View - San Diego Youth Services

August 2015
SDYS at PRIDE
San Diego Youth Services staff
and volunteers
braved the rain to
participate in the parade and the
festival!
Thank you to everyone who
came out to
represent SDYS!!!
Teen Pregnancy Prevention Grant Update
Hello SDYS team,
Good news! The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Office of Adolescent
Health, has awarded SDYS’ Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program $1,249,999 per year for the next
five years. Our current funding ends August 2015. This new funding will allow us to continue to work
with our core partners Mental Health Systems (MHS), North County Lifeline (NCLL), SAY San Diego
(SAY), and South Bay Community Services (SBCS) to serve youth county wide.
With our core partners, we have provided evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention services to
more than 6,000 youth from September 2011 through August 2014 at more than 23 sites. This new
grant will expand services to over 3,000 youth a year, serving the highest risk youth within
communities with the greatest risks and disparities. In addition, in order to best meet the needs of
youth of different developmental ages and across numerous settings, we propose to test four
evidence-based curricula: Be Proud Be Responsible; Making Proud Choices; Sexual Health &
Adolescent Risk Prevention; and Project AIM as well as continue use of Reducing the Risk (RTR).
Teen Birth Rate: There has been considerable progress in reducing the teen birth rate in San Diego
County. However, teen birth rates are considerably higher than State and National levels in many
communities throughout San Diego County, especially in areas of concentrated poverty and those
with higher percentages of Hispanic residents. In our grant proposal, we identified 31 San Diego
County zip codes whose teen birth rates are above the current national average of 26.6 births for
every 1,000 adolescent females ages 15-19 (as well as above State averages).
We are very grateful for our community partners for their support of this proposal and program. And
we are excited to continue to serve the needs of our youth and schools in our communities. Please
join me in congratulating Sarah McQueen and her team in all their incredible work that contributed to
the success of this program.
~Laura Beadles,
Behavioral Health & Community Services Division Director
Pet Therapy at SDYS
Thanks to the San Diego Humane Society,
Therapy Animals will be at our Point Loma Campus on the
3rd Tuesday of every month from 2:30-3:30.
Please feel free to stop by for some cute-induced stress relief!
Last month the guinea pig, rabbit, rats, and corgi were enjoyed by over 20 staff and service partners!
Join an SDYS Meet Up Group!
The Meet Up Groups are a great way to get to know SDYS staff and volunteers and have
some fun! They are ongoing and you can join anytime! Anxious about getting started?
Contact the group leader for more information. Feel free to bring a co-worker!
Crochet Group– Liz Veselich - lveselich@sdyouthservices.org
Great for beginners or crochet masters! Join us to learn how to crochet and
enjoy working on projects together.
Hiking Group – Carly Graber – cgraber@sdyouthservics.org
The hiking group has hiked Cowles Mountain several times in addition to longer weekend hikes.
Come for the workout, the company, and the views!
Running Group – Walter Philips – wphilips@sdyouthservices.org
There are 3 opportunities a week to go for a run with the group!
Runs are tailored to the participants so all skill levels are welcome!
Book Club – Liz Veselich - lveselich@sdyouthservices.org
The book club will be starting The Language of Flowers soon and the discussion
will be sometime in September!
Restaurant Group – Stephen Carroll – scarroll@sdyouthservices.org
The restaurant group explores a different San Diego eatery every month and is vegetarian friendly!
RSVPs are necessary to make the reservation.
Come enjoy some great food and get to know some great SDYS folks too!
Movie Group – Carlos Munoz – cmunoz@sdyouthservices.org
Enjoy a new release and discussion with fellow SDYS
movie buffs and newbies alike!
Many groups have been meeting regularly and we would love an update! Please send pictures and blurbs to
be featured in the next newsletter!!
New Program Announcement:
Alternative to Detention
Alternatives to Detention Program (ATD) provides services to youth, ages 11-18, who have committed an offense The purpose of the ATD Program is to provide youth and their families with intensive case management,
counseling, and other family based services to help them be successful and avoid further involvement with the
juvenile justice system in the future.
Alternatives to Detention Cool Bed- provides temporary placement for youth when being arrested in lieu of detainment in Juvenile Hall. The purpose of the ATD Cool Bed Program is to provide a safe alternative to detention for youth to stay when
being arrested and it has been determined it is unsafe for them to remain in their homes.
