Children Matter: The Effect of Collaboration

By Children’s Program Coordinator Josh Chittum

As a teacher I often worked in close collaboration with my school’s counselors. In fact, I would not have survived without them! I was quite fortunate to have worked with many highly skilled individuals as we addressed the social and emotional needs of my students, which helped improve their academic performance.

It’s not surprising that in my role as Children’s Program Coordinator, a close relationship has been forged with the counselors in our Mental Health Department as well. In fact, I would not survive without them!

The mental health services provided by Community LINC has positively impacted many of the children and teens we work with. A perfect example is how we recently worked together to meet the needs of a young resident I’ll call Nora.

With an effervescent and infectious personality, Nora was tremendously fun to be around. As an effective self-advocate and a spectacular conversationalist, she often showed up early to program and stayed until program staff were turning out the lights and locking the door behind them. It didn’t take much time around Nora, though, to pick up on the fact that she had internalized some negative perceptions of herself.

We knew that she was doing the absolute best she could in her situation, but even with her level of resiliency, it sometimes was a challenge for her to manage her emotions, particularly her anger. In fact, one time after tutoring, in a fit of rage directed towards me, she closed her fist, pulled her arm back and was ready to sock me in the nose if I didn’t comply with her demands.

In her eyes, past the anger, I couldn’t help but see her struggle and pain. I was not at risk for suffering any real harm due to her size, but she was in danger of doing this to the wrong person – a bigger kid, a teacher at school, even a friend. Repercussions from that would certainly add more hurdles to her path, which was already riddled with far too many.

Nora also struggled to maintain consistent relationships with her peers, loving them one day, and doing something cruel to them the next. This often left her feeling isolated and lonely, which only exacerbated the difficulties in regulating her emotions. Additionally, in an effort to seek attention, positive or negative, Nora would sometimes write inappropriate words on surfaces around campus. But most troubling was when a resident reported seeing Nora engage in a type of behavior that is often the sign of past or current mistreatment in a child’s life.

I visited with Nora’s Mother about some of these issues, and for her part, she was not quite sure what to do. But I let her know that we were here to provide support and offer referrals if interested. After bringing my supervisor into the loop and working with the Mental Health Department who successfully got Nora to open up and talk about things happening in her life, it was decided that she would continue to work with her counselor in the home after her family exited for permanent housing, which they did in fact successfully do a few weeks ago.

            This continuation of mental health services into the home seems like such a small decision when I put it in writing. But it’s something that can have a profound and lasting influence on Nora’s life. It would not have happened without our amazing counseling staff, our awesome leadership, and the solid collaborative relationship we have with one another.