Introduction
It is a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower families and young people to be successful through the care continuum that promotes growth and healing. Its vision is to lead in the creation of a community that provides every young person with an opportunity to thrive. It is working to end the homelessness of youths, serve young people whenever in crisis, and help babies with developmental abilities have the best possible start in life (Trauth, 2017). The organization has been operating since 1969 and is recognized nationally as an innovator in programs for youth learning to be self-sufficient and families in crisis. The services that this agency provides include community residential treatment facilities, opportunities through education, home-based services to children, early childhood services, fostering care, and adoption, among others. The organization also has values that it adheres to including optimism, adaptability, respect, diversity, excellence, and integrity.
Needs Assessment in the Community
The lighthouse youth and family services in Cincinnati, Ohio aim at enhancing the advancement of the dignity of youth, children, and families in need. This community agency works with health organizations in society to identify and consider the needs of the people. A highly skilled clinician assesses the condition in the first step by collecting information to ascertain who the persons are and the behaviors, concerns, and symptoms they have. This step helps in identifying ways to reach where these people want to be. The organization offers a direct link to what the people may need including its support services, housing for the homeless, shelter-disorder treatment, or therapy, as long as one is a young person below twenty-four years.
Determination of the need for therapy is done through a diagnostic assessment completion by the Lighthouse Integrated Access team. Children with mental health problems have to undergo a clinical evaluation. This analysis is in written form and is focused on evaluating the condition to determine whether the youngsters have mental health disorders (Pierce et al., 2018). Services are offered seven days a week via telehealth, at home, or in one’s office. To assess the progress, this community agency develops healthier habits and communication with teens as well as builds a foundation that is scientific to parent the teens. The counselors from Scarlet Oaks School, which is working in partnership with the Lighthouse Youth and Family Services Agency, contact or book an appointment with the parents and discuss the therapy’s potential benefits.
Current Projects and Future Goals
Watch Me Rise (WMR) is a program that was started to end the recurrence of homelessness among young people. It serves young people facing homelessness and who were day program or shelter participants of Lighthouse Sheakley Center for Youth (Phiri et al., 2017). The initiative also caters to those children who are referred by the program of county child welfare aftercare due to homelessness. WMR focuses on helping young homeless adults with a history of child welfare to achieve the identification of their needs and goals.
WMR also assists in developing a formal team of natural support to help them achieve their goals of preventing homelessness in the future and also maintaining permanent residences that they find. The WMR used a team-based approach and put youth at the center of care so as to help them attain their goals (Ruggiero et al., 2021). It is composed of natural support drawn from both the youths’ interpersonal relationships and formally from the service providers for youths. Guiding the youth through the process of wrap-around and building supportive connections was done by the WMR intervention staff. The future goals for the Lighthouse Youth and Family Services Agency are to see that young people’s opportunities are expanded for them to have a productive and positive interaction in their community. It aims at ensuring that young people have a family to join them for dinner, a place where they feel safe, and a bed where they can sleep.
Healthy People 2020
More than 5000 people in Cincinnati will have access to behavioral and physical health services offered by Lighthouse Youth and Family Services. This program will be available at least for the next three years following the $840,000 grant by the United Health Foundation (Ruggiero et al., 2021). This helps in the transitioning of homeless children and young adults. Since the pandemic of coronavirus, it has been challenging to know the activities in which young people are involved and to know whether they are safe. These youngsters have remained homeless for the better part of their lives. They have also been sleeping in the cold and sometimes going for several days without food because of the restraining of the integrated access team to go to the streets and meet them.
Lighthouse Youth and Family Services Agency depend on grants from well-wishers for financial support towards helping young people who are homeless to get shelter and help them undergo therapy. Due to COVID-19, it has been difficult for the support group to finance the care activities, and that becomes one of the reasons why the whereabouts of most young people are not known. The well-wishers are affected by the negative economic effects of the country.
References
Phiri, S., Neuhann, F., Glaser, N., Gass, T., Chaweza, T., & Tweya, H. (2017). The path from a volunteer initiative to an established institution: Evaluating 15 years of the development and contribution of the Lighthouse trust to the Malawian HIV response. BMC Health Services Research, 17(1), 1-11. Web.
Pierce, S. C., Grady, B., & Holtzen, H. (2018). Daybreak in Dayton: Assessing characteristics and outcomes of previously homeless youth living in transitional housing. Children and Youth Services Review, 88, 249-256. Web.
Ruggiero, S., Busch, H., Hansen, T., & Isakovic, A. (2021). Context and agency in urban community energy initiatives: An analysis of six case studies from the Baltic Sea Region. Energy Policy, 148, 111956. Web.
Trauth, J. (2017). Lighthouse Community School: A case study of a school for behaviorally challenged youth. Journal of Therapeutic Horticulture, 27(1), 60-65. Web.