Terry and Kiara have been a mentor pair for about six years. In honor of National Mentoring Month, they sat down to talk with Lt. Governor Zuckerman to share more about the mentoring programs they’ve been involved in, such as Grand Isle County Mentoring and our own mentoring program.

Asked how their partnership has changed over the years, Kiara told “We used to play Trouble a lot, and different board games. Now, we go ice skating a lot, we go to the movies, and we go to [my mentor’s] house and cook.”

Plus, Kiara is involved in Girls Who Code.

“Kiara just amazes me,” says her mentor Terry. “She’s very bright, and very interested in technology and computers. She was showing me this program that she wrote, and I didn’t know anything about it, and I thought, how can I help her in an area that I don’t know anything about?

Hearing about Kiara’s interest in coding, Terry’s daughter recommended Girls Who Code.

“So we contacted them, and found out that it was an agency, and located at UVM, so now every Saturday, I help by taking her to Girls Who Code,” says Terry.

Plus, there are countless other activities, too. As Terry told Lt. Gov. Zuckerman, “it has been great to branch out to [the Spectrum mentoring program]. It gave us a lot of flexibility.” Together, Kiara and Terry can go on all kinds of adventures, or out in the community together.

“Thanks to Mobius, there’s a bunch of businesses that offer discounts for the two of us.”

For example, when Kiara told her mentor she wanted to learn to ice skate, Terry took advantage of the Mobius discount to visit the Cairns Arena in South Burlington. It’s free for Kiara to skate, and Terry pays just $5.

Plus, they’ve been able to go to several shows at the Flynn, thanks to Mobius’s generous discounted ticket program for mentor pairs.

Lt. Governor Zuckerman asked how their mentoring relationship has impacted their lives.

“[Having a mentor] has helped me have a little more self-confidence,” says Kiara.

“I feel young again,” says Terry of her experience as a mentor. “I feel like a teenager when I’m with her. I feel excited to show her new things, but often Kiara is the one who is teaching me more.”

And says Kiara of the partnership, “it’s good to know that there’s someone there to bring you places and help you do stuff when nobody else wants to.”

“And, it’s good having someone to talk to. Sometimes, people don’t want to listen to you, but mentors do.”

Listen to their full interview on Lt. Governor Zuckerman’s Facebook page.

Interested in becoming a mentor? Contact Stephanie, our mentoring coordinator, at sball@spectrumvt.org or (802) 864-7423 x321.

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Happy Valentine’s Day, from all of us at Spectrum. Today and every day, we are so grateful that people like you open your hearts to our youth, to make sure they have a safe place to be, a supportive community, and the help they need to thrive.

Thank you for keeping our youth in your heart.

With love and gratitude,
The Spectrum Team

The post Thank you for keeping our youth in your heart. appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

With your help, Kayla—once without a home of her own—builds her future.

When she was 8, Kayla went to the police and asked them to put her in foster care.

Her mom had made a habit of leaving her alone for days at a time, with no food and no one to look after her. And when she was home, she regularly beat little Kayla.

“It was almost like a hobby for her,” says Kayla. “I was so scared in that house alone, and when she came home, she was super abusive. It was just awful.”

And, her father was in and out of prison. “My dad is the most kindhearted man in the world. He’s got such a good soul. But he has been an alcoholic since he was a kid.”

She thought that putting herself in state custody would give her parents a wake-up call. “They wouldn’t want me to be in a foster home, so what else would they do besides get it together? You know, stop drinking, stop using drugs, stop leaving me. I just thought it would get better.”

Instead, Kayla bounced from home to home to home—at one, the parents treated her so badly that Kayla’s case manager intervened and they lost their license. Once a star student, she fell behind after switching schools again and again.

Finally, when Kayla was in 8th grade, a room opened up in her aunt’s house, and she became a certified foster parent to take Kayla in—the mother that Kayla had never had. “If I didn’t move in with her, I don’t know what I’d be doing right now. It’s a really scary thought.”

