Stronger Together

(above) Staff and volunteers with CAP’s Youth Empowerment Services and Family Life Counseling Service work together to meet challenges faced by children and teens.

CAP programs team up to help young people with mental health

BY TINA V. BRYSON

Staff and volunteers with CAP’s Youth Empowerment Services and Family Life Counseling Service work together to meet challenges faced by children and teens.

Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) works to leverage the strengths of different programs to benefit children and their families. Staff and volunteers with CAP’s Youth Empowerment Services (YES) encounter a myriad of challenges faced by the children and teens they build relationships with through in-school programs, teen leadership, and summer camp. Some of those challenges include trauma from abuse and it shows up in behaviors and interactions. Counselors from CAP’s Family Life Counseling Services are working to equip YES staff to address these issues.

“Chris Griffith and his team of trained counselors help us better recognize physical and psychological awareness and cues related to abuse,” said Pat Griffith, manager of Camp Shawnee. “Counseling staff usually come to camp to speak with our summer staff about what to look and listen for when they are with campers throughout the week. They have worked with us to create protocols for reporting suspected abuse to make sure we do all we can to provide a safe environment for the children we serve.”

YES staff and volunteers interact with more than 1,000 children a year through CAP’s Camp AJ and Camp Shawnee overnight, residential camps, as well as our day camp programs. In addition, public school students in CAP’s service counties receive in-school tutoring and other services through our YES Program.

“This training is really important so that we continue to be attentive to the whole child, whether we encounter them at camp or in school,” Griffith said. “Family Life Counseling Service is providing invaluable training that not only helps our staff and volunteers with everyday life, but it also helps them to be better leaders, role models, and teachers for young people in Appalachia.”

CAP’s professionally licensed mental health practitioners serve families, individuals, and groups in treating chronic, multi-layered problems. In addition to working with YES staff, Family Life Counseling Service equips families with the tools, skills, and healthy practices they need to eventually break free from the cycle of generational poverty.

“Our goal is to work with parents and children to identify, acknowledge, and treat previously unresolved mental health concerns that enable the family unit to function with more stability, support, and strength,” said Chris Griffith, manager of Family Life Counseling Service. “When we can team up with another CAP program like YES, we can create a synergistic effect that works together to better serve our participants. We become “force multipliers” where several programs produce greater benefits than any of us could do independently.”

Griffith added, “We know that helping youth to address mental health problems will pay great dividends for their future. It’s an investment in them because they will use the skills and insights developed for the remainder of their lives. Problems that remain untreated harden and deepen over time. Counseling is a gift that releases young people from years of suffering.”

YES staff recognize that benefit as well and uses their time in school to provide students skills to help them apply good mental health practices in a variety of everyday settings. During the in-school program, some classes focus on leadership and the qualities of a leader such as integrity. Discussions include how you act around others and how you act when no one is looking.

“We know that these skills are very important for young people,” Griffith added. “We talk to them about self-awareness, including how we control our own emotions, how we feel, and how we can tell when we’re getting upset. But we also talk to them about solutions such as what we can do with those emotions (feelings). We want them to be able to recognize their own triggers and how to deal with them in a positive, constructive, and productive way. Good mental health is critical. I am grateful that we can collaborate with CAP’s counseling team in these efforts.”