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*This is a Community Health and Human Services capstone project by Patricia Mora - B.A. 2003
During the summer of 2002, the Institute of Community Collaborative Studies working in collaboration with the Gilroy Family Resource Center and the Santa Clara County Public Health Department identified and recruited South County residents to participate in the development of the Wraparound service model with the consensus of agency representatives serving the Latino community. The community members actively participated during the design group meetings with service providers, local politicians, and substance abuse and mental health experts and shared their thoughts and ideas on assisting families dealing with substance abuse and mental health issues through personal interviews and group discussions. The consumer group’s participation in the discussions and personal interviews has been fundamental to the successful development of a culturally-appropriate, strength-based Wraparound model. Most importantly, the engagement of the community members in the project’s consensus building and planning processes has ensured the legitimacy and social acceptance of the “exemplary practice” model.
Recruitment of Consumer Group The South County Wraparound Project community members (AKA: consumer group) were recruited with the assistance of the Gilroy Family Resource Center and the Santa Clara County Public Health Department (San Martin office). Agency representatives were asked for their help in identifying members from the South County community who would be interested in participating in the consensus building and planning process of the community-based and culturally appropriate Wraparound model. We were seeking to engage members who: have had experiences navigating through the child-welfare and/or criminal justice systems, have personally dealt with or have observed friends or relatives battling with substance abuse and mental health issues within their families and were willing to participate in the efforts to improve service delivery to Latino children, youth, and families in South Santa Clara County. Once a list of interested community members was compiled, Patty Mora, ICCS community assistant, proceeded to contact the members via phone. She provided them with a brief explanation of the project including its purpose and interest for involving the community and invited them to participate in a series of design group meetings and community interviews. Community Interviews Twelve community members, ages ranging from sixteen to forty-eight, participated in the community interview process. Jerry Endres (principle investigator and Community Director of ICCS) developed the interview questionnaire; Patty Mora (community assistant) conducted and transcribed each interview and analyzed the qualitative data; and Brad Richardson (evaluation consultant from the University of Iowa) analyzed the quantitative data. The community interviews were used as a method to assess the social validity of the “exemplary practice” model. The community members were given the opportunity to talk about their personal experiences navigating through the child welfare and judicial systems and battling drug addictions, alcoholism, and mental health problems. In addition, they were encouraged to share their suggestions on improving support services to families dealing with substance abuse and mental health issues and asked to rank the importance of each activity related to the standards of practice that they helped develop in collaboration with the agency representatives (stakeholder group). A detailed chart with demographics is attached to this report. (A) The topics that were discussed during the interviews included prevention, access and outreach, effectiveness of treatment, and improvement of support services. The topics highlighted below list the main themes found during the analysis of the data. A complete summary of all topics discussed is attached to this report. (B) Prevention Activities Family
Community
The most common themes under prevention activities were increasing family support, interactions, and communication. Many members discussed the importance maintaining a strong family unit in order to remove risks for substance abuse and mental illness. One person stated that it is important to spend time with family members and “show them love.” Another person expressed that there is a need for more community and family events in South County. Along with the aforementioned themes, one couple touched on the importance of creating a drug-free and stress-free environment. They discussed their problem with finding a support system since they cannot rely on other family members who are either dealing with substance abuse issues or depression. The couple, both recovering addicts, feels that for their own protection and that of their children, they must avoid placing themselves in the second type of family environment. Access and Outreach
The majority of the consumer group members (eighty-three percent) responded that agencies are not effective in reaching the Latino community. Some of the concerns that were voiced were that agencies do the minimum to reach the Latino community and that many people do not find out about services until they are in the “system” and on the verge of losing their kids or have already lost them. One young consumer group member suggested that agencies should “go to the Latinos” instead of “trying to get Latinos to come to them.” Another concern expressed was that residents face many barriers when trying to access services. This issue is more evident within the Latino immigrant community, as they fear that they will be deported to their home country because of their legal status if they attempt to receive services. Furthermore, many Latino immigrants, especially those living in rural communities, are not aware of the services that are available to them nor do they have the means necessary to access the services (often because of financial/transportation issues.) The consumer groups shared many ideas on improving the distribution of information on services. They are:
Effectiveness of Treatment Treatment is effective if..
Treatment is not effective because…
More likely to seek and follow through with treatment if…
Less likely to seek and follow through with treatment if…
The majority of the consumer group agreed that substance abuse and mental health treatment is effective, however, the aforementioned conditions must be met first. The other part of the group believe that treatment is effective temporarily and eventually the person returns to their old habits or they drop out of their program. One person commented that they have a relative who is constantly in and out of treatment and eventually returns to “his old ways.” Improvement of Support Services How can the community improve its support services for families?
The consumer group supports the idea of having families work with other families as partners/mentors to help them deal with substance abuse and mental health issues. The previously mentioned couple shared that working with a family mentor, preferably a recovering addict, would have been beneficial to their own recovery process. They believe that there is a need for “more families who are dealing with these issues and are in recovery to share their story with others.” The couple is currently working with other families and sharing their story. It is important to involved community members in projects such as the South County Wraparound project. Through this project, the community is given an opportunity to have their “voices” heard, thus providing them with a sense of empowerment. More often than not, community members are only in the receiving end of the service-delivery process. Their expertise on the “systems” that serve them and their knowledge of the community’s needs are often overlooked. This project gives a “voice” to the “voiceless” and allows them to share their knowledge, concerns, and ideas on building a healthy and thriving community. Engaging community residents is an essential piece to the community change process, as they are the most affected by the decisions made that “experts” and local government and service delivery institutions are traditionally responsible for. Having their voices heard is not enough to create long-lasting change in South County. However, this project allows the community to participate in developing a plan for improving service-delivery to Latino children, youth, and families in South County dealing with family substance abuse and mental illness. Community members are being encouraged to work collaboratively with service providers as, equal partners, on identifying community needs, developing interventions, and participating in the implementation and evaluation phases. The consumer group has shown significant interest
in continuing their participation in the project. They are eager to work
with the community and participate in a community education campaign.
The next phase of the project will allow the consumer group to participate
as family mentors and outreach specialists after receiving the appropriate
training. |