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The events of the last few weeks are disturbing and appalling. The horrific killing of George Floyd is indescribable in its wrongness and the evil required to commit the act.  That came just weeks after the ruthless and senseless murder of Ahmaud Arbery.

We know racism is wrong and systemic racism should have no place in our communities. We know that treating people as though they are not valuable or they are something less than we are, is wrong.  For WFS, we believe our mission to empower children, adults and families by providing transformational care provides us an unwavering foundation.  It provides an anchor to hold on to no matter the turbulence, disruption and challenges of current circumstances.  Our focus to provide empowerment to all we are privileged to serve, and for those doing the serving, that mission has been the backbone of this organization for over 100 years.  However, we have seen the tragedy when empowerment is taken away so unfairly and with great injustice.  There is so much listening and work to be done.

In thinking about the days ahead, it is important that we acknowledge that these acts and the taking of life, this disempowering of people, is not acceptable at Wesley Family Services.  We must ensure that processes are in place where discussion, reflection, expression of emotion, the processing of grief, and all the other things that come with these situations can happen.

The core values of WFS have great absolute truths to them that provide guidance and direction. When being led by our mission and values, we will provide inspiration for each other, for those we serve, and for our communities at this desperate time.

The first value is the idea of transformation. That positive life-change can happen when the right support is in place.  But at the root and core of transformation is the concept that every person has a gift, something unique to them that no one has ever had or ever will have in the same way.  Every person has something special. It follows then that we would be motivated to support their empowerment to see how their gift and uniqueness will enhance their quality of life.  We would want to treat them with dignity, respect and love because they have a special gift.

The second is the value of empathy. We must be skilled and passionate about listening.  At the base of this value is the undeniable truth that every person is valuable.  Every person is valuable because they are. Knowing all are valuable compels us to listen honestly and humbly – It doesn’t matter their position, appearance or circumstances in life.

The third value is a commitment to excellence. At the root of excellence is to do what is in somebody else’s best interest.  Oftentimes this requires putting our interest second to their interest.  For those entrusted to our care comes the weighty responsibility to serve with excellence by first asking the question what is the best interest of the child, adult and family we are privileged to serve.

The next value is innovation.  Inherent in this value is a commitment to humbly and genuinely acknowledge that another person’s idea is valuable.  At WFS we describe it this way:  In order to be innovative – there’s a person with idea “A” and a person with the idea “B.”  And when they come together to innovate, they often have different approaches and ideas.  Each one’s (A’s and B’s) first responsibility is to acknowledge the other and affirm that their point of view is worth being heard and has value. It needs to be predetermined by both A and B that by coming together they will create something better, “C!”  And that needs to come from both A and B, not just A, and not just B.

The first four values in culmination and practice create the fifth, inspiration.  There could not be a more critical time to provide inspiration to each other, to those we serve and to our communities.

These values must stand in the midst of the most difficult of life and community circumstances.  The truths supporting them have provided WFS perspective and context for serving hundreds of thousands of clients, knowing they all have a unique gift, are valuable, are deserving of serving their best interest and require our innovation by together creating something better.

This article was originally published in the Pittsburgh Public Source.

By Meg St-Esprit

Pittsburgh Public Source

 

Before the pandemic, 9-year-old Landon Whitewood had a packed schedule that included Cub Scouts, swimming lessons, karate and hanging out with friends. Adopted from the foster care system as a toddler, his mothers Deb and Susan Whitewood of South Fayette have also prioritized time for trauma therapy through Three Rivers Adoption Council. He also participates in family-focused therapy and art therapy through Wesley Family Services three days a week.

When Pittsburgh began to shut down as it faced the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March, all of these activities ceased for the Whitewood family — except for therapy. They knew that it would be absolutely essential to have access to mental health services during an international crisis.

On March 15, the Pennsylvania Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services issued a memorandum urging all practitioners to switch to telehealth video appointments when possible. The office loosened requirements on HIPAA-compliant software, authorized telephone sessions where technology is not available and waived the requirement of periodic face-to-face sessions when using telehealth.

Landon’s parents reduced the number of hours of therapy per week to just two hours, delivered via telehealth.“When he’s not in crisis, he is receptive to the video. His attention span is really short, and so they work hard to engage him. It is much easier to take cues from a real person,” his mother Deb said.

