HOPE Project Harrisburg Outreach for PATHS Expansion

1
HOPE Project(Harrisburg Outreach for PATHS
Expansion)

• Lynn Páscoa, MSW
• HOPE Project Director
• Presentation For
• Strengthening Our Future Conference
• April 29, 2004

2
HOPE Project

• Purpose
• Build on existing school-based prevention
  activities
• Expand the use of PATHS to create a common
  language
• Goals
• Capacity Expansion
• Building Linkages
• Community Outreach

3
HOPE Partners

• HOPE is a collaborative project between
• Dauphin County MH/MR Program
• Harrisburg School District
• Hempfield Behavioral Health
• Penn State University

4
What is PATHS?Promoting Alternative Thinking
Strategies

• Empirically validated model for enhancing
  competence and reducing symptoms of mental
  disorders in preschool and school-aged children.
• PATHS teaches children
• To recognize feelings in themselves and others
• To pay attention
• To calm down when they are upset
• To figure out problems
• To feel good about themselves

5
Building the foundation for HOPE

• History of PATHS in Harrisburg.
• Local PATHS experts
• Commitment to collaboration among child serving
  systems
• HOPE builds on the successes

6
A Quick Look at our Community

• Harrisburg is a small urban center
• Diverse population
• High levels of poverty
• Low graduation rates
• Control of school turned over to Mayor

7
Community Outreach

• Saturate community with district-wide knowledge
  of prevention/intervention
• Importance of emotional health in children
• Capacity of evidence based prevention
  interventions to foster healthy development of
  all children

8
School/Family Partnerships

• Increase familys knowledge of PATHS (social
  emotional learning)
• Develop parent leadership within the school
  district
• Positive relationships between educators and
  families

9
Planning Development Process

• Community outreach workgroup
• Partnered with local social marketing firm
• Redesigned parent component of HOPE

10
Logic Model

• Develop healthy, caring and responsible citizens
  (families and children)
• Increase community knowledge of emotional health
  and importance of social emotional competencies
• Community will direct funding to evidence-based
  programs

11
Outreach Strategies

• Community
• Parent focus groups
• Tagline/logo
• Family activity kits
• Orientation to community groups
• Recognition event

• Family partnerships
• Home/Community Liaisons
• Weekly PATHS lessons
• Presence at community events
• Engage parents 11

12
Expanding Partnership

• Recruiting partners- who could extend our reach
• Dauphin County Library Association
• YWCA
• Hamilton Health Center

13
Projected Outcomes

• Children and families are viewed positively
• Positive relationships- school/families/communitie
  s
• Parents are involved in the school in meaningful
  ways
• Community funding is focused on evidence-based
  practice

14
Lessons Learned.

• Authentic parent involvement is very difficult,
  but necessary for success
• Schools history with PATHS was used to spread
  message
• It is easy to get stuck in the idea phase.