Huddle Time

By Housing Specialist Shaunte Abernathy Cox

“I’m not going back to a shelter.  I can’t do that again.  I just can’t.”  Her tearful words pierced deep, but I sat across from her wondering how much work she was willing to put into making sure that didn't happen.  With just 24 days away from her exit date, I wondered if she could finish strong.  If she could kick into gear, hit the ground running and make up for the time she lost during the first three months.  Would her words and actions unify or would she return to a shelter?  A place she knew all too well from her childhood. 

By the time Kenzie entered the Interim Housing Program at Community LINC for homeless families, she had already experienced homelessness three times.  Her mother struggled to maintain stability and was caught up in the cycle of domestic violence.  After moving from shelter to shelter, Kenzie was ultimately placed with her grandmother because in her words, her mother “kept choosing the violent men over her kids.”  When asked what their relationship is like now, Kenzie said “I haven’t spoken to my mother since I was 17 years old.  She kept bringing those violent men around and I kept fighting them off of her.  By the time I was in high school, we butted heads a lot.  I guess I reminded her too much of herself, so we didn't get along. “Like her mother, Kenzie found herself in an abusive relationship, but she found the strength to leave and never return.  She fled and relocated to Kansas City in search of a new beginning. 

At the age of 22, Kenzie proved she was determined to win.  The fight brewing within helped her secure housing and employment within the last month of her time at Community LINC. 

I remember the look on her face as I sat with her as she signed her lease and held the key to HER apartment.  I remember how grateful she was when I, along with three other members of the program team loaded our personal cars with her belongings and trailed behind one another on move-in day. 

I watched as her two-year old son, Tre explored his new place, curiously wandering from room to room.  As we walked towards the door and wished her well, she spoke two very important words: THANK YOU. 

On the drive home, I had time to reflect.  I recalled the weeks she was missing in action, and the times she sat in front of me with little to no progress to report on her goal plan.  Although frustrated, I remained persistent.  I needed her to understand that this was not the time to get comfortable.  I needed her to understand she was in transition and Community LINC was only a stop along the way to permanent housing.   I called her each time she missed a session with me. I unraveled each story she told that didn't quite add up and didn't allow her to make constant excuses.  I understood her history, but focused on her future.  I wanted her to succeed.  I wanted her to beat the odds. 

To some, I may have been a bit too stern, but my job was to help her secure permanent housing, not to make her feel warm and cuddly, not to make her feel comfortable, not to make excuses for her actions and not to sit by and watch her leave our program homeless. 

My goal is always to work from a strengths perspective, but at the same time, to be creative in my approach.  For me, Huddles are a creative way to identify challenges and opportunities, plot a plan A, B & C and intervene before it’s too late.   

When I introduced the concept of Huddles, I didn't know if they would work, but knew I needed to try a different approach and wanted to pull together all internal supports to help our clients succeed.  To date, these one-time, hour long sessions, conducted by the Housing Specialist, Employment Specialist, Mental Health Director and Children’s Program Coordinator, along with a specific client, have proven to be successful more times than not.    In these sessions, we speak the truth and illustrate the reality of each situation.   Yes, there may be some tears shed and yes, emotions may flare. But at the end of the day, Kenzie’s Huddle did what it was designed to do and her success was the result of true TEAM effort. 

 **Community LINC provided the financial assistance for Kenzie to move into her apartment.  She was also given a voucher to help furnish her new place through a partnership with My Father’s House.  

Children Matter: Defining Success

By Children's Program Director Josh Chittum

In March, I sat down for a routine check-in with the Children Program volunteers before program began. I asked the volunteers to share things that have either gone well or made an impact on them in the previous month. When it became my turn to share I struggled to think of a worthy anecdote. After a few moments of silence an image of a specific child flashed in my mind. It was a child that left Community LINC under stressful circumstances several weeks ago.

His name was Eliot. His gregarious personality easily filled an entire room and his thirst for program time was infectious. He was the kind of child that wanted to be on the move all the time. The most fun I saw him have was when some friends of mine came to do a musical performance for the kids. He danced and laughed and jumped with excitement the entire evening, rarely taking pause to catch his breath. Unfortunately, not every aspect of his life contained such unadulterated revelry. In fact, during the latter part of his family’s time at Community LINC, things seemed to grow increasingly stressful by the week.

