic death of Cindy Scow. We initiated a planning circle each morning of the week that followed her death - this allowed staff, who are relatives & friends of the families involved, to debrief their own feelings and then plan each days response.
Partners in our response were: Dr. Lee, Nurse Practitioner Sarah Mitchell-Banks, The Child, Youth & Mental Health team, Mental Health & Addictions team from VIHA, and the Crisis Line and Crisis Centre staff.
All regular work was suspended for the week - all staff from our building took part to visit people affected by the tragedy, ask how they were doing, and listen to them share their feelings. If anyone was identified as being inconsolable, or at risk of suicide, then the Child & Family Services team assessed the situation and developed safety plans.
The target groups of people visited by our team included:
1. Those directly affected (3 family groups directly affected) - checked in with every day
2. First responders - those on the scene before ambulance RCMP were on the scene. We provided Critical Incident Stress Debriefing to the group & individually.
3. Elders & vulnerable people - various Elders who lived alone expressed confusion and fear - checked in with daily.
4. Those close to Cindy in her final days/hours, Cindy's peers
5. Dakota's peers
6. Those who had had recent losses due to other deaths and may be triggered even more
7. Community members who were identified by others as being particularly affected
8. Workers who had been working with family
Ø Communications: Notices were sent to the community and posted on Facebook about the steps staff were taking to inform people that action was being taken and help was available. Also a notice about how anyone could help by just talking to others about how they are doing.
Implementation of Child & Family Services Changes
In my last report I talked about the review of our services, and the 37 point plan to improve those services. I am happy to say that we have completed 8 of them and are right on track with implementing the rest. We are about to implement the biggest work - a new Case Management system that ensures we provide more access to better planned services. Staff will be in training Nov 5-9 to learn this new system.
Dean Wilson