Masthead

OCTOBER 2011

In This Issue
Mental Health Division Expands
Fall Fundraiser a Success!
GAP Employees Visit Children

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FOCUS ON: Sanctuary

The Sanctuary Model� is a blueprint for clinical and organizational change which, at its core, promotes safety and recovery from adversity through the active creation of a trauma-informed community. ANDRUS practices Sanctuary and also trains organizations throughout the world via The Sanctuary Institute, find our more here.

 

To briefly introduce you to Sanctuary, here are The Seven Sanctuary Commitments, a set of values that Sanctuary outlines as a way to lead individuals and organizations away from trauma-reactive behaviors:

  

Nonviolence Building and modeling safety skills

 

Emotional Intelligence Teaching and modeling affect management skills

 

Inquiry & Social Learning Building and modeling cognitive skills

 

Shared Governance Creating and modeling civic skills of self-control, self-discipline, and administration of healthy authority

 

Open Communication Overcoming barriers to healthy communication, reduce acting-out, enhance self-protective and self-correcting skills, teach healthy boundaries

 

Social Responsibility Rebuilding social connection skills, establish healthy attachment relationships

 

Growth and Change

Restoring hope, meaning, purpose

 

ClinicMental Health Division
Responds to Community Needs 

ANDRUS' Mental Health Division, with clinics in Yonkers, White Plains and Peekskill, is finding new ways to make sure children and families in these communities will find help from us where and when they need us.

 

The New York State Office of Mental Health has approved our request to open our clinics in Yonkers and White Plains on Saturdays in addition to Monday through Friday. "This is a vital addition, especially for working families who may find it hard to bring their children to appointments during the week" said Rosa Bautista, Director of the Mental Health Division. Staff in each of our clinics are specially trained to work with children from birth through adolescence as well as with adults and families. We are always prepared to respond to children and adults experiencing trauma, loss, or unusual crisis. Our core services include individual, group and family counseling along with psychiatric evaluation and medication management.

 

We have emphasized our commitment to communities in other ways, by locating our staff in schools where they can easily connect with children, their teachers and families to create a strong network of support.  At the Enrico Fermi School in Yonkers, the program's pilot location, the clinicians will now be available 4 full days a week. ANDRUS currently has satellite clinics in Hillcrest Elementary and Peekskill Middle, both in Peekskill. This month we have been approved to add a new site at the VIVE Academy in Yonkers.  "We're proud of this effort to reach out to our community and make our services as accessible as possible" Bautista said.  

 

Many children experience transient or more prolonged adjustment issues that present difficulties for them in achieving their educational goals. By offering social and emotional support on site and working with school staff to develop effective strategies we are able to enrich everyone's understanding of how to help. Families have told us how supported they feel when everyone is working together to make sure their children succeed. 

 

ANDRUS has always believed  that early intervention is the key for children who are vulnerable to social and emotional stress. Our goal is to prevent longer term mental health issues that can develop when problems are addressed.  By making our hours more convenient for families and opening satellite clinics in schools, we know we are doing more than ever to ensure brighter futures for local children and families who need our help. To find out more about our MHD  click here

We Lit Up the Night! light up the night
September 23 was a rainy night but inside this tent on our Yonkers Campus, all was dry and glowing for our fall fundraiser. Fabulous food and lively music 
complemented a moving speech by an Orchard School student who spoke of "feeling hopeless" when he came to ANDRUS and now feels "ready to take on the world." 
 

 

Below, CEO Nancy Ment gives Germel a heartfelt hug as guests applaud this fine young man. To view more photos from this event click here.

nancy event

 

GAP Volunteers Hit a Home Run with Residential Children

 

 Our good friends at the GAP have once again dazzled us with their heart for kids! On September 27th, more than a dozen GAP employees volunteered on our campus, playing summer sports and relishing a barbecue meal with children in our Residential Treatment Program.  The weather was heavy and humid but the energy of our children and friends was high and light. Thirty children divided up to play with and against the volunteers in a spirited game of softball. There were laughs, cheers and a few dirty knees and elbows! GAP hosted a bountiful post-game barbeque for the children and staff. What a wonderful sight it was to see volunteers flipping burgers while our children helped serve their guests.

 

Friendship between the GAP and ANDRUS has flourished over the years.  GAP employees are loyal and productive workers for A Clean Scene, our all volunteer outdoor "spring cleaning" on campus every May. They have shared fun with our children in touch football, softball and other sports. They bring holiday cheer to ANDRUS by providing generous gifts for some of our neediest families. The GAP Foundation has awarded ANDRUS a number of cash grants for our programs and annually supports our Golf outing and fundraisers.  

 

 THANK YOU GAP!

 gap

About ANDRUS

ANDRUS provides support and treatment for 2,500 children and their families throughout Westchester suffering from emotional illness and trauma. The agency offers prevention, assessment, educational, treatment and research programs that help children and families achieve healthy, stable lives. Andrus has grown from its origins as an orphanage into a premier non-profit mental health and social service provider and resource for Westchester.