You’re Invited to Attend

North County Lifeline’s

40-hour Mediation Skills Training

 

Please join us at North County Lifeline in Vista for our
 well-received Mediation Training this coming

July 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29, 2016

     North County Lifeline has been the premier provider of mediation skills training in North San Diego County for over 20 years. Our experience includes training attorneys, social service workers, college professors, teachers, customer service staff, human resources staff, case managers, therapists, church leaders, and community members in the art of facilitative mediation.      

      Through a variety of teaching modalities, including lecture, written material, demonstration, mock mediation, and video presentation, students will learn to employ dispute resolution techniques in their jobs and personal lives. Participants are provided the opportunity to experience and practice resolving real-life disputes. The course teaches both practical approaches and underlying theory. Students are provided with a strong foundation in mediation skills that are transferrable to settlement conferences, evaluative mediations, collaborative settlements, shuttle and interest-based negotiation, and in everyday life. 

Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Communication
• Neutrality/Elimination of Bias
• The 6-stage Mediation Process
• Mediation Agreements
• Cultural Diversity
• Law & Ethics
• Small Claims Mediations 

SPACE IS LIMITED SO PLEASE MAKE YOUR RESERVATION EARLY.
NCL staff, volunteers & interns who have been with the agency at least 6 months may be allowed to attend at no cost with prior supervisor/director approval. 

Cost: $750 with $100 discount if registered by June 1, 2016. Linda Rhoades Scholarship space available—please make an inquiry. An additional $50 discount is available to members of the North County Bar Association. MCLE & BBS CEUs available. 

To register for this training or for further information, please contact Maria Ochoa mochoa@nclifeline.org Telephone: (760) 842-6232.

For financial inquiries contact Karen Thompson: kthompson@nclifeline.org Telephone: (760) 842-6221
Address: 200 Michigan Avenue, Vista, CA 92084, Sage Room

 

Project STOP

Lifeline is proud to partner with Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and North County school districts this year to launch Project STOP (Suicide Training, Opportunity, Prevention). Our long-term goal is critical: to reduce suicide rates in San Diego County.

Suicide is a significant health concern. North County Lifeline is a member of the San Diego Suicide Prevention Council (SPC), which released data showing that 20% of students seriously considered suicide in 2012. Furthermore, Kaiser’s 2013 needs assessment shows that suicide mortality rates in North County are nearly double the state suicide rate.

As a result, Lifeline’s project STOP implements suicide prevention efforts in coordination with current school district, County of San Diego, SPC, Community Health Improvement Partner, and Kaiser initiatives. Lifeline’s Project STOP is a comprehensive training program for 60 school staff in North County. The goal is to teach key gatekeepers to identify warning signs and understand how to prevent suicide.

Project STOP focuses on students whose risk for suicide is high. There are many factors that affect the prevalence of depression and suicide among teens – hereditary factors, early life traumas, learned patterns of negative thinking, high levels of stress and anxiety in family and school life, and social factors including bullying. For LGBTQ and foster youth, risk factors increase.

Lifeline staff and volunteers are taking steps daily to prevent suicide, yet we know we can do more. For information about what YOU can do to prevent suicide, learn about the statewide Know the Signs campaign.

Know the Signs. Find the Words. Reach out.

Fair Housing Summit

By Halima Martelli

 

As North County Lifeline’s Clinical Practicum Supervisor, I see firsthand the lives that are changed through our LifeSpring program for foster youth transitioning to independence. As a yoga instructor, I am excited to be teaching a donation yoga class on Saturday, April 16th from 1pm to 3pm to benefit our wonderful LifeSpring residents.

 

Please join me at the event to support our amazing young adults … all proceeds will help LifeSpring clients succeed at work and school!

 

The event is being hosted free of charge by Yoga Branch Studio (www.yogabranch.com). There will be live music by our very talented friend, Julia Shaw. Please RSVP to me if you plan on attending so I can make sure there is enough space and snacks for everyone: hmartelli@nclifeline.org

 

Namaste!

Halima Martelli
Clinical Practicum Supervisor

Fair Housing: Know Your Rights

Sometimes Avoiding Housing Discrimination Issues

is all About Communication 

By Karen Thompson – Dispute Resolution Program and Fair Housing Supervisor,

North County Lifeline

Every day there are conflicts somewhere between tenants and landlords. A lot of these are real issues where the interests of tenants and landlords are in conflict. But there are also many times where the problem is simply in the communication.  

Take this recent example of a discrimination complaint: A local property manager was having trouble with tenants riding bicycles through the property’s courtyard. The rule against bike riding was completely reasonable and legal, especially since riding bicycles on the property created a safety issue. The manager complained to the tenants and posted a sign to make the rules clear. 
 

