“The vast majority of the youth that we serve are “transition-aged,” people who are considered adults by the law but whose challenges are unique to their age range. While “transition-aged” is defined as youth between the ages of 16-24, I’d like to speak today about the core of that range, people aged 18-22.

Most of these young people live at the intersection of a range of marginalized identities: they are teenagers, they are experiencing homelessness, they have mental health and substance abuse problems. They are disproportionately people of color or those who identify as LGBTQ+. They might be disabled or scraping by on benefits.

In our day-to-day work we see first-hand how marginalized these youth feel in their community: they aren’t considered for jobs they’re qualified for, they’re seen as a nuisance in public, they’re targeted by police as “troublemakers,” and they’re questioned over their presumed lack of motivation to “better themselves.” It’s our job to help them navigate these systems and create safe spaces for them to grow outside the glare of the public eye.

In my experience and that of my colleagues, this dynamic stands out in particular when transition-aged youth seek care in crisis situations. Specifically, I’d like to speak to some of my experiences with these youth when they’ve tried to access intensive mental health services in our community.

Last year I accompanied a young transgender woman to the hospital. We often offer this kind of advocacy and support role for folks in severe crises. For weeks this youth had been coming to our Drop-In Center reporting increasingly frequent episodes of paranoia and psychosis, accompanied by intensifying thoughts of suicide. As her crisis deepened, we made as many referrals as we could to mental health supports like counseling, medical care, advocates for survivors.

Nothing took. And then she came to Drop-In with obvious physical marks of the last night’s suicide attempt, and an insistence that it was a matter of time before she followed through with her suicide. Yes, she had a plan. Yes, we were both terrified.

At the hospital she was told in plain language that her reported mental health symptoms could not be true given the way she presented in that moment. She was told that her recent attempt must not have been particularly serious, and that her plan to kill herself did not merit further medical attention. She was discharged after about an hour with no discernable plan of care or follow-up.

I don’t doubt that this kind of invalidation added a new layer of trauma to her experience, and that she might be less likely to seek medical care when in a future crisis because of it. Despite her traumas, she saved herself. Somehow – amazingly – she traveled by herself to a different state, got herself admitted into an inpatient facility at a hospital, and stayed there for over a month. She was ultimately discharged and admitted into a stabilization clinic in Vermont before moving into a residential mental health program. 

And I will offer another brief anecdote. About when a 19-year-old, also transgender, reported to us that she was abducted for days and repeatedly assaulted before running away and making it back to the Drop-In Center. She went to the hospital, where she was seen by intake staff before getting overwhelmed and returning to Drop-In. When I went back to the hospital to support and advocate for her, she was scolded, told that she’d wasted hospital staff’s time by leaving, and that she’d have to wait longer because she left. It felt like a punishment. The forensic nurse who examined her was kind, but the damage was already done at the admission-level. She angrily refused most services and said that, if there were a next time, she’d skip the hospital altogether.

It’s really important to me that everyone here understands: I’m telling these stories not to condemn the hospital, any local clinicians, or any mental health providers who are doing an incredibly difficult job with limited resources, especially now. I understand that they have to make seemingly impossible choices, and I’m grateful for the effective care they’ve given to other Spectrum clients. I tell these stories only to show what my colleagues and I are seeing on the ground: transition-aged youth, particularly the most vulnerable, are met with skepticism and eye-rolls when they seek help in a crisis.

So, why is that?

Why are the transition-aged youth that we serve, who are among the most vulnerable folks in our society, treated like the lowest priorities in their times of need? In my opinion, the reasons that our youth aren’t taken seriously in these situations are the exact same reasons that they should be taken most seriously.  

It isn’t a secret that the trauma of youth homelessness takes a toll on people’s mental health. According to a 2019 study published by researchers at the University of Southern California, 12 percent of adolescents in the United States have considered suicide, while 4 percent have attempted suicide. For youth experiencing homelessness, the study shows that 46 percent of those surveyed had attempted suicide, and that 78 percent of those who had previously attempted would continue to make attempts.

That is for youth homelessness. What happens when you add more layers of marginalization? For example, UCLA cites the 2015 Transgender Study as reporting that more than 80 percent of transgender people have seriously considered suicide in their lifetimes, and that over 40 percent make at least one attempt. These rates are so much higher than those of the general population, it’s hard to fathom.

And to put these two populations together, again consider that youth homelessness disproportionately affects people who identify as LGBTQ+, as well as people of color. We at Spectrum see these trends on the ground.

