The Roundup February 2016

February 2016 The Roundup A voice from the Family & Youth Sector’s perspective Funded by: County of San Diego, HHSA Behavioral Health Services, Children Youth and Families – Mental Health Services Act In This Issue Don’t Blame The Schools… Don’t Blame The Schools There has been much attention throughout the state Peer Navigators: Children’s Services on placing more accountability on California Schools for Journaling Together As a Family how they are spending funds allocated to treat children and youth with mental health challenges. A recent California State Auditor report states that of the 700,000 children and youth who are labeled as having a Severe Emotional Disturbance (SED), only 120,000 are getting help for their mental health challenges. The Family & Youth Sector would like to take this opportunity to applaud the San Diego Public School system for their efforts in creating programs to treat San Diego’s children and youth with mental health challenges. Rather than placing sole responsibility on California Public School systems for the additional efforts needed, the Family & Youth Sector would like to implore the community to come together to call for further integration of school-based services with the existing community services and supports in-place in order to better identify children and youth who would benefit from preventative and early intervention services, as well as children and youth who may need a higher level of care. Furthermore, the Family & Youth Sector truly believes genuine community and systems integration will create seamless access for the families of children and youth who require care. [1]

The Family & Youth Roundtable (FYRT) would Peer Navigator:like to introduce a fun activity for you and Children’s Servicesyour children: The first Friday of every month, FYRT hosts aJournaling Together as a meeting for Peer Navigators working withinFamily: A Tool for Your children’s services. This meeting focuses onFamily’s Social what is working well within the profession,Emotional Wellness barriers to providing quality services to the children, youth and families served and how toEveryday get together for a few moments. You improve the profession in order to delivermight try at the dinner table, before bed, or consistent high-quality services.choose a time that the whole family can betogether without distractions for a few Over the last two years, the most glaringmoments. Get a notebook, journal or make issue has been role-clarity within theyour own Family Journal and choose someone organizations which employ these Peerto write everyone’s responses. Navigators, as well as within the community and from the actual recipients of services.Just listen, without judgement or response, toeach person, so that they can feel heard. This lack of role-clarity can further be demonstrated in the many statewide efforts toTo simplify the process we suggest you ask implement certification of these Peereach person the following questions: Navigators and the numerous differences within these certification programs that are  How was your day? being developed throughout the state of California.  In one sentence say what bothers you? In the enthusiasm to employ and further develop an effective workforce of Peer  What are your feelings about what is Navigators within the state of California, a lack bothering you? of role-clarity has arisen and seems to stem from the lack of consistency in role  What actions did you take today development, training and support, as well as about what’s bothering you? the implementation of the core competencies developed at the inception of this profession  What actions do you plan to take? many years ago.  What do you want to happen The training, supervision and oversight of tomorrow? this evolving workforce needs to consistently adhere to these core competencies. To Download a copy of the Core Competencies for Peer Navigators working within Children’s Services, please call us at (619) 487-0863 or visit: fyrt.org/pn [2]