Prior to the pandemic, telehealth was more common for adult patients, as therapy with children and adolescents is often play-based and interactive. Telehealth sessions due to social distancing have come with a learning curve for both families and practitioners.

A 2013 review study conducted by the Telemedicine Journal and E-health found virtual sessions to be effective across multiple settings for individuals spanning from children to geriatric patients, and improve access to care amid mitigating circumstances. A 2018 studythrough the University of Michigan School of Public Health corroborated these findings and noted that the majority of participants felt telehealth was vital to to continuity of care. In the past, many telehealth services weren’t covered by insurance — COVID-19 has removed that barrier.

Kori Shearer is a licensed professional counselor [LPC] with the Psychology and Learning Center in Monaca in Beaver County. She sees clients from a variety of backgrounds but specializes in teens with depression and anxiety, suicidal or self-injurious behavior, as well as LGBTQIA-related issues.

Shearer was worried at first about the ability to shift to virtual sessions, particularly for her younger clients. She has noticed, though, that these younger clients have been excited to show her their space — often their bedrooms. It has been useful for Shearer to see them in their home environments. “I give the child a choice to have their parent leave the room or remain for the session, and we bring the parent back in if needed,” she said. “This has always worked for my face-to-face sessions and it has worked well for telehealth, too.”

Shearer recommends parents and practitioners maintain as much normalcy and structure as possible for the sessions.

Similarly to Landon, 6-year-old Patton Manion of Mt. Lebanon had a packed social schedule prior to the onset of the pandemic. Routine and predictability are important to him, and the sudden loss of his school and familiar safe spaces hit him hard. His parents, Kara and Patrick Manion, are both public school teachers and are teaching remotely while also parenting Patton and his 3-year-old brother, Marlow. They knew that continuing his weekly therapy through the Center for Pediatric Neuropsychology in Mt. Lebanon would be key to managing this stressful transition. His therapist has been able to coach his parents remotely on how to help him manage the anxiety.

The pandemic reinforces the feeling for Patton that leaving the house is stressful or bad, his mother said, even if it’s for something he wants to do. His therapist is working on activities that teach him to manage emotions, matching the size of the reaction to the “size of the problem.” His parents give him tasks that he doesn’t prefer to do, such as chores, to help him work through the emotions around being asked to do something that is not his preference.

Stephanie Azarcon is a licensed clinical social worker for the Child and Family Counseling Center of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh UPMC. Like Shearer, she had not been using telehealth prior to the pandemic. Her clients range from ages 3 to 22, and much of her work with younger children is Parent Child Interaction Therapy. This type of therapy is usually done with Azarcon coaching parents through a double-sided mirror as they interact with their child.

A virtual platform is a huge shift, but she has found the process to be effective over the last two months. She encourages parents to help set their child up for a productive session. They should review and prepare for the therapy session such as they would do on the car ride to the therapy appointment. They can discuss with their child what they want to get out of the session.

“Try to talk with them beforehand to explain the expectations of a virtual/video therapy session,” Azarcon said. “The more confined, the more focused they will be. You can still sit them on a yoga ball or let them fidget with things while doing therapy.”

Both Shearer and Azarcon are unsure if the state will continue to allow such flexibility to use remote services once life shifts back toward “normal,” but they both have seen a benefit in learning how to treat children remotely. Azarcon has been able to see behaviors occur in the home setting that she would not see in her office, such as conflict between siblings or oppositional and defiant behaviors. She is able to offer support to the parents in the moment instead of at a later time when discussing at the office.

Shearer added that she has had fewer missed sessions since she has been able to use telehealth. “At this point, insurance companies are covering services with the contingency that it lasts during the pandemic, so we may not be able to provide it with the same degree of availability for a bit,” Shearer said. “I think it would be fantastic to be able to provide both.”

Deb Whitewood also feels that the continuation of virtual sessions could be beneficial. It provides a way to maintain consistency even when life becomes unpredictable and serves as one more useful tool her son can have in his repertoire. “Would it be more helpful to have sessions in person? Yes,” Deb said. “But exposing him to telehealth at this stage is good; he will always have it in his backpack, so to speak.”

Meg St-Esprit is a freelance journalist based in Bellevue. She can be reached at megstesprit@gmail.com or on Twitter @MegStEsprit.

