Beginnings & History
...from concept to operations...
Fall 2007
Concept paper is written...
Consult with MHD Parent Advocate and RSN Child Care Coordinator urge efforts to move beyond volunteerism. Parent interviews and input and mentoring from a statewide parent led project and support from Parent to Parent provide assistance for the concept paper.
January 2008
Funding is established...
Thurston/Mason Regional Support Network provides funding for part time parent coordinator and a budget for printing and translation. The work begins with creation of brochures, hand-outs and to create sustainability through building 25 partnerships with local community, regional, state and one national organization. Power point and group web page are created to help with marketing the project. The brochures evolve into a card hand-out with design support from one of the project partners.
July 2008
Group meetings begin...
Thurston county health building and Shelton library are established as meeting locations for Thurston and Mason families.
October 2008
Project Continues to be funded...second contract with Regional Support Network.
March 2009
UW Parent Empowerment Program training is held in Olympia area and includes Olympia and Shelton area participants. This is a 40 hour Evidence Based Practice training with 20 hours of follow up consult calls. Two participants from Shelton enroll in Crisis Line training.
April 2009
First youth meeting held in Olympia...new website launched...
May 2009
First Blog installed on website due to partnership with UW Public Behavioral Health & Justice Policy and Parent/Caregiver blog is added as well as the new Justice for All/AAPD (American Association of People with Disabilities) blog.
Youth page is added to website and youth begin meeting every other week. First youth coordinator is co-founder of Health n' Action that has evolved into Youth n' Action, a state-wide program of SAFE Washington, for which our youth group is modeled. Youth are receiving leadership training and begin determination of interests and goals. First parent volunteers are identified to help support the project (funded for less than one half-time FTE) parent/caregiver groups in Thurston and Mason.
First volunteers step forward to help facilitate Shelton and Olympia monthly group meetings and to contribute ideas, making sure that we maintain a positive peer-based network of parent/caregivers.
August 2009
W.R.A.P. (wellness recovery action plan) five hour training is presented with eight youth from Thurston/Mason, Pierce and King counties. I'm told this is the first training of this kind for transition age youth in Washington state, for YNA (youth n' action) and for our local youth. Jeanette Barnes donated her time as trainer and Stephanie Lane continues to volunteer her time as youth coordinator. The youth continue meeting at the Thurston county health building (free) but meet for the first time at the clubhouse at Capital City Apartments (also free), which sports a homelike setting with fireplace, kitchen, exercise equipment and pool. In addition to on-going leadership and w.r.a.p. training, the youth have participated in hiking and glow golf activities. The group celebrates and exemplifies diversity and multiculturalism.
Wraparound training planned for families continues partnership with the Mason Foster Association local group, Where The Heart Is, Yes! Technology project director, FAMH and the Shelton United Methodist Church, that is providing training space, and again with Jeanette Barnes, who is volunteering to train for the entire 40 hours (Oct. through Nov. 2009). Jeanette provided a power point introduction to the concept of wraparound for families at the Shelton library, attended by 20 participants, a mixture of families and child serving professionals that brought ten children, in Thurston and Mason counties. FAMH
FAMH volunteers total seven consumers that represent kinship caregivers, biological parents, 3rd party guardian and adoptive parents and youth.
October/November 2009
Wraparound for families training continues with eight parents from Mason county who are asking about wraparound facilitator training. We are all moving at individual levels as we begin to understand the process.
Intergenerational youth activity in October produced 16 carved pumpkins at Capital Retirement Center and the youth completed a second 5 hour W.R.A.P. (wellness recovery action plan) training for a total of 10 hours. Two Thurston youth testified at the state level about how what they have gained from Thurston/Mason Youth n' Action and why this activity should be funded.
Three Mason parents are now part of the Mason FAMH meeting planners, determining how best to disseminate flyers, creating a new activity and securing speakers. One of the Mason moms began advocating at the state level by asking another mom to join her in a meeting with one of their state representatives. The state representative ended up agreeing to prime sponsor a bill about parent and consultant access to the classroom, a concept that has gained support in the form of 18 letters from parents in 8 counties. This mom has created a website of her own where she has a space that explains the bill. She has also created a personalized parent advocate card and offered to create cards for other parents who have been trained.
December 09/March 2010
A good winter means that Thurston Mason Youth n' Action, a group that FAMH has been fostering, gains its own funding through Division of Behavioral Health & Recovery, DSHS that will contract with a Mason county non-profit that has multiple skill-building programs for youth in Shelton through Yes! Technology. These include a bicycle recycle, horticulture, computer lab, recording studio and others.
Mason parents trained in the wraparound process met in February to receive their certificates and update each other on how family teams were progressing. Families want to meet monthly and invite parents that were not trained in the process to upcoming meetings.
Core parent planning teams continue to determine agendas, create (Thurston parent) and disseminate flyers in both counties. Thurston/Mason NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) presented information for Thurston families including the offer to sign up for a free Family-to-Family 12 week course.
Parent leadership activity nights in Shelton are planned in March through an RTL (Readiness to Learn) partnership workgroup that includes FAMH's project director and will include a FAMH presentation.
The FAMH network currently has over 30 partnerships in progress and nearly 70 members in two counties and is supported by a half-time director and volunteers.