What I’m getting at is – as far as I’ve seen in this work – the more traumatized you are, the more marginalized you are, the more likely you are to be turned away in your hour of need. And I think that the opposite should be true.

So how do we start to address this trend?

To start, I think we should go back to the basics. The practice of Trauma-Informed Care is widely embraced as a baseline tool to help client-facing staff approach people in crisis with knowledge and compassion.

It’s rooted in a classic maxim in social work: do no harm. To quote from an article on the practice published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, also known as SAMHSA: “Trauma-Informed Care begins with the first contact a person has with an agency; it requires all staff members (e.g., receptionists, intake personnel, direct care staff, supervisors, administrators, peer supports, board members) to recognize that the individual’s experience of trauma can greatly influence his or her receptivity to and engagement with services, interactions with staff and clients, and responsiveness to program guidelines, practices, and interventions. Trauma-Informed Care includes program policies, procedures, and practices to protect the vulnerabilities of those who have experienced trauma and those who provide trauma-related services.” 

Put simply, it’s a good way of treating people with dignity and understanding when they’re at their worst. So no doubt, Trauma-Informed Care is a really helpful tool to meet the needs of the most vulnerable. But maybe we need other tools, too. 

We at Spectrum have recently been told two different things: that there are more than enough beds in the state for psychiatric patients of all ages, and then that there are not.  We’re not sure who to believe. But no matter who’s right, we do know that young people in psychiatric distress are turned away at alarming rates.

So what’s happening? What’s the disconnect? If the capacity does exist, why and how is the criteria for admission failing transition-aged youth? And whether the question is capacity or criteria, I think that we should start a conversation about diverting resources toward creating clinical programs that cater specifically to the needs of transition-aged youth. 

Why specifically, transition-aged youth?

For one, beyond the trends I’ve just mentioned, countless studies have confirmed that the human brain continues to develop and mature for years into true adulthood. It’s uniquely sensitive and fragile in this growth period.

It’s also widely accepted that youth trauma and homelessness can lead to long-term mental health problems and chronic homelessness in adulthood. Instead of accepting that as an inevitability, what if we set aside resources to meet the needs of this unique population, one whose future has proven to have a profound effect on all of our social and economic futures?

If we can take lessons from this pandemic – like diverting resources upstream, like focusing on prevention and mitigation before the current becomes chronic – then maybe we can start to make lasting change.

Let’s have a conversation.“

The post Are Vermont’s Institutions Failing Transition-Aged Youth? appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

Thanks to your support, our warming shelter housed teens and young adults who had nowhere else to stay this past winter.

A safe haven during the winter months

The past few winters have been challenging for young people facing homelessness in Burlington. All area shelters have been full, including the adult warming shelter that was launched four years ago, and our Drop-In staff often had to turn youth away at the end of the day not knowing where they would spend the night.

Luckily, thanks to generous community members like you, our warming shelter served 33 teens and young adults over the course of the winter who had nowhere else to stay.

One of the youth who came to us had been sleeping at the airport. Another, in a laundromat. Another, in a parking garage. Some stayed with us only a few weeks until they were able to find permanent housing, while others were able to move into the Landing, one of Spectrum’s residences, as beds opened up.

“The shelter provided people with an opportunity to regain some stability in their lives,” says Will, the Supported Housing Supervisor at Spectrum. “When you think about homeless people and housing programs, there are often people that just need a week or two of stability to get their feet back under them.”

“Last year, we had full occupancy in our other housing program and months-long waiting lists. That wasn’t really acceptable. We felt like we needed to do something about it.”

A community effort made possible by you.

The community truly came together to support this project. Bishop Christopher Coyne and Father Lance Harlow were kind enough to host the shelter at St. Joseph’s Co-Cathedral. The Community Health Centers of Burlington donated cots, and the UVM Medical Center volunteered to do laundry. The Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf’s Good Food Truck and parishioners of St. Joseph’s provided many meals.

Financial support for the shelter was provided by the Argosy Foundation, UVM Medical Center, the Hoehl Family Foundation, Debra and Bill Gottesman, Vermont Federal Credit Union, an anonymous donor, Janet Farina, parishioners at Our Lady of Grace Church, and generous donors like you.

“The operation was really great. Being able to use their space was amazing” says Will about St. Joseph’s Co-Cathedral. “Father Harlow, who is the priest at St. Joseph’s, came in almost every single day and helped out as well.”

