Archive for April, 2010

Clinical Director, Annie Ramniceanu, speaks on VPR about Spectrum’s rapid referral and assessment program. Spectrum will be receiving an Innovation Award for this program, which reduces wait times for outpatient services, such as treatment for drug and alcohol abuse.

http://www.vpr.net/flash/audio_player/audio_player.php?id=30885

Last year a young man, who previously had sought and received help from us, stopped into our drop-in center and left $140 in an envelope with this note:

“Please use this money for a relaxing camping trip and a hike to help relax and revive the inner self of the youth here. You helped me unbelievably and I have faith you can help others too.”

I have held onto his note, it is a constant reminder to me that people who are recipients of what we have to offer can later prosper and return to help others who are now in need.

Congratulations to Autumn Barnett, a coordinator in our Violence Intervention and Prevention Program.  An organization called Search for Common Ground in Morocco (yes, Morocco, the country!) contacted Autumn because they are starting a project “Combating violence against women” in which “a group of American experts traveling to Morocco will visit programs focusing on offenders of domestic violence, travelling to 3 Moroccan cities from June 6th to 13th with a group of Moroccan experts to participate in seminars and workshops on offender focused approaches.” They selected Autumn because “we feel that your expertise in offender focused programs would be the perfect fit with our project. Morocco is a wonderful country in need of your expertise.”

This is a great tribute to Autumn, to be recognized this way, we are very proud of her and wish her safe travels to Morocco in June!

Congratulations to Spectrum’s Paul Hochanadel, director of our Violence Intervention and Prevention Program.  At the Annual Honor Survivor Day hosted by the Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services, he received the Ally Award, “for the exemplary role you have played in changing the culture of Vermont to be safer and more responsive to the needs and rights of victims of crime.”  He was nominated by one of our coordinators, Jenny Beaudin-Ring.

I just got wonderful news from Niatx, which is a national pioneering improvement collaborative that works with substance abuse and behavioral health organizations across the country.   Spectrum ’s counseling  program has been selected by them to receive one of the 2010 Innovation Awards (iAward) for our rapid referral/assessment process with the District Court.   This is a great honor and continued national recognition for the high quality of work our counselors are doing.  They will be presenting our innovation during the July 11-14^th conference in Cincinnati, OH.

This is an important NPR segment about youth leaving foster care which ran two days ago.  It’s about a report from the Chapin Hall Center at the Univ of Chicago, showing the disturbing results for youth who are discharged from foster care at 18.

This was the case in Vermont until 2007, when the age here was changed from 18 to 22, and I am proud to say it was Spectrum which led the fight on this.  In fact, Governor Douglas signed the bill in our drop-in center.  And in the ensuing three years the results have been impressive in terms of helping youth to find employment, stay in school, and eventually move on to independent living.  Our SRO (Single Room Occupancy) on Maple Street in Burlington is a prime example of this, and in my opinion is a model not only for this State but for the nation.

States think they are saving money by discharging kids out of foster care at 18, when we know they are not ready to live on their own.  But kids like this don’t disappear.  Many end up homeless, on welfare, or eventually in prison.  Not a good scenario for anyone, including the taxpayer, but especially the kids.

From Lauren Vessella, who heads up our outreach team:

Last month the VT Department of Health released funds for Street Smarts organizations to create a project that works in conjunction with the intervention.  I created a proposal that would expand Street Smarts, specifically the HIV counseling/testing/referral aspect, and it was approved!  What this means is that we will be advertising that Spectrum is doing HIV testing all around town, in the form of posters and advertisements with CCTA and 7 days.  I am REALLY looking forward to making this happen and increasing HIV testing among our youth.

Just wanted to share the good news!

Lauren