Support to build on, thanks to you.

In high school, Kayla’s case manager referred her to Amanda at our Youth Development Program, which helps youth aging out of state custody transition to adulthood. “I remember the initial meeting, when she told me all the things she could help me with.”

“That was the first time anybody had talked to me about college.”

“I thought, ‘This is my opportunity to branch out and even lead myself.’ My whole time in care had proven that I couldn’t rely on my parents to bounce back and give me a solid life or at least a fair chance at being successful.”

Thanks to your support, Kayla began to plan for college. But in her senior year, her boyfriend of three years suddenly died. In her grief, her grades slipped, she struggled to stay in school, and college seemed like a far-off dream.

She wasn’t sure what to do until Amanda suggested our independent living program, which helps foster kids learn to live on their own. We do many of the things a parent might—like coaching, and helping to pay for books, a computer, or rent.

With your support, a home of her own.

Kayla moved out of her aunt’s house and slowly began to build a life—a home—for herself. She got a job, and eventually started taking classes at Community College of Vermont. Thanks to you, Amanda was always by her side, helping her when her laptop failed in the middle of exams, or covering part of her rent when her hours at work fell through.

“I wasn’t used to that, but it really showed how she saw my priorities as her own. I’ve never really had anywhere else to go. She would do anything she could help me to live independently.”

Next, Kayla transferred to the University of Vermont and got an undergraduate degree in social work. Today, she works for one of the family courts, often witnessing cases that are so similar to her own.

Her dream, if she can find a way to pay for it? To go back to school for public policy, focusing on child welfare. “I can’t see myself doing anything else.”

She also tries to give back to the organizations that helped her. “It’s hard to explain how that extra help pushed me through whatever I was going through. It’s helped me be successful with my goals.”

“You guys were with me for a very long time.”

This article first appeared in the Spring 2017 edition of the Spectrum Sun, a print newsletter. Read the full newsletter here.

The post Finding Home appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

“I’m always confident when I team with Danni that her young adults will not only be served well—but served with the utmost respect and dignity. She’s an all-star.” – Amanda Moore, Social Worker, South Burlington High School

Danni Pratt, one of our JOBS Clinicians, received the Promising Professional award at the KidSafe Outstanding Service Awards on April 28th, 2016.

Danni has been working in the JOBS program for over three years. With your support, Danni utilizes her skills, instinct, and caring practice to help young adults successfully transition to adulthood. Danni builds solid, trusting relationships that make her clients feel empowered and capable.

At the KidSafe luncheon, Danni’s supervisor, Gina D’Ambrosio, Coordinator of the JOBS program, offered these kind words:

“I’m so thrilled and honored to have this opportunity to recognize the amazing work of Danni Pratt. Her commitment, hard work, professionalism, and amazing skills have made an impact on many young lives. She gets the complexities of navigating the world for the adolescents she serves, who are remarkable despite the challenges and obstacles they face. In trying to capture how much of an impact she had made, I fell short of finding the right words to articulate her work. So I decided to ask her clients.”

With your support, these clients are getting help from Danni to turn their lives around:

“Danni has been very fun to work with. She is always flexible to meet, whether it is in person or over the phone. She has helped me with anything from finding a job to just having an open ear when I need to talk. She has also helped me find some other supports through Spectrum counseling. If it was not for Danni, I would probably not have the current job that I have and also some of the other supports that I have. I always look forward to meeting with Danni every week and she helps to keep me on track with my goals.”
– JOBS client

“Danni was super, super kind to me. We went out for coffee which was awesome. She helped me do a job shadow at Petra Cliffs, and with her help that turned into my first job. She was awesome.”
– former JOBS client

Congratulations, Danni!

“Danni really was a big help for me . . . I could actually count on her.” – former JOBS client

The JOBS program is a collaboration with the Howard Center, Spectrum Youth & Family Services, and VocRehab Vermont. JOBS helps youth, ages 14-26, with multiple barriers, to find and keep employment, to understand and utilize resources, and to learn and build skills needed for successful independence.