When asked what he would like to tell community members, Will had this to say: “Thanks to everyone who helped support the shelter this year. You really gave people the chance to regain some stability in their lives.”

And best of all? We didn’t have to turn anybody away.

The post Everyone Had a Bed This Winter—Thanks to You. appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

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.

The post Mentor Pair Interview: Kiara and Terry appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

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.

Thanks to you, ten beds line the walls at the warming shelter in downtown Burlington. The shelter opened in early November and will close at the end of March.

Thanks to you, Spectrum opens a warming shelter for the cold winter months

Last winter was rough.

With shelters full across the region and a long waiting list for Spectrum’s 25 beds, we often had to turn young people away who needed somewhere to sleep.

“It was heartbreaking having to close the Drop-In Center at night knowing that half the youth who were leaving had no place to go,” says Allie Forward, our Drop-In Youth Coordinator. “To see them lose hope and energy and feel trapped as the weather turned colder and colder was just awful.”

“If I wasn’t at the warming shelter I would probably still be sleeping in the parking garage. It’s really been a blessing. The Burlington community has been really awesome too. People are always dropping off food at nights so we always have something to eat if we’re hungry.”

A true community effort made possible by you.

Over the summer, we looked at many locations where we might launch a shelter, but it was a visit to Burlington Bishop Christopher Coyne that finally connected us to Father Lance Harlow, rector of the St. Joseph Co-Cathedral Parish in downtown Burlington, who agreed to let Spectrum use their Parish Hall this winter.

The Community Health Centers of Burlington, which runs Burlington’s adult warming shelter in the winter, gave us cots to use, and the UVM Medical Center volunteered to do laundry. The Argosy Foundation, Hoehl Family Foundation, Debra and Bill Gottesman, and other generous donors like you pitched in to fund it. The Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf brings by food from its Good Food Truck at night, and St. Joseph’s parishioners have often donated dinner.

“I’m thankful for the warming shelter because if I wasn’t there I would be sleeping outside in the freezing cold. Before I was there I didn’t even have a sleeping bag, cause someone found it and threw it away when I left my camp. And I love the staff. They are awesome, fantastic and cool.”

The warming shelter is already full, but Allie says, “We haven’t had a situation yet where youth are leaving Drop-In without a plan. And, they’re excited to go to the shelter at night. We have great staff there, there’s a TV and they can watch movies. It’s cozy.”

“Just the basic need of having a roof over your head is the most important thing in order to get other parts of your life back together,” Will Towne, our Housing Manager, says. “Whether it’s employment, physical health, mental health, getting help with substance – it’s impossible to get those in order when you don’t have anywhere consistent to go.”

This article first appeared in the Winter 2018 Spectrum Sun, a print newsletter that is available online here.

The post Ten More Beds! appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

This piece was written by a young person who accesses Spectrum’s services, thanks to people like you, who keep our doors open. It is part of a series of Spectrum Youth Voices.

Dear reader,

I am nearing 21 and under the impression that society would prefer it if I had my act together, and I was nice to you and smiled when you said “hello,” even though I don’t have my act together, I don’t feel smiley, and I don’t want to say “I’m fine” when you ask me how I’m doing.

What I want to say is “horrible.” I am doing horrible because everybody is supposed to be happy around the holidays but all I feel is empty.

I grew up with a comfortable home life but, due to events I won’t go into detail about, that life was taken from me almost 3 years ago. I was thrown into a world that didn’t make sense and I had to make decisions I wasn’t qualified to make.

I had to go with my gut, and it didn’t always lead me in the best direction. So I also spent some time backtracking, so to speak.  I’m not telling you all this so you pity me; I’m telling you this so you understand me.

I’m not the only individual accessing Spectrum who has undergone significant—even traumatic—loss. I’m not the only one feeling empty or struggling with the enormous isolation brought on by all these complicated feelings.

So, reader, this is where you come in. I can’t speak for everyone, but to me, the holidays are just a big, national reminder of what’s missing and what I can’t get back.  The holidays have so much emphasis on material goods but I would give anything to have back the life I lost.

So over the next month or so, take time to hug someone a little tighter, and listen a little longer, because these are the memories that count. These are the memories that will never lose value and can never be replaced.

The post An open letter to those who don’t know how to help. appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

Our friends at Dealer.Com partnered with the incredible Lux Barber Shop to offer free haircuts for our youth.