I never once questioned his parents love and commitment to Eliot. I did fear that the battles they were facing, however, put Eliot in an unsafe situation, particularly because he had special needs. After staffing the situation with my supportive colleagues and supervisor, I made a call to Social Services. An investigator arrived the same day and by that evening Eliot was in protective custody with a family member. The parents understood, but were shattered.

The emotional rawness of the situation has subsided some. While it’s still sad, I think of the good and the possible good as a result of Eliot being taken from his parents. It’s good and comforting to know that Eliot secured a safe place to live for the time being and he will have the protection of Children’s Division in the months that follow. The possible good is Mom and Dad may find themselves in a place to better address their difficulties.

I often yearn to write about grand successes of our residents. I realized last month as I spoke with volunteers, however, that this situation with Eliot was not only a story of brokenness. Were it not for Community LINC and the work of our staff there is only speculation as to what may have happened. We were here to advocate for Eliot and lying amidst the debris of a family going through a tumultuous time, I find a type of success as well. Not just for Eliot, but for his parents too.

This advocacy comprises the foundation of our Children’s Program. Ensuring the safety and well-being of our children, not just physically, but emotionally is central to our work. Sometimes it requires us to give a voice to children placed in harm’s way.

Mental Health Matters: It Really Does Take A Village

By Director of Mental Health Services Griselda Williams

The old proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child,” seems to ring just as true today as ever before. As originally used in the sense to help take care of other people’s children, today you can attribute this proverb in a combination of ways using vigilance, wisdom and compassion.  For a family experiencing homelessness, Community LINC becomes that village for the families who need our services.    

As one of the largest single-site providers of Interim Housing for homeless families in the greater Kansas City area, Community LINC serves some of the most vulnerable.  When most families walk through Community LINC’s doors they are living below the federal poverty line and have experienced significant debt and housing related barriers (judgments, evictions, and outstanding utilities bills).   It is during these tough times that we become that village.

As Director of Mental Health Services, I have the opportunity to witness everyday how the impact of community works utilizing the village proverb.  The Community LINC village is a place with a dwelling made of a strong and substantial foundation. A place that feels safe and protective.  A home that has doors and windows that opens freely, helping to make the village a pleasant place to dwell. 

The people that tend to the village are warm, inviting and have faith and understanding to know that from time to time every person needs a village to go to for support. Those who enter the village need someone to listen to their journey without judgment, someone to help them maneuver through the often treacherous events that occurred before they arrived, someone to learn basic life skills from, someone to help them manage life and even someone to pray for them. 

I have witnessed all of these village-like activities in the past 8 months at Community LINC. It is in these tough times that we become their “village,” a safe haven for our families.  Our collaborations provide the most effective, efficient, client-centered services to provide a helpful hand that takes care of their individual needs.

I smile as I think of Daria, a single mother of two.  Daria has spent much of her life without the support of family and friends.  She found herself at yet another homeless shelter not knowing what tomorrow may bring for her family.  I share these short words of Daria as for the first time she found a village that provided her with the tools needed to remove the barriers to self-sufficiency.  Through her active engagement in the programs provided through Community LINCs village of services, Daria has a new job and a new home for her family. 

I have witnessed the full impact of the village concept for ‘those in need’ here at the Community LINC village.  “It takes a village to help raise a community,” and, I am truly proud to be one of those who tend to the village.  

And the news about Affordable Housing is...

From the March 2015 Housing Spotlight from the National Low Income Housing Coalition:

•             The number of extremely low income (ELI) renter households rose from 9.6 million in 2009 to 10.3 million in 2013 and they made up 24% of all renter households in 2013.

•             There was a shortage of 7.1 million affordable rental units available to ELI renter households in 2013. Another way to express this gap is that there were just 31 affordable and available units per 100 ELI renter households. The data show no change from the analysis a year ago.

•             For the 4.1 million renter deeply low income (DLI) renter households in 2013, there was a shortage of 3.4 million affordable rental units available to them. There were just 17 affordable and available units per 100 DLI renter households.