The post “I could actually count on her.” appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

Kim told her story at our recent Empty Bowl Dinner, for an audience of over 250. Kim is a former Spectrum client, and she was willing to share her experiences about how she got her life back on track, thanks to the Spectrum community. Here is an excerpt.

If you had told me five years ago that I’d be working in a tech job as a webmaster for a business that has the word “Localvore” in it, I probably would have laughed and blown smoke in your face—I was smoking a lot of cigarettes back then. I don’t smoke cigarettes anymore. In fact, I’m trying to be healthy.

The health stuff is new to me because I’ve spent most of my life being bitter and self-destructive.

My life began in a trailer park in northern New York affectionately known as “Wiggle Town.” Soon after, we moved to a house I would later realize was home to much of my childhood trauma.

When I was five, my mother left my alcoholic, abusive father and became a high-strung, single mother of a spastic, autistic son and me.

When I was ten, we moved to Mississippi to start our lives over again. As it were, Mississippi was a bad place to start over, because four years later, we lost our house in Hurricane Katrina.

I was just starting high school so I only know an adolescent as a “Katrina Kid.” That being said, my version of teenage angst was looting abandoned buildings and stealing flooded bottles of alcohol and packs of cigarettes from the remnants of liquor stores and gas stations along Highway 90.

Nonetheless, I graduated high school—with honors, even. [But the] economy of Mississippi was—and still is—especially bad. My mother kicked me out of the house as soon as I turned 18 and I lived on a mattress and worked at Hobby Lobby until I hitched a ride with my high school sweetheart to Vermont to attend Burlington College.

I moved to Vermont with $200 and optimism, but soon learned that would not be enough. So, I contacted my biological father from across the lake, and visited the house where I spent the first five years of my life.

Now, I knew the first five years of my life were bad, but I didn’t realize how bad they were until I was already in the Fletcher Allen psych ward for having a ten-hour manic episode from listening to The White Album. They kept me in the psych ward for a week and by the time I got out, I was on a plethora of sedatives and mood stabilizers, had a huge medical bill, and had been kicked out of my apartment.

I am so thankful y’all raise nice children up here, because if it weren’t for the kindness of some of the kids I had met previously in college, I wouldn’t have made it. They . . . let me crash on their futon while I tried to get my life together.

One day, I visited Burlington College and broke down crying in the financial aid office, admitting I was homeless but I really wanted to go back to school. One of the faculty members brought me to Spectrum’s Drop-In Center on Pearl Street and I started living in the Emergency Shelter shortly after. I stayed in the shelter for six months, until I moved to the Spectrum residence. Spectrum gave me a place to put my trash bags of clothes and a bed of my own. The shelter staff gave me the guidance and support I always wanted from my parents but so rarely received.

During that time, I attended the Community College of Vermont (CCV) and started working at the Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS). I was living in one shelter and working in another. I saved my money while I was at Spectrum and in June of 2012 I moved into my own apartment. I have not fallen into homelessness since.

I worked at COTS for two years, until it was too emotionally taxing for me. Then I started working part-time at a local start-up. I started working only 15 hours a week, doing menial tasks on the computer, but as the company has grown, so has my position. I now work there full-time in my first salary job. My bosses are very supportive, and have even paid for me to take computer programming classes.

My life has never been so good and my future has never been so bright and I know, without a doubt, that this would not have been possible without the love and support I have received from Spectrum. Thank you.

The post “My future’s never been so bright.” appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

Understanding Domestic Violence and Men Who Batter

May 8, 2015

We’re offering a one-day training that will provide an overview of domestic violence and batterer accountability for individuals working with men who batter, including individuals interested in facilitating batterers intervention groups. This training is required for new DV Solutions facilitators.

