TEEN & FAMILY SERVICES
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Mission Statement
The mission of Teen and Family Services is to be a community of recovery for families growing and healing from teen substance abuse and other high-risk behaviors. The program is a pro-active after school, school-based and weekend Alternative Peer Group for teens age 13-18 who are in recovery. Teen and Family offers: • Substance Abuse Screening and Assessment • Alternative Peer Group • Individual & Family Counseling • Pro-Social and Recreational Activities • Life Skills Groups utilizing Research-Based Curriculum • College Planning • Tutoring • 12 step meetings for teens and parents • After-school Activities
About This Cause
Teen and Family Services (TAFS) was founded in 2002 when George Youngblood and co-founder Steve McAllister sought to help two segments of the adolescent population that were not currently being served by other programs: (1) those in need of more than a traditional 12-step recovery program but without intensive residential or outpatient treatment, (2) those who were at-risk due to negative family and/or peer influence. They identified the need for an innovative approach toward treating adolescent high-risk behaviors and environments that fostered sustained success and a healthy lifestyle. Their approach incorporated the entire family as well as a community of peers, who were tasked with influencing and leading their fellow teens to positive change. To help realize this vision, community leaders were sought out for guidance and support. With the generosity of The Rev. Jim Jackson, Chapelwood United Methodist Church, and a group of committed donors, the first center opened in Houston with six teenagers and their families. Today the program has grown to three community centers (Memorial/Spring Branch, TAFS at the Council on Recovery), assessment/counseling with Spring Branch ISD, Tomball ISD, Houston ISD and school-based programming at Pro-Vision Academy (our urban core program), and Foster Care Homes in and around the Greater Houston area including Fort Bend County and Katy. In the Houston region, there are vast disparities in the access to care in communities of color compared to white communities. TAFS wants to end this disparity by working with students in the urban core of the city using the TAFS APG model. It is the students and families in Sunnyside enrolled at the TAFS program at Pro-Vision Academy who will be impacted by this project, and it is the lack of services in this and other Houston inner-city environments that influence TAFS urban core school-based program expansion. Understanding that substance abuse is prevalent throughout all socioeconomic strata, TAFS has expanded its efforts to reach low-income populations that generally do not have easy access to comprehensive recovery programs. The Sunnyside location at Pro-Vision Academy is the first of its kind to operate in the area. With the addition of the Sunnyside center TAFS overall demographic is now 90% African American and Latino. 91% of our students from all centers are on some form of financial aid scholarship and 81% are from low to moderate income households. TAFS program is based on Family Systems Theory. The theory suggests that individuals cannot be understood in isolation from one another; that families are systems of interconnection and interdependent individuals, none of whom can be fully understood in isolation from the system. Teen and Family Services (TAFS) is a peer-based recovery after-school and in-school program for adolescents and their families. The TAFS Alternative Peer Group Model is a comprehensive after-school program that theorizes that individuals will make positive choices when they socially engage with a peer group that models positive behavior. If peer relationships can influence teens into substance use, peers can in turn motivate the same teens out of the behavior. The program facilitates positive peer group dynamics by providing teens a structured, safe and therapeutic environment on the school campus. The environment and activities enable alternative peer group socializing and acclimates teens to engage in positive social activities while sober. The curriculum emphasizes life skills and character education including self-esteem, conflict resolution, stress management, and decision-making skills. Upon entering the TAFS APG Program, teens complete the Teen Addiction Severity Index (TASI) to determine the degree to which they have a Substance Use Disorder. This assessment tool allows for an objective screening and determination of individual participant treatment needs. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), 80% of teens with Substance Use Disorders have co-occurring mental health disorders as well. In addition to the TASI, teens are put on a three-tiered system to guide them throughout the program. The tiers are built from objectives aimed at gaining insight into how substance abuse has affected the individual’s life and the lives of those around him or her. Level three concludes with successfully completing six months of sobriety and creating an aftercare plan for a sober, positive lifestyle. Having at least one parent or guardian engaged in the program with the child means that not only the child will be on the road to sobriety but the entire family will be. TAFS can boast an 87% long term sobriety rate, 100% high school graduation or diploma, 90% of students go onto a college, university or vocational training, and 98% of families say they have a closer emotional relationship with their teenager after completion of the program. By offering services families that stretch from upper-class demographics to the socio-economically disadvantaged populations in the urban core we hope to end the cycle of drug abuse by encouraging these students to secondary education to lift themselves out of poverty. TAFS believes that by continuing to bring the Adolescent Peer Group model into these impoverished neighborhoods, we can help to guide a new generation toward mental health and higher-level education. Teen anxiety and depression was on the rise during the pandemic and TAFS has been with them every step of the way. Teen and Family Services takes pride in the fact that through the COVID 19 crisis, we have been treating our teens wherever and however we can. During the hot summer months, our CEO, George Youngblood, met with students in the public parks, biking the trails and going over their group work. Counselors met families over Zoom or in-person in safe and socially distant settings, not compromising our clients' safety. We did all of this because we know that an isolated teen in recovery spells disaster. Please help if you can. Our teens can heal and become productive members of the community. Your help with scholarships will help these teens!