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.

 

June’s Volunteer Spotlight

North County Lifeline has not been the same since Suzi Bradshaw began volunteering six months ago…

we are *much* better for it!

Suzi is a volunteer tutor at La Casita, the Club Crown Heights after school program site for elementary-age students. Her passion for reading and interest in teaching comprehension led her to volunteer with Lifeline. Once on board, Suzi reorganized a reading room and has introduced the kids to new age-appropriate books. 

Suzi first became aware of Lifeline through a volunteer tutoring announcement she saw at North Coast Church. So far, Suzi’s favorite volunteer memories have been:

(not necessarily in this order)

•  Hugs
•  Receiving drawings as presents from the kids
•  Seeing the kids get SO excited about reading

Suzi enjoys facilitating her reading groups at La Casita but helps Club Crown Heights with whatever they need… even peeling bags of oranges. As a volunteer, Suzi encourages other tutoring volunteers to get to know the kids and to motivate them while tutoring.

Suzi Bradshaw invites others to volunteer with North County Lifeline because it is rewarding to see kids learn and how positively they respond to encouragement.

Suzi, thank you for all you do! You are an inspiration for us to be more creative and more dedicated. YOU are truly changing lives. Thank you.

Shelly's World

Shelly Harris, MFT, Trainee

Shelly Harris is a Marriage and Family Therapist Trainee who is currently working on her Practicum hours with North County Lifeline’s Educationally Related Mental Health Services (ERMHS) department. 

In her work with families, Shelly provides parent counseling and support, community resources and advocacy. Shelly works with the ERHMS Clinicians to identify interventions they have used with the client and facilitate in home success of those learned skills.
 
In her role as a Student Support Specialist, Shelly also runs adolescent group session focusing on building social skills. In those groups Shelly incorporates Motivational Interviewing, self-esteem building, and social skills development in a fun and inviting environment. Shelly has brought her passion and expertise to the position of a Student Support Specialist, providing prevention, psycho-education and intervention support services to students and their families in Special Education. 

Shelly has a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from U.C. Berkeley and is completing her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology at National University in 2015. As a Trainee with Lifeline, Shelly is sharpening her skills in providing evidence-based practices. Shelly incorporates several techniques when working with families to support the success of their students in special education. Shelly comes from a background in Human Resources where she provided employee relations support for large corporations. That experience has proved valuable in her current role. 

Thank you, Shelly, for your service to kids and families!

The Principal is at our Door!

When the principal shows up at your front door, is it good or bad? In this case, it was a wonderful surprise for a family working with Lifeline’s behavioral health team. We’ll let Grandma tell the story:

“My grandson has been struggling with going to school for years now, constantly arguing with teachers and getting in fights. We met the Lifeline counselors a few months ago and they have helped me with finding resources for food, daycare for my younger grandson, and helping to organize legal documents. They helped us set up a tour of my grandson’s new school and went on the tour with us to help ease him into his school setting. Since we began working with the counselors from Lifeline, my grandson has been attending school on a more regular basis and is getting along with his teachers and classmates. His principal even came over to our house to let us know how well he has been doing! For the first time in a long time he is beginning to see himself as successful.”

We are proud of the hundreds of kids working through mental health challenges on their path to success!

Volunteer Spotlight: Dennisse Garcia

When we interviewed Dennisse Garcia, we asked about her favorite volunteer memory. Her answer? "Being able to make a difference in a teenager’s life." 

Through mentoring, Dennisse helped a young teenage girl, who was a chronic marijuana user, to stop consuming marijuana and work towards positive goals. Dennisse helped this teen graduate from the Lifeline CAT program, Community Assessment Team.

Through her volunteer service with Lifeline’s Community Assessment Team (CAT), Dennisse is making a difference. CAT works with kids ages 5 to 18 who need positive role models to stay away from criminal activity or are on probation and working to get back on track. Dennisse mentors youth, helps case managers with filing, and schedules intake appointments for her supervisor Cheryl Macias. 

As a volunteer , Dennisse is an important part of the Lifeline team. She encourages first time volunteers to ask questions, especially since she was afraid to ask questions when she first started volunteering. According to Dennisse, North County Lifeline’s helpful, positive environment welcomes and supports volunteers. The constructive criticism that staff provide allows volunteers and interns to grow from their experiences.

Dennisse is a human service major at the University of Phoenix and has been volunteering at North County Lifeline for five years. She decided to become a volunteer because she wanted more hands-on experience in human services. She simply walked into Lifeline’s Vista office and asked the receptionist whether or not Lifeline offered volunteer positions. She started volunteering for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program as a tax admin assistant. Since then, she has volunteered for the past three years in North County Lifeline’s youth programs.

Dennisse, *thank you* for all you do to help kids. You change lives and inspire us all. We are grateful for your service. 