Participants in this training will:
• explore the social and historical context of men’s violence towards women
• understand the role of batterer accountability in the community response to domestic violence
• explore gender socialization in our culture and how it relates to dating/domestic violence
• gain skills in addressing behavior choices and understanding process of change theory
• explore using motivational enhancement skills when working with men who batter
• gain skills for facilitating groups with men with a history of violence

Time: 9:30 – 4:30
Location: 191 North Street Burlington, VT
Cost: $50 (free for Spectrum staff)

To register for this one day training, please fill out this registration form and return to mhutter@spectrumvt.org, or to our office at 31 Elmwood Avenue, Burlington, VT 05401.

Registration Deadline: May 1st

The post New Training: An Introduction to Batterer Intervention appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

“When I came into the [Pearl Street Residence],” Chelsea begins, “I was homeless, I had dropped back out of high school, and I had crashed my car. I was in a really big legal situation—I was facing 15 years in prison. I was at a point where I was like, ‘there is no possible way I’m going to get my life back together after this.’”

She was 18 when she moved in, coming from a few months at a rehab facility. “At first, I was not a big fan,” she says. “I wasn’t a big fan of rules and structure. I had a foster home, but I didn’t follow the rules – I just did whatever I wanted.”

“But you’re expected to hold your own at Spectrum. You’re supposed to do chores, follow rules, and go to all your meetings on time. I had to learn how to be responsible. I had to learn basic life skills over again. They literally helped shape me from the ground up.”

Chelsea had dropped out of high school, so first, staff worked with her on getting back in. “They helped me to get to all my appointments, helped me to do my homework, to do the basic things I just needed to do. And I was able to graduate high school, which I thought I would never ever ever do.”

Because she was formerly in foster care, Chelsea also worked with Spectrum’s Youth Development Program, which supports youth aging out of state custody and transitioning to a life on their own. The YDP staff step in where a parent otherwise might, offering coaching and financial support. In Chelsea’s case, they helped her get into cosmetology school and apply for financial aid, and then helped her pay for the clothing she needed for school.

Staff also helped her address her legal situation. “I thought I was going to lose everything, but everybody was by my side the whole time,” she says. Kandi, her caseworker, went to court and then to trial with her. When she was put on house arrest for six months, she thought her life was over again. But she found Spectrum staff there to help her do everything she needed to do.

“I don’t have much family, I really don’t, and they helped to fill that,” says Chelsea, her eyes filling with tears. “Sorry, I’m getting worked up. They taught me how to live life again.”

Now 20, Chelsea is two years sober, lives on her own, and has a job in a local salon. She still comes to Spectrum for counseling and to check in with Kandi once a week.

“I had to be re-taught everything. The way that I was used to living was a dirty way of living. Stealing and doing drugs and no respect for myself or anybody else. It was just a terrible way to live. I guess I got to a point where I was able to look at the way that I was living my life before and really deep down inside decide that I didn’t want that anymore. I have stuff I want to do with my life and even if I didn’t have that much confidence in myself, there was a little part of me that wanted to someday achieve something. I would not have anything I have now without Spectrum,” she says. “That’s real.”

The post Meet Chelsea appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

Spectrum’s most recent e-newsletter is now online. Read it here.

A letter from Executive Director Mark Redmond is below:

Dear Friend,

Recently, I was asked by a school superintendent if I remembered Joseph, because he had referred Joseph to Spectrum five years ago for counseling and a place to live when he became homeless. I remembered Joseph as a young man with a lot of difficulties and challenges.

One week later, I saw Joseph on my way to work. He smiled and waved. He said he was waiting for the bus to go to his job, and that he has an apartment nearby. “I’m doing really well,” he told me.

Running into Joseph was so gratifying. His story serves as one more lesson that we never know how the help we offer someone will affect them – this is why we must offer all we possibly can to every single person seeking our help, empowering them to make positive changes in their lives.

Sincerely,

Mark Redmond
Executive Director

Subscribe to our e-newsletter by clicking “Sign Up” at the top of this page.

The post Meet Joseph: Independent, Employed, Happy appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.