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Youth referred to YouthConnect receive assistance under a four-tiered system:
1) intake and assessment
2) resource coordination
3) clinical case management and
4) therapy services
All social workers receive support and supervision from a clinical supervisor (LICSW) who in turn receives weekly supervision from the Clinical Director. This process of supervision fosters a level of communication that ensures quality services for its clients.
Four Tier Model:
- Intake & Assessment – Upon outreach, every youth and family is offered voluntary, confidential clinical services. An assessment is completed to determine the family and individuals strengths, needs, and stressors to help determine the appropriate level of service provision. Families are asked what they would like assistance with to improve the current family situation. A determination of which service providers are already involved with the youth and family is made with the goal that any YouthConnect intervention will strengthen these relationships.
- Resource Coordination - Generally involves short-term interventions focused on finding appropriate resources that meet the short- and long-term needs of youth and their families. The purpose is to connect clients to local non-profits that can provide social service.
- Clinical Case Management - Youth and their families are seen weekly with the focus on parent guidance and support counseling. Clients may have pre-existing relationships with major service providers like DYS, DCF, and school-based services. YouthConnect social workers help facilitate case conferences to have providers and systems come together to identify roles and coordinate culturally appropriate care given the needs of the family. This level of services is open-ended with an eye towards creating a safety net of services for the youth and family.
- Therapy Services - Youth and their families are seen weekly in therapy for issues related to truancy, delinquency, safety issues, substance use, victimization due to community violence, school performance and family functioning. Youth are generally seen individually, and family meetings are monthly. YouthConnect provides home visits and community based visits, in addition to flexible scheduling, enabling high-risk youth and their families access to social service.
CASE EXAMPLES:
Click here to read examples of Cases YouthConnect has handled.
"Boston Cares for Injured Youth":
“Boston Cares for Injured Youth” is a program within YouthConnect that provides aftercare to intentionally injured youth in Boston. The program was developed at the New England Medical Center in response to data from the Boston Emergency Department Surveillance System (BEDS). BEDS identifies patients treated for violence-related intentional injuries (non-abuse) prospectively at triage, at Boston Medical Center, Children's Hospital, New England Medical Center, and Massachusetts General. BEDS data have shown that the 100,000 youth in Boston have a 1 in 150 chance of being intentionally injured and the chance of re-injury within a year increases to 1 in 25. The purpose of "Boston Cares for Injured Youth" is to provide intentionally injured youth with appropriate community-based aftercare in order to assist them in dealing with their injury and to reduce their risk of re-injury.
Begun in October 1998, the goals of the program are:
- Increase the number of intentionally injured youth who receive follow-up care.
- Reduce the rate at which injured youth are re-injured.
- Increase awareness, cooperation, and collaboration between hospitals and community providers in the areas of youth violence treatment and prevention.
More than 500 cases of intentionally injured youth are reported every year, with approximately 40 cases of re-injury within the same year. Boston Cares for Injured Youth works to reduce the number of re-injured youth. When the program receives a referral from an area hospital, the Boston Cares for Injured Youth Coordinator (a YouthConnect licensed clinical social worker), assesses the injured youth’s needs and makes appropriate referrals to community based resources. This work often involves discussions with the young person and his/her family around safety planning, ongoing medical care, possible ongoing trauma symptoms from the assault, and issues around retaliation. Youth in this program are then typically moved into YouthConnect’s second or third tier of service provision, and follow the same social work model as all the other YouthConnect clients.