Story submitted by Mirta Ortiz, AmeriCorps VIP Fellow

That One Moment

On March 19, more than 115 community members attended North County Lifeline’s Gang forum, held in partnership with VGRIP (Vista Gang Reduction Intervention and Prevention) and Project CLAIM (Creating Leadership & Inspiring Mentors).

Deputy Ortiz, with the Sheriff’s department, presented some sobering statistics regarding the number of identified gangs as well as documented gang members in our North San Diego County cities. Becoming a ‘documented gang member’ by law enforcement can be as simple as being seen associating with other documented gang members.

• Oceanside: 580 documented gang members in 13 gangs
• Vista: 400 documented gang members in one gang
• Escondido: 1,200 documented gang members in 2 gangs

Deputy Ortiz listed identifiers associated with gang membership that parents should be aware of to help them understand what their children are encountering in school and on the street. 

Xuan Santos, PhD., from CSUSM gave his testimonial of being raised in Los Angeles’ gangland. It was a gripping story of overcoming obstacles within the neighborhood and within his family to escape the culture of gangs. He stressed the importance of the types of programs Lifeline offers, which provide positive role models and mentors to build confidence in our children.  

Dr. Santos highlighted the power of language. What if society changed its approach of helping “kids at risk” to helping “kids with promise”? In his life’s experience, it was a mentor believing in him and telling him he could be someone that prompted him to avoid gangs, graduate high school, get accepted to Yale, attend college and ultimately earn his Pd.D. from UC Santa Barbara.

Gustavo Licona, Lead Outreach and Gang Prevention Specialist with North County Lifeline, described the programs available to the community to assist with mentoring and developing self-reliance in our youths. 

Project CLAIM speakers touched everyone with their stories of redemption. Miguel Yescas, Juan Flores and Shanell Rodriguez spoke about gang life, prison time, drug addiction, rape, recovery and that one moment or person who mentored them, inspired them and motivated them to change. 

Additional community forums will be held this year on topics important to the needs of the community. For input on topics, please contact Gustavo Licona at (760) 726-4900 ext. 6345.

Story Submitted by: 
Cindy Ballard-Guminski
Executive Assistant/Development Coordinator
and
Gustavo Licona
Lead Outreach and Gang Prevention Specialist

LifeSpring’s First Resident is Graduating

The very first resident to move into the LifeSpring house is now graduating from North County Lifeline’s transitional housing program. We couldn't be more proud of Omar and his accomplishments over the past two years.

Omar first accessed Lifeline’s services in March 2013 as a Life Achievement Center participant, to set financial and employment goals. Soon after, Omar became the first resident to enter LifeSpring, our transitional youth housing program for former foster youth. 

Omar was 20 years old and, after years in the foster care system, had not developed the skills needed to thrive. Omar was working two part-time jobs, did not have a high school diploma, had recently acquired $1,600 in traffic tickets, was struggling to develop a relationship with his 15-month old son, and had recently been served child support papers. He described himself as friendly, disorganized, and hardworking. 

During the last 21 months, Omar has shown great resilience and determination.

Omar enrolled in Vista Adult School and graduated with his high school diploma within a few months. He completed North County Lifeline’s employment workshop and found a job which eventually transitioned into a permanent, full-time position which he has maintained for a year. Omar completed a program which cleared his $1,600 in traffic fees and enabled him to keep his driver’s license. To achieve his financial goals, Omar increased his credit score by removing a large medical collection and opening a matched savings account.  

Despite a very strained relationship with the mother of his son and uncertainty about his ability to be a good father due to lack of a father figure in his own life, Omar never gave up on developing a relationship with his son. He has stepped up financially, despite having a low income, and is up to date with his child support. Omar now has custody of his son 3 weekends each month. 

When he moved in to LifeSpring, Omar set high goals – and he has proudly accomplished them. 

Upon graduating from LifeSpring, Omar plans to enroll in the HOME program, a more independent transitional housing program for former foster youth. He is considering attending Universal Technical Institute for diesel technician training in order to enter a career that can provide long-term stability for his family.  

With resilience and determination, Omar will succeed along any path he chooses.

Congratulations, Omar. 

Story submitted by:
Jacqueline Diem, LifeSpring Case Manager
Rolando Caralampio, Housing Specialist & Income Supports Coach

Change a Life: Mentors Needed!

Our LifeSpring residents are looking for positive role models, who they can call mentors. 

Are you up for the challenge?

Imagine, if you can, a lifetime of foster care followed by sudden independence. One day, you turn 18 years old, and you’re on your own. You don’t have family – and if you do, they might not be where you want to turn. 

You are at a critical transition point, when even the smallest decisions can have lasting impact. 

Now imagine you had a positive role model, someone you could call ‘just cause’. Someone who could meet you at the store to shop for groceries. Someone who knows about things like opening a bank account or how to avoid lines at the DMV. 

Our young people are asking for mentors. 

To learn more, Melissa Alcazar, North County Lifeline’s Volunteer Program Coordinator, can talk with you further. Please call or email her today for information: 760-842-6254 or malcazar@nclifeline.org.