But that’s where his good intentions went wrong.
 

First he complained to the bike riders by saying, “Hey – yeah, I mean you kids. I’m sick of telling you that you can’t ride your bikes in the courtyard.”  Then he posted a sign on the gate that read: “Children may not ride bicycles in the courtyard.” 

While it’s perfectly okay for the property manager to create rules and post signs enforcing them, it’s the way this manager communicated the rule that caused a problem. He made his rule specific to “kids” and “children”. And, while there is nothing wrong with limiting where tenants can ride their bicycles, it is not legal to make the rule specific to children, or any other group of tenants – the rule must apply equally to everyone.  

This complaint could have been prevented had the property manager simply posted a sign that read: “Bicycle riding is prohibited in the courtyard.” An understanding of tenant and landlord rights under Fair Housing laws helps avoid these kinds of conflicts. Children and other groups are protected from discrimination under Fair Housing rules. 
 

North County Lifeline offers free training to landlords and property managers to promote an understanding of Fair Housing rules and reduce inadvertent cases of discrimination.  

North County Lifeline’s collaborative received over 150 Fair Housing inquiries from October 1 to December 31, 2015

If you need help with a Fair Housing claim, or would like to schedule free training, please contact North County Lifeline’s Fair Housing Program toll-free at 866.954.3354 or email mochoa@nclifeline.org.

 

North County Lifeline’s Fair Housing Program is a free service offered to landlords and tenants in San Diego County and funded by the County of San Diego.

Lifeline is a Safe Space

Through the efforts of Lifeline’s Cultural Competence Committee and in recognition of September as Suicide Prevention Month, all North County Lifeline staff and volunteers attended Safe Space trainings offered by the North County LGBTQ Resource Center.

As an official Safe Space, Lifeline supports youth and their families regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. This is critical given that suicide risk is dramatically higher for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth.

 

Our commitment means: 

• You will see the Safe Space stickers on all Lifeline campuses demonstrating our acceptance.
• While we won’t try and change others’ beliefs or values, it is important that we accept and meet our youth and families where they are. 
• We will use inclusive language in all facets of our work with troubled youth and families.
• We will offer support in an environment that is free from harassment and bullying.
• We are here for all youth and provide support and linkages to the LGBTQ community (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning).

Thank you to Max Disposti and the North County LGBTQ Resource Center for training more than 81 staff and volunteers! Through our combined efforts, we will assure that that youth and family members can equally access critical counseling and crisis services—support that could save lives.

Alternatives to Detention

 

Lifeline’s newest youth program, Alternatives to Detention, is designed to work 1:1 with families when kids are arrested, to keep kids out of juvenile hall and get them back on the path to success. Lifeline provides intensive case management for kids and their families during this incredibly difficult time, when extra support makes a huge difference. Sometimes, kids and their parents need to ‘cool off’ … a few days to a couple weeks out of the home can help the families mend and become a family unit again.

This is where Cool Beds come in to play.

Cool Bed foster parents receive comprehensive assistance, training, and stipends to support the youth during this critical period.

Many times, the ‘cooling off’ period is incarceration. Kids are locked up. Lifeline offers a critical alternative by providing a safe, temporary, foster home for 1 to 14 days. This option keeps kids out of lock up. Research shows that detaining juveniles has lasting, negative consequences for youth and society as a whole. Kids who have been detained are less likely to complete high-school and are more likely to be arrested.

Yet, when youth need this ‘cooling off’ period, that is exactly what happens, they become incarcerated.

Recognizing the importance of providing alternatives to detaining youth, Lifeline has partnered with multiple San Diego County organizations and with Juvenile Probation to provide the Alternatives to Detention program.

Now, we need your help.

Lifeline is recruiting Foster Families who are willing to foster a youth for a period of 1 day to 2 weeks until they can be returned to their families. During this time, Lifeline provides individual guidance and support for Foster Families. Lifeline’s Case Managers and Therapists are providing wraparound services for the youth and families including transportation to and from school, vocational training, parenting workshops, therapy and crisis management.

These incredible kids need host parents to provide a safe, caring cool bed as an alternative to being placed in Juvenile Hall detention.

Right now, the closest cool bed is in the City of San Diego. Can you help?

Our partner organization, San Diego Youth Services, provides Foster Care Training and Certification for families who are interested in providing this much needed service to the youth of our North County communities. For information and to ask the many questions you will likely have, please contact Debbie Shriver at Lifeline: (760) 842-6203 or

 

dshriver@nclifeline.org.