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24-hour
support for children, teens in crisis
Kids'
Helpline new collaboration
Between Crisis Services, ECCPASA
Kids'
Helpline represents
a new collaboration between ECCPASA and Crisis Services. A 24-hour telephone
service tailored for children and adolescents, the Kids' Helpline currently
is fielding more than 600 calls a year.
Sometimes, the calls are not urgent, and are made for such reasons as
seeking help with homework. Often, however, the calls can be quite serious,
with problems including alcohol and other drugs, strife in the home, sexual
situations or suicidal impulses.
These calls are answered by a team of professionals who work with children
- professionals like teachers and social workers, who may also use the
Kids' Helpline for purposes of consultation, referral and reporting.
What is the need for the Kids' Helpline? Children, and in particular adolescents,
often feel more comfortable talking anonymously to a counselor over the
telephone than they would to a parent, a teacher or an in-school counselor.
So the Kids' Helpline - (716) 834-1144 - provides safe, secure and non-judgmental
information as a resource for young people experiencing difficulties or
confusion.
When specific problems have been identified, some callers will be referred
to counselors in ECCPASA's Student Assistance Prevention Counseling program.
While its focus is on the effects of substance abuse, SAPC also addresses
a variety of other issues confronting young people today, including maladaptive
social or emotional behaviors, low or falling grades, poor attendance
and suspension.
SAPC provides an umbrella of comprehensive prevention and early intervention
programs, including services for positive youth development. The program
incorporates research-based strategies that increase protective factors
and move toward reducing known risk factors. Addressing these factors
has been demonstrated to improve the efficacy and efficiency of substance
abuse prevention approaches.
The SAPC staff members develop ongoing, year-round relationships with
students, parents or guardians, and schools through its Prevention Counseling
component.
Kids' Helpline is in some ways only a beginning. Its availability must
become more widely known for the service to achieve maximum effectiveness.
Plans are under discussion to expand the Helpline from a telephone service
to an online resource, since increasingly children and teens are connected
to the larger world through the Internet.
A website could offer online discussion groups for children and/or adolescents
with similar problems. It would also have the capacity for trained peers
with adult professional oversight to "block" inappropriate behaviors
by members of the online groups.
Crisis Services is a private, non-profit mental health and human services
agency providing year-round emergency response, crisis counseling and
intervention to all Erie County residents. Other programs provided include:
Emergency Outreach program (Erie County's Mobile Psychiatric Unit); the
Trauma Response Program; Outreach to the Homeless; the Advocate Program
for Survivors of Family Violence, Rape, Sexual Assault and Elder Abuse;
and the Phone Program, a 24-hour, 7-day crisis hotline.
Raffle
to Benefit Kids' Helpline
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"Chief
Eagle" Native American Designed Blanket from Pendleton's Legendary
Series "The Chief Eagle" was dedicated in honor of Chief
Seelatsee, Chief of the Yakima Nation. He is remembered for his
involvement in programs for the education and concern of youth. These
programs, some still in use today, gained great respect for him not
only as a tribal leader, but on the national level in Washington,
D.C. |
Tickets:
$5.00 Three Tickets for $12.00
"Kids' Helpline" is a collaborative project of Crisis Services
and Erie County Council for the Prevention of Alcohol and Substance Abuse.
24-hour support from trained professionals is available for children and
teens in crisis by calling 834-1144.
For information
on Raffle call ECCPASA at 831-2298.
Drawing: May 23, 2002 at 10th Annual Prevention Education Conference
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Children
of Alcoholics:
A
generation at risk
The 'code of silence" ingrained
in the family structure often prevents these children from reaching out
for the help they need
The theme of this
year's Children of Alcoholics week in February was "No Child
Unsupported." It proclaimed collective responsibility for the well-being
of every child, but especially for those who struggle with alcohol or drug
addiction in their families. Children of alcoholics experience (among others)
two negative influences.
One is their own type of bondage - chronic emotional, physical, and spiritual
enslavement. The other is their love relationships which, for children
of alcoholics, may be far from ideal. As adults, these children often
marry someone who mirrors the negative characteristics of their parents.
A southern Florida study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry
(January 2002) estimates that 60 percent of young people aged 19-21 experienced
psychiatric or addiction problems at some time in their lives. But what
percentage communicated their distress to trusted adults? My guess is
that percentage is tragically low.
Children
from dysfunctional families often believe it is "normal" to
display angry, acting-out behaviors, to be depressed, and/or to self-medicate
with alcohol or other drugs. Even if they want to ask for help, the code
of silence ingrained in the family structure often prevents their reaching
out.
In a normal family, parents attend to personal needs as well as to the
needs of their spouse and children. Family members support each other
during life crises, and feelings are freely expressed.
But in the dysfunctional family, however, parents have more narcissistic
concerns. The substance-abusing parent focuses exclusively on his own
emotional or physical pain. Spouse and children are forced to pay attention
to the needy family member, and may neglect their own needs. The entire
family system is in a state of constant crisis.
Children often believe that adult unhappiness is their fault; that if
they were different - less needy, better students, better athletes - Mom
and Dad would be happy. Some children believe the family would be better
off if they were dead. Others act out in a delinquent manner to show they
are the "bad ones" in the family, not the parents.
Children in dysfunctional families are
often excessively noble, compulsively independent, and well saturated
with feelings of inadequacy - all at the same time. But most of all, they
know they can't tell anyone what is really happening.
Children may think they should keep their mouths shut about what goes
on in their households. They are afraid that if they share stories of
emotional or physical neglect, social agencies will break up the family.
Sometimes they are taught that "outsiders" shouldn't be trusted.
And so the dysfunctional family structure becomes a fortress that keeps
out potential help.
Is there a solution?
Awareness
is the first step.
Awareness means accepting that children from dysfunctional families come
in all shapes, sizes, and behaviors. One child in a dysfunctional family
may act "burned out;" another may get straight A's. One child
may captain the basketball team; another may use drugs. Awareness means
offering self-esteem-building, meaningful activities to all kids, in school
and in the community, so they can discover and develop their unique talents.
It means teaching kids the language of feelings so they can express the
pain they feel. It means offering parents this same knowledge, and helping
them develop the skills to truly listen to their children.
Awareness means taking a proactive stance and devoting community funds
to create a space for kids where they can discuss their feeling with trustworthy,
trained adult listeners.
Awareness also means that, if relevant, adults share their own experiences
of growing up in a dysfunctional family. It means working on personal
emancipation and beginning a lifelong balanced love relationship with
self and others. The intergenerational cycle of dysfunction can be broken.
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