This article was originally published in the The Incline. 

By Colin Deppen

Deborah Trammell has been helping Allegheny County seniors for more than a decade. She’s never seen anything like this.

“They need food,” she told The Incline by phone. “It’s just a dearth of food.”

A longtime volunteer with the In Service of Seniors program, Deborah says this pandemic has upended supply lines and support systems. Demand for the program’s food delivery service has spiked. Social isolation has been compounded by social distancing and, for some seniors, new technological hurdles for medical appointments and services.

For many, this has been a crisis without the comfort of human contact. But volunteers like Deborah, a part-time real estate agent and full-time West Mifflin steelworker, remain human buoys for their senior participants, even if from afar.

Pittsburgh, PA—State Representative Dan Miller (D-42) will host the annual Disability & Mental Health Summit on Tuesday, March 3 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The Summit is free and open to the public. This year’s Summit is particularly special because 2020 marks the 30th Anniversary of passage of the Americans with Disability Act. This will be the seventh year Rep. Miller has hosted the Summit, which provides individuals, families, and professionals with access to the largest collection of disability and mental health resources in western Pennsylvania at any one time. The Summit will feature educational sessions, speakers, resource fair, a bipartisan legislative panel, and continuing education classes.

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This article was originally published in the Observer-Reporter.
Observer-Reporter

They’re not exactly of the same generation, but Betty Copeland and Bethany Hallam have something in common that most of us never will experience.

Both are elected officials, with Copeland serving as Bridgeville Borough’s mayor and Hallam, half a century her junior, representing Allegheny County Council at large.

They joined a group including state legislators, school board directors and municipal leaders for a “Women in Politics” event hosted recently by South West Communities Chamber of Commerce as part of its ongoing Impactful Women program.

“Every time that we do an Impactful Women event, we pick a different topic that is a good topic for women: something you can learn from, something in which you might get to know people you would not in real life,” chamber executive director Mandi Pryor said. “Tonight, in the election year, I thought it would be great to kind of intermingle people from different areas, and our elected officials to get to know what’s going on in the region, get to know each other and maybe just figure out who’s on your ballot, because sometimes you just don’t know.”

Held at Bella Sera in Cecil Township, the event featured networking opportunities and what ostensibly was a 50/50 raffle. But those in attendance agreed that all the proceeds should go to Wesley Family Services, the beneficiary selected for the evening.

Heidi Buckley, Wesley’s senior manager for community engagement, provided some background about the nonprofit, which has locations in Washington and South Fayette Township, and operates the former Johnston School in Upper St. Clair.

“Wesley Spectrum and Family Services joined together about two years ago to be Wesley Family Services, which means that our growth has enabled us to help 30,000 clients,” she said. “We have 1,200 employees doing wonderful work in behavioral health and other areas.”

Those include aging services, justice and child welfare, community empowerment programs, foster care and adoption, and programs for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

“We are the largest provider of autism services in the Western Pennsylvania area,” Buckley noted, “and very proud of that work that we do.”

Another nonprofit represented at the chamber event was She Deserves, with founder Susan Miller on hand to provide information about the organization’s efforts on behalf of survivors of domestic abuse.

“We help identify what their strengths are and help them build entrepreneurial skills based on their strengths, so that they can become financially self-sustainable,” she said. “What we see most common with all of these women is they give up control, and they have trouble gaining that control back. Once they get out that situation, they have to learn how to take control of their lives again.”

Launched in 2018, She Deserves offers four areas of programming focusing on empowerment, peer support, business development and business grants.

“We don’t give them money, but if they need a website of laptops, we can get that taken care of for them,” Miller said about the grant program, which operates through strategic partnerships with area businesses.

She Deserves serves women from the startup level to seasoned entrepreneurs.

“The most common that I’m seeing coming through the programs are women who already have businesses, but they’re struggling with their businesses because they have to go through the healing. They have to become empowered again. And so their businesses are suffering as a side effect of the trauma they’re going through,” Miller said.

“I’ve talked to women 35 years later who are still dealing with the trauma that they’ve gone through, and it continues to impair their lives and their businesses because they haven’t worked through those issues.”

For more information, visit Wesley Family Services at wfspa.org, She Deserves at shedeserves.yolasite.com and South West Communities Chamber of Commerce at southwestcommunitieschamber.org.