•             Seventy-five percent of ELI renter households spent more than half of their income on rent and utilities; 90% of DLI renter households spent more than half of their income for rent and utilities.

•             In every state, at least 60% of ELI renters paid more than half of their income on rent and utilities.

•             No state had more than 56 units of rental housing affordable and available for every 100 ELI households, and no state had more than 37 units of rental housing affordable and available for every 100 DLI households.

•             Among the 50 metropolitan areas with the largest renter household populations, the number of affordable and available rental units for every 100 ELI households ranged from 10 in Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NVto 47 in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA.

Mental Health Matters: Women's Group Matters

By Social Work Intern Dulce Vallejo

Working in the Mental Wellness department, I get to see how much time and effort goes into planning the Women’s Group sessions every week. Seeing the process and development of the group sessions helps me realize how important these sessions are for our female residents.

A large portion of the families we serve find themselves experiencing homelessness because they are challenged with inadequate life skills, social supports, knowledge of resources in their own community, new coping mechanisms, and a sense of community and feeling like they belong.

During my observations in group therapy, I find that it offers an organized and protected space to bond with other women in such an authentic and comfortable way. It is a place for women to feel comfortable revealing parts of themselves; the fair, the immoral and the unpleasant. In such an environment it is easy to discovery the many ways in which they are alike.

The group’s purpose serves as a “mutual-aid system” where individuals learn and support each other while building helping relationships. Not only do they build them with each other, but also with the group leaders. Having common problems helps facilitate the development of the relationship. 

Sometimes residents just need to realize that they are not the only one going through this hardship and that there are others who feel the same. The group utilizes strengths such as independence, coping skills, empathy, relational abilities, self-reflection and recognizing their own strengths, among others.

According to an article I read about women’s group therapy by Joan Berzoff’s, she mentions that being comfortable enough to disclose similar traumatic events within a group increases a sense of belonging but it cannot just be the groups responsibility, the group leader must work at creating a safe environment as well as model positive behavior and that is exactly what I have seen the group leaders at Community LINC do (Berzoff, 2013). Berzoff, also believes psycho-education and advocacy can help empower women experiencing homelessness in group therapy, and that learning about other women’s stories can increase self-cohesion and esteem (Berzoff, 2013).

Not too long ago I met Rachel a resident who said to me “I don’t like counseling or therapy but I do like doing group stuff because it lets me know that I am not alone. It’s not that I am glad that they are going through hard times too, but just the sense that I am not alone in this is good for me.”

Go to our Face Book page and you will see pictures of some of the expressive therapy (art) items that the residents in the Women’s Group have made and are very proud of. The most recent pictures are from a group activity when the women were given art supplies and a small canvass and invited to make a collage depicting the ways “I Have the Power and Control” in making my life better. Several women who participated in the group process shared ways the activity helped them to focus on their strengths and remain hopeful that they will be able to move from homeless to hopeful.

Works Cited

Berzoff, J. (2013). Group Therapy With Homeless Women . Smith College Studies in Social Work , 83 (2-3).

Mental Wellness Matters: Readiness for Change Matters

By Director of Mental Health Services Griselda Williams

As a mental health provider I am trained to remain aware of those we are trying to help and their readiness for change. A professor of psychology named James O. Prochaska, in the 70’s, developed the “Stages of Change Model” to identify the process that humans go through when making changes in their lives. Since the 70’s, the model has been used in counseling, health care, substance abuse treatment, domestic violence intervention and many other settings because it is backed by research, but also it has credibility due to its effectiveness in gauging readiness for change. How many times have we in our personal lives said that we were going to start an exercise program, end an unhealthy relationship, take a class, change careers or maybe even just eat healthier, but it takes some time for us to put into motion the goals we discuss.

The stages that Prochaska identified were:

•                      Pre-contemplation---not currently considering change or aware that change would be helpful

•                      Contemplation—not considering change within the next month, ambivalent about change

•                      Preparation—some experience with change and testing making some change, plans to act within 1 month

•                      Action—practicing new behaviors and new thinking, putting plans into action

•                      Maintenance—continuing commitment to sustaining new behavior, new change

•                      Relapse—resumption of old behaviors

Prochaska states that humans may not pass through each stage easily and may move backward and forward and even relapse as that too is part of the human reaction to the process of change. I think it is interesting that the stage that involves putting change into action is 4th; indicative sometimes just how long it takes us as humans to put new behaviors into motion. John Fisher developed “The Process of Transition” in the 90’s but revised his theory in 2012. He identified that the reason humans have difficulty with change is due to feelings like anxiety, anger, fear, denial, guilt, depression and others.