This gives the family and youth a “cooling off” period and a chance to begin support services to work towards
family reunification. Youth will still be held accountable for their offense with little or no time in detention.
AIDS Walk September 26
San Diego Youth Services will be participating in the 26th annual AIDS Walk & Run and raise
funds to fight HIV/AIDS in our community. We will join efforts with hundreds of teams and
thousands of fundraising runners and walkers on Saturday, Sept. 26.
AIDS Walk & Run is the single largest one-day HIV/AIDS fundraiser in San Diego. The annual event
consists of a 5K Walk, a USA Track & Field certified 10K AIDS Run and a 5K Fun Run. Funds raised
provide essential safe sex supplies and education to the youth in our programs.
Our AIDS Walk & Run team, San Diego Youth Services, has set a goal to raise $3000 before
September 26. Visit our SDYS page and register at http://events.thecentersd.org/goto/SDYS
Our AIDS Walk & Run team leader is Jan Stankus, jstankus@sdyouthservices.org. Contact Jan
with any questions about AIDS Walk & Run, if you need to register or if you wish to transfer your
family and friends to the San Diego Youth Services Team.
Welcome new SDYS Volunteers!
San Diego Youth Services will welcome over 50 new volunteers this month!
In addition to student and community volunteers joining SDYS, we will also have
38 Clinical Interns and Trainees,
3 Jesuit Volunteers,
6 Danish Interns,
and 1 AmeriCorps Fellow.
We are very excited to have all of these new volunteers join the SDYS team!
Thank you to these new volunteers as well as our amazing current volunteers
for all that you do!
Thank you to Emily, our awesome
Massage Student Volunteer!
Through the months of February and March, SDYS partnered with a local massage school student, Emily, who
was seeking internship hours to complete her license. After going through agency screening, Emily was
scheduled once a week for two months to offer 15-30 minute chair massages to the parents of our youth and/
or to youth over the age of 18. Initially we offered it to parents waiting in the waiting room, but began to post
signs offering any parents/18+ to return on a non-therapy appointment day to indulge in the relaxation.
I witnessed the benefits of this arrangement first hand with an 18+ year old client. She looked visibly
stressed and distraught as I escorted her to the massage chair. I later learned that she had refrained from
smoking marijuana that morning because she had a court appearance after her therapy session; she was
accustomed to using marijuana as a daily coping skill and was very stressed and anxious to have
refrained. After the massage and during her therapy session, she told her therapist, “I never realized, there
really are other ways to de-stress besides marijuana… I feel completely different from when I walked in...”
The impact carried on as she later called her therapist to inform her of how well court had gone and that she
was proud to have presented calm and relaxed; she refrained from marijuana for the rest of the day
noting that she “didn’t need it”.
I felt that this was a great story to share because this partnership has truly helped to not only offer a luxury
most of our families can’t afford, but to demonstrate in real time that there are healthy alternative coping
skills. Additionally, there is a trickle down impact as the youth in our program benefited emotionally from
caregivers being given this opportunity to practice self-care. It was a great pilot project and we plan to bring
it back in the future with a new wave of interns.
~Jennifer Galvis Whetstone, East County Behavioral Health Clinic Program Manager
Upcoming Trainings
SDYS trainings are FREE for staff and volunteers!
8/20
11:30am - 12:30pm
Lunch and Learn-Stress Management
9/2
9:00am - 1:00pm
Orientation, Philosophy and Skills
9/9
1:00pm - 5:00pm
Central Agency Tour
9/10
1:00pm - 5:00pm
East Agency Tour
9/15
11:00am - 1:00pm
HIPAA and Confidentiality
9/17
9:00am - 1:00pm
TAY with Tots
9/22
10:00am - 12:00pm
Volunteer Orientation
9/25
9:00am - 1:00pm
Trauma Informed Care 101
9/28
9:00am - 1:00pm
Trauma Informed Care 201
*All trainings listed will be held at the Point Loma Campus
Please email training@sdyouthservices.org to register
Please email Liz if there is anything you would like to add to the newsletter!
Contact
Visit SDYS Online
Like SDYS on Facebook