On The Wire with Fred Finch

An 18-unit apartment complex on Fred Finch Youth & Family Services' Oakland campus provides a safe and nurturing home for young adults, most of whom are former foster youth. These residents have experienced homelessness and contend with mental health illnesses, behavioral health disorders or both. In this podcast episode, we share the stories of Coolidge Court's residents who, through the support, stability, and sense of community they have found here, have rediscovered their self-worth and now lead lives with purpose and joy.

An innovative Fred Finch Youth & Family Services program, Specialized Wraparound, gives caregivers the tools to support youth with autism or an intellectual disability. This program is usually a last resort for families who have tried many therapies yet find themselves unable to manage their children's destructive behaviors. Unlike most interventions where youth are expected to change, this program empowers caregivers with knowledge and strategies to address the underlying causes of dangerous behaviors and to recognize early warning signs of an outburst. In this show, we discuss how Specialized Wraparound works, and we meet Tasha Carey, a single mother, who became part of the program when she started to feel afraid of her then 12-year-old son who has severe Autism. Learn more at https://www.fredfinch.org/specialized-wraparound.

Following a shooting and school lockdown at Madison Park Academy in August, Fred Finch counselors began planning how to help begin the healing process for students traumatized by the event. The shooting was an accident and not deadly. Yet, the trauma was real. The next day, Fred Finch counselors opened a center for students, an environment where students could get their needs met with empathy, both for what they had experienced and how they were best able to process it. Students engaged with counselors in different ways, playing board games, making art and talk therapy. We speak to two counselors and the director of Fred Finch's Alameda County School Based Services to learn how they helped students and the ways they continue to offer compassionate support to Madison Park's teachers.

With mental health care workers reassessing their careers just as the demand for them – particularly among youth – increases, finding and holding on to staff has become harder. In this nationwide crisis fueled by the pandemic, Fred Finch Youth & Family Services is tackling the problem with new strategies to maintain staff and to recruit and “grow” new, diverse employees. This time on our show, we connect with the people in charge of filling the vacancies, Fred Finch's Lois Woods and Alejandro Alvarez, about how the organization has made changes to benefits to offer employees more flexibility and to help them avoid out-of-pocket costs. We also learn about programs to attract and train mental health care workers, particularly those of color, to better reflect the youth Fred Finch serves. We hear from a participant who completed a Fred Finch program that introduces young people to behavioral health care about her hands-on experiences.

In this episode, we explore the critical role transitional housing plays for youth leaving the foster care system and starting lives on their own. To learn more about the services Fred Finch CARES provides, please visit www.fredfinch.org/cares.

In honor of Autism Awareness Month, On The Wire is featuring stories from Fred Finch's CARES program. Based in San Diego County, CARES offers treatment and support services for kids with autism and their families. Providing the behavioral therapy that creates dramatic change to improve the lives of kids and their families is at the heart of what CARES does, but unlike most other autism programs, CARES can provide psychiatric support and mental health counseling for kids and their caregivers. In this show, two families speak to their personal journeys, from their children's diagnosis – and their initial disbelief – to the care they received from Fred Finch, sharing their struggles and triumphs. We also dig into how the CARES team works with families to provide parents and kids with the tools to reach their goals. To learn more about the services Fred Finch CARES provides, please visit www.fredfinch.org/cares.

In Episode 3 of On the Wire, we meet Jordan, a past participant in one of Fred Finch's residential treatment programs. We also meet Mar Smith and Bruce Wexler, who lead the residential treatment programs in Almeda County and San Diego county respectively. While some of our staff were able to pivot to a telehealth model, Mar and Bruce, and their dedicated staff, have had to show up to work daily to care for the most vulnerable population at Fred Finch.

As we kick off 2021 still in the grips of a pandemic, the impact on disadvantaged children and teens of color is outsized, with the potential for lasting consequences. To understand how children have been affected, and the role that sustained mental health care during this time can have in helping them cope, we delve into Fred Finch's school-based therapy with the director of Alameda County School-Based Services, a therapist working with students at a continuation school in Hayward and an Oakland family who are getting therapy through the program. We also offer parents suggestions on what to look for if they are concerned their child may be struggling with mental health and how to get help.

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we are starting our program by speaking with Dr. Teresa Chapa, Fred Finch Vice President of Southern California Operations, to discuss the state of mental health in the Latinx community. Approximately 30% of the young people and families Fred Finch serves annually are Latinx. Dr. Chapa grew up in Venice Beach, Los Angeles before the modest bungalows were multi-million-dollar real estate sought-after by Hollywood stars and tech moguls. Her neighborhood was mostly Mexican American. Some had immigrated recently from Mexico, but many more were the children, grand-children or great-grandchildren of immigrants. Her neighborhood was a microcosm of much of the Latinx community across the country.