At Community LINC, we help our program participants work through the challenges associated with change and transition.  Through counseling and coaching meetings, most program participants attribute their greatest barriers to change as fear of the unknown, not knowing what to expect or not knowing what will happen if change is made. Recently, I met with one of our program participants, Ms. Gretta who appeared to be at the stage of relapse.  During her weekly counseling meeting focusing on employment, I learned she was no longer actively seeking employment.  She shared frustrations of securing the interview with employers selecting other candidates over her.    We were able to see that our perception of the situation was having an impact on her sense of self (anxiety and fear).  This small impact had rapidly dropped her self-confidence and negative self-image leaving her not knowing which way to turn – Who am I?  In any behavior change, relapses are common occurrences.  A person’s stage of change is used to decide which strategies are most appropriate to promote or maintain change.  We took the opportunity to reassess a new plan of action and resources to set realistic goals that would match her interest and skills.   This allowed us to go a step further to ensure sustainable success by making contingency plans to cope with difficult situation. 

Applying Prochaska’s stages of change model combined with Fishers process of transition to our residents at Community LINC is vital to understanding their readiness to make change, appreciating barriers to change, and helping them anticipate relapse.  At Community LINC, our programs focus on making sure that each program participant learns valuable skills by working through challenges, celebrating successes, and to gain invaluable skills necessary for maintaining self-sufficiency.  

We hope that when each program participant leaves the program they can each leave by saying, “I still have a long way to go but I’m already so far from where I used to be and proud of the change.” 

Children Matters: Mindful Presence

By Children’s Program Coordinator Josh Chittum

For the purposes of this blog I’m always scanning my surroundings for stories. Sometimes it’s a struggle for me to find them. Sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I can’t. Personal eccentricities can obscure the eye. Other times I see it as valuable to recognize the reality of our residents. To accept where they are in their story as opposed to me trying to shoehorn them into three succinct acts.

The following is a sampling of dialogue I’ve heard spoken from residents in the last two weeks. From these lines, if we stop and listen and are present, we can infer where they are within their personal narrative.

“The teacher is worried that the problems are more than just speech,” said the Mother of the three year old who is falling behind his peers developmentally.

“The world is full of idiots who need to get their (expletive) together,” said the teenager whose father is not living at home anymore and is trying to rebound from slipping grades at school.

“Sometimes when I’m mad at myself I bang my head against the wall and tell myself I’m stupid,” said the articulate and kind 2nd grader who is having behavior issues at school.

“He can’t see his Dad because I filed a restraining order against him,” said the single Mother of three children.  

“I’m worried I might get jumped tomorrow, but I can’t tell anyone at school about it,” said the high school sophomore.

“We weren’t in program last night because his Dad went to jail,” said the Mother of a child with special needs when asked if everything was okay.

Again, this is just a sampling. Over the next several weeks I will hear different words spoken from different residents, but the emotions and thoughts will stay similar. Words of stress. The emotion of pain. Thoughts of fear. As time progresses some of the residents quoted above will transition to new stages of acceptance or to stages of resolution. Some of the residents will find new crises at the door. Others will remain where they currently are.

But as we work towards helping families find permanent housing, one of the most poignant, effective, and powerful things we can do is walk beside them no matter what stage of change they’re in, no matter how far away from resolution they find themselves. The reality is that this doesn’t always provide us with a natural place to roll the credits, but it does provide us with an opportunity to be present.

In a frenetically paced world where the moment of now is often stomped on and trampled upon, I see tremendous value in this state of mindful presence. And while presence itself is hard to measure, I contend that it leads to successful measurable outcomes. May we continue to work with our residents in this mindfully present state as they wade through the difficulties before them. And may the safety and security of permanent housing allow former Community LINC residents find the present-ness of their lives containing less stress, less pain, and less fear.