Emma Michalowski has been working as an intern in our supported housing programs since August 2016. She’s a senior at Champlain College working toward her BS in psychology with a minor in global studies. She’s interested in both mental health counseling and global mental health.

Emma researched and created an ongoing life-skills training program for youth in our emergency shelter, The Landing, and our transitional housing. Here are her reflections:

As part of my senior capstone project, I developed a life skills training program for the youth in Spectrum’s supported housing.

The Game of Life helped youth practice their money management skills. Individuals were given a set income from which they created a monthly budget that included everything they needed or wanted. These costs included housing and utilities, Internet access, insurance and transportation, and clothing, as well as non-necessity items such as a new television, a pet, and any entertainment costs.

Each youth had to spin the Wheel of Fortune/Doom to see what surprise financial event they had to incorporate in their planning. The results were either beneficial, like a birthday present, which added $10/month, or detrimental, such as having one’s hours cut, which subtracted $250/month. Some of these events could’ve been avoided by purchasing various insurance policies, just like in real life!

After the completing their budget sheet, each youth sat with a credit counselor to discuss how their budgeting went. For individuals who went over budget, they discussed the difference between what they need and what they want, and what motivated them to make their decisions. Then, they returned to the game and adjusted their budgets. Once a participant completed their monthly worksheet without going over budget, they discussed options for utilizing their remaining money to achieve their financial goals.

Many youth reflected that it helped them to think about their money in a different way. One young woman said she didn’t realize how hard it was to live independently and that the Game of Life really opened her eyes to what this entailed. Another participant said he realized his lifestyle would be really affordable if only he didn’t buy fast food and video games as often. These anecdotes are just a few of the success stories from the Game of Life. It was a fun, interactive event that gave youth at Spectrum new ideas about using their money wisely.

Another part of the program was a cooking segment, which I created to teach not only cooking skills and safety, but also for youth to practice creativity and working in teams using cooperation and effective communication.

It was also designed to show the youth they can cook healthy, fresh meals for a lower cost than buying pre-prepared food. The event was set up somewhat like the television show, “Chopped,” in that the participants were given two required ingredients, chicken and a vegetable, as well as a ‘pantry’ of items that contained various food ingredients like pasta, rice, onions, and garlic.

Youth said they had fun during the event and most of them stated they learned something new, especially in The Landing. At one house, youth learned about eating kosher from one of the other residents, and at another house, youth made four different meals so that everyone’s food restrictions (vegetarian, gluten intolerance, and a low-cholesterol diet) were addressed, so all youth could eat together.

Thank you, Emma, for working with our youth over the past year! Congratulations on your upcoming graduation.

The post The Game of Life appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

A drawing Lopez did for the BTV Street Chronicle, a free zine of writings by Drop-In Center clients.

Thanks to you, a Spectrum client is on his way to becoming a chef.

Spanish rice was the first thing Lopez learned to cook. “It is really hard to make rice when you are five years old, especially when the stove is like six feet higher than you are.”

When his mom locked Lopez and his brother and sister alone in their apartment, a neighbor slipped the rice ingredients through a hole in the wall along with directions on how to make it.

“She wanted to go out and get money and feed us but she would forget and not come back some nights and some nights she would come back with a black eye. Guys would take advantage of her and beat her up.”

Eventually the police came to take the kids away. At first, they were put in foster homes in Lopez’s native Colombia, but these were not good experiences.

“I used to be really bad, had a lot of anger problems and I was just not in a good stage and [my foster parents] would take advantage of it. On Halloween they would lock me up in the back of the house and take the other kids out trick-or-treating. I would be in the back in the dark, just locked up.”

A team of one, supported by you.

When Lopez was eight, the three kids were adopted together by an American family, and they settled first in Colorado and then in Vermont when Lopez was in tenth grade. A big wrestler in Colorado, he started his own team of one when he arrived here, practicing with a nearby high school.

“Wrestling was a very big thing for me because I was diagnosed as bipolar when I was adopted. I had a lot of anger problems, and I could just put all my anger out there without getting in trouble.”

After high school, Lopez was living at home and hit a rough patch. “I was not on my meds and I was getting irritated by everyone in my house. I just was not in a good place.” He got in a fight with his sister and pushed his mother. His dad intervened and Lopez threw him into a wall.

He had to leave and went to stay with a friend, who told him about Spectrum. With your help, we were able to give him a room in the Landing (our emergency shelter), and, eventually, in our transitional housing.

“Through counseling, I’ve learned how to calm down. I’ve figured out ways to cope. And Spectrum staff have been there through everything. They’ve helped me when I’ve had a lot of bad, emotional days, stressful days.”

A big heart and a big future, thanks to you.

Thanks to generous donors like you, Lopez also got help with finding jobs, and he completed a 13-week training at the Community Kitchen Academy run by the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf. This January, Lopez left our program for culinary school.

His dream? To open the first Colombian restaurant in Burlington (called Cattleya after an orchid found in his native country). “I want it to have an open kitchen,” he says, “I want to work with the Community Kitchen Academy. Any graduates who need a job, they can come. And I’m going to come back and cook in the Drop-In sometimes.”

“If there weren’t a Spectrum, I would have to worry about an apartment, paying bills—I wouldn’t even know the skills to deal with that so it would be a lot harder for me, especially when I have a lot of disabilities. I would probably be on the streets. And cold. It’s a very great program for people who want to get their foot out the door and get their life started.”

“Lopez is the kind of guy who is always light-hearted and has a smile on his face,” says Mike Shirk, Lopez’s case manager. “He has a big heart, an incredible amount of talent, and the drive to go far in life.”

As for Lopez, he hopes to pass those traits on. “One of the things I’m going to do when I get older is adopt a kid from Colombia,” says Lopez. “And I want to give them a life that I never had. Because I would understand what they went through.”

This article first appeared in the Fall 2016 Spectrum Sun, a print newsletter that is available online here.

The post A Foot Out the Door to a New Life appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

“Youth land here from many different places and in many different stages in their lives. The hope is that this is a landing place where young adults can set themselves up for a successful and stable future.

“Often young adults come to informational sessions or intakes afraid to engage in or access our Shelter due to the name. Young adults may have pre-determined thoughts and feelings around what the physical space is and create a negative connotation with programming. We are hoping that by changing the name youth can associate more positive thoughts and feelings around our Shelter.”

The renaming came about in part because the program does not operate like many typical emergency shelters, where clients line up in the evening to get a bed and take their belongings in the morning. Instead, residents stay in the same bed for weeks or months as they work with our case managers to decide what is next.

The Landing is a short-term, emergency housing option for homeless teens ages 16-22. Residents share a common living, kitchen, and dining area, and each of four bright bedrooms has two beds.

“When they told me I was going to a shelter, I sobbed. But when I got here, I realized this was home.”

Youth staying with us at The Landing are safe and supported. They get help from case managers to meet their immediate needs and to look toward their future goals, including moving to our transitional housing and, eventually, moving to permanent housing.

The Landing is a great place for our clients to get started. By renaming our emergency shelter “The Landing,” every young person will know they have a place they can land.

Photos by Ned Castle.

Do you or does someone you know need housing? Fill out the Spectrum Housing Referral Form and return form via email, fax, mail, or drop-off to:

Alex Ellis, Lead Intake Coordinator
Landing & Transitional Housing
177 Pearl Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Phone: 802 864-7423 x 302
Cell: 802-343-2208
Fax: 802-540-3008
housingreferrals@spectrumvt.org

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