Worcester Mentoring and Conflict Resolution Services

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Overview

Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services Inc., is a non-profit organization providing comprehensive, professional services that nurture and assist families and ultimately improve the quality of life in Worcester County.

Worcester County provides various counseling and support services for the community. These programs consist of the Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services, Inc., the Worcester Family Support Center, Conflict Resolution, and Worcester Mentoring Service. Each one of these support groups will be discussed in detail in the programs section of this page.

Financial support is received from the Worcester County government, the United Way of the Lower Eastern Shore, federal and state grants, and the community, all of whom recognize the need to strengthen the family.

Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services

Families suffer from many pressures today. Sometimes family members need the help of someone objective and non-judgmental to work through problems. With help, a family can learn to communicate more openly and understand each other better.

As a non-profit organization, Youth and Family Counseling is available to Worcester County families regardless of ability to pay. Since 1975, we have counseled families confronting sudden traumas as well as long term issues.

Here are some examples:
Young parents discover the joy of nurturing their children.
Single mothers get help communicating with their teenagers.
Victims of child sexual assault are helped to recover
Suicidal teens receive crisis counseling
Youths with behavior problems learn better responses

Confidential Counseling Services

Our licensed/certified mental health professionals provide:
Professional evaluation
On-going counseling
Referrals to appropriate resources when needed

Counseling helps families gain insight into their problems, improve their individual sense of self-worth, and grow closer together.

We receive referrals from schools, attorneys, physicians, the Department of Social Services, the Health Department, Adult Probation, and Juvenile Services. Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services, Inc., received a grant from the Governor's Juvenile Justice Advisory Council to initiate a mentoring program and conflict resolution training.

The Worcester Family Support Center

Established in 1990 the center is one of 22 located in Maryland. Each center's purpose is to provide assistance to parents under 26 years of age with children who are three and under.

When the Worcester Family Support Center began Pocomoke was selected as the site due to a higher teen birth rate than other parts of the county. In the past couple of years there has been a increase in the rate of teen pregnancies in northern Worcester County. This coupled with the fact that 60% of the county's population live in northern Worcester County led us to select Berlin as the headquarters for our center.

Statement of Need

Teenage child bearing is a problem nationwide. Problems associated with teen parenting are will known and involve long term negative consequences for the mother, father, extended family and the child. Our schools, neighborhoods, and work places each feel the burden of children raising children.

Worcester County ranked ninth in Maryland in the number of births to women under age twenty in 1988, of these births approximately seventy percent were to unmarried teens.

Program Services

Services range from personal counseling and life skills, parent training, adult basic education classes, health screening, employment training and other programs of value to young parents. These services are provided by staff of the center and other agencies who are invited to participate in programming. The collaborating agencies include the Worcester Health Department, Board of Education, Social Services, Salisbury State University, and Wor-Wic Technical Community College.

The two primary goals of the center are to increase each participants family's ability to become independent and productive in their community and to prevent additional teen pregnancies. The center strives to create an atmosphere of hope and to remove barriers which often prevent families from moving forward. Two examples of our efforts to remove barriers are transportation services and availability of child care while the parent is on site participating in our program.

It is challenging work to break cycles of generation to generation dependency which exists among many of those we serve. We are proud that many of our participants since 1990 have earned their GED certificate and even college degrees. Most former participants are working and some are now home owners. We have also been pleased to see a low rate of repeat pregnancies among our teen parents.

Conflict Resolution

This program was initially developed at the request of the county Board of Education. Qualified staff engage students in two sessions, two hours in length, demonstrating practical alternatives to violence.

Students learn listening techniques, anger management and problem solving methods. For some children, it is a new experience to focus on these issues. Parental participation is encouraged.

The response to our program has been so strong that we have extended it beyond the school system. The sessions are offered in locations throughout the county. Community based conflict resolution classes give adults and families a chance to learn new skills and better communication.

GOALS:

Strengthen the family
Improve communication at home and in school
Enhance personal and social development
Develop self-discipline in children
Increase self-esteem
Decrease violence and verbal abuse
Improve the atmosphere in which children learn

The Mentoring Service: Mentoring At-Risk Children

At-risk children are those still struggling to find their way, still vulnerable to many influences. Adult mentors provide a positive one-to-one relationship that can make a difference to a child.

The mentor provides consistent support, guidance and advocacy for the child. The impact of a role model who clearly values the child can affect behavior in school and at home.

The level of involvement varies with the child's needs, ranging from three hours a day to a few hours a week.

Education is crucial to a child's development. Therefore, we also train and provide tutors for at-risk youth.

Eligibility Residents of Worcester County who are under 21 years of age and identified as being of high risk for removal from the community are eligible for the service. Services The mentoring program is co-ordinated by a full time bachelors level human services professional. The coordinator determines eligibility for the services, reviews application materials, matches each child with a mentor based on the needs of child and his/her family system, and supervises staff. Mentors are selected based upon their education, experience, character and ability to form meaningful relationships with youth. Out mentor pool includes a variety of individuals from Worcester County with regard to sex, race, education, and employment. Each mentor is fingerprinted for a criminal investigation background check before they are matched with a child. Mentors, the coordinator, the child and family, and the referring agency work closely to develop a role for each mentor which is individualized to assist in the over all service plan for the child. This role might include emotional support of the child and family members, encouragement of participation in the over all service plan, advocacy, mediation, respite, recreation, coordination of activities, problem solving, assisting the youth to participate in appropriate activities (finding a job, doing homework, etc...), and other positive activities. The primary responsibility of a mentor is to become a positive role model capable of developing a relationship which is strong enough to challenge the individual circumstances, beliefs, and attitudes which have led to the youth to be classified as at risk. Mentors will have a weekly budget of $12.00 per child for activities.

Administrative

Each member will participate in an initial training and then monthly group meetings for supervision and training. Mentors will meet with the coordinator bi-weekly and the coordinator will also be available for supervision as needed. Each mentor will be given one hour per 8 hours of mentoring for record keeping. Travel of mentor will be reimbursed at .25 cents per mile. The General Administrative services needed for the program will be the responsibility of the Executive Director and staff of the WCYFCS, Inc.

Cost to Referring Agency

The program remains partially subsidized by the JJAC grant to assist with the cost of mentoring 5 children for 6 hours per week each. We have established a fee of $12.50 per hour for those five children. For additional children referred or when more hours are required the fee will be based upon our costs to provide the requested services. These terms will be discussed at requested services. These terms will be discussed at month contracts with monthly reimbursement based upon the hours and terms of each contract.

Volunteer Opportunities