Getting a haircut is often out-of-reach for youth experiencing homelessness, and this partnership to receive a professional haircut, for free, was an incredible gift.

Thank you!

Read more about the day in this article, published by Burlington Free Press.

Special thanks to Kate Vetter, Dealer.Com’s corporate social responsibility project coordinator, for organizing, and to Megan and Steve Incerto and the rest of the staff at Lux Barber Shop for donating your time and talents to make a difference.

The post How a haircut makes a big difference. appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

This article was written by a young person who accesses Spectrum’s services.

At the end of October, I lost a friend who was very near and dear to my heart, to almost 10 years of battling cancer. The loss is still very new, and very raw, and likely will be for many weeks if not months to come; however, it has allowed me to write this with a new perspective and determination to write from the very bottom of my heart.

As I’ve been working through my own grief process, this writing has also undergone significant changes. Through the many edits, complete re-writes and even different viewpoints being expressed, I have kept certain parts, discarded (many) others, and completely started over on more than one occasion. Although you can’t really discard or completely start over with life after loss, you can keep parts of that individual and your perspective of the world will change. As I reflected on my life and current thought process I discovered several parallels between writing and grieving.

The five stages of grief look different for everyone, as does the writing process. Some people plan out what they’re going to write and others just do it. I’m more of the wait-until-the-last-minute writer. Similarly, grief looks different on everyone.

As I said, I’m more of a just-do-it type of writer, which means I definitely wait until the last minute. It’s not that I don’t want to be writing and advocating for my peers, it’s just constantly feeling like I have more important things to do in life. Grieving isn’t much different.

I know my feelings will always be there, and this particular line of thinking leads me down two distinct paths: (1) my feelings will always be here so I should really just deal with them now and get them out of the way; or (2) my feelings will always be here so I should focus on the more impermanent things (such as school) and deal with the feelings later.

I look at these two perspectives as denial and bargaining rolled into one and they don’t get you anywhere. It really doesn’t matter how you think or what you think because the feelings are still felt. Similarly, the writing still has to get written, the only difference is how you write and what you write about.

Acceptance came when I decided I wasn’t going to write about what was easy, I was going to write about what I know.

Depression is the beginning of acceptance. In the writing process, that may look like walking away from the piece entirely. In life, it can look like isolation or engaging in risky and harmful behaviors. Many of the individuals at Spectrum, myself included, have used or currently use these coping mechanisms to try and understand why life works the way it does.

They make us feel something other than the true pain of what’s beneath the behaviors; just as watching Netflix can help you ignore the panic of writing about something no body really enjoys hearing, which is a point I’ll elaborate on a bit later; there is nothing you can do.

The final stage of just about anything you will ever do in life is acceptance. In this particular writing, acceptance came when I decided I wasn’t going to write about what was easy, I was going to write about what I know. What I know is that grief sucks, and it’s hard. I know that “I’m sorry” and “I’m here for you” doesn’t help a whole lot. I know that words aren’t helpful as the loss is still lost and the feelings are still felt.

I know that it’s okay to feel. In fact, it’s a good thing, because feelings are meant to come and go. They’re what make us, as humans, different from one another. Intense emotions and being messy are not signs of weakness and do not make you any less of an individual.

This has been a hard piece to write as it’s typically not what people like to hear in terms of supporting those close to them through a tough time, but I’ve taken that to mean this is a subject matter of great importance. I know I am just one person, and one perspective, but I hope I have shed some light on the experience and process of losing a loved one.

The post The Five Stages of Writing, Grief, and Writing about Grief appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

Charlie and Winston Smith choose their bowls.

What follows is a note from our Executive Director, Mark Redmond.

Thank you to all who joined us at the Empty Bowl Dinner on October 12th.

I was awestruck by the compassion and caring you showed for our youth. I am so grateful that our young people can rely on you to offer a hand when the going gets tough.

As René said that night, “Spectrum is about creating that sense of family. It is about creating a sense of community and knowing that we are loved and supported. And that there are youth and staff and, also, wonderful people like you out here who are supporting us every day. And I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you are doing.”

Thanks to you, we raised $68,400 that night—$15,000 from the giving board alone! And because of the generosity of all who donated food and services to the event, almost all of the money raised will go directly to helping our youth build their own success.

Thank you for being a part of such a great night.

With gratitude,

Mark Redmond

Empty Bowl volunteers and Spectrum staff at the end of the night.

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Check it out:

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