River of Refuge newsletter, May 2024

Social Worker Making Strides With River of Refuge Teens

Getting a teen to talk about their feelings is difficult enough, and it can be especially challenging for River of Refuge families as they battle the trauma of homelessness.

That’s where Caitlyn Cornell has been such an important new resource by providing mental health services to teens living at River of Refuge. Cornell, 21, graduated this month from Park University with a master’s degree in social work.

Since January she has been helping facilitate our Monday evening Teen Talk program and providing individual sessions as part of her practicum with Authentic Life Clinical Counseling & Wellness, which recently augmented its Independence office by opening a second location at River of Refuge. The work is made possible by grant funding provided by the Children’s Services Fund of Jackson County.

“I definitely feel like (teens) open up more because I’m not their parents,” Cornell said.

She has enjoyed seeing “little specks” of personality emerge from even the most reserved teens.

Participants praised Cornell’s personality, demeanor, and helpfulness in a brief anonymous questionnaire they filled out on May 6. Comments included:

• “She is a calm and relaxing person to be around.”
• “She understands everything you say.”
• “She has shown me that many people are just like me.”
• “She has candy and she is nice.”

Some of the best feedback has come from parents, Cornell said, who appreciate having free mental health services available onsite to their children. She said other no-cost community-based providers can have six-month waiting lists and that fee-based services can cost as much as $150 per session.

Now that Cornell has graduated, she will transition to a full-time role at River of Refuge through Authentic Life. She is working toward becoming a licensed clinical social worker.

Cornell is from Liberty, Missouri, and she attributed her interest in social work to the influence of her parents and church. Empathy comes naturally to her.

Knowing she was privileged to have a nice upbringing, Cornell was drawn to a profession where she could help others who were less fortunate.

“I believe that everybody has the power to change (their) lives,” she said, “and if I can provide tools to people for them to do that, then that’s amazing.”

The experience at River of Refuge has reinforced to Cornell the importance of building trusting relationships with the people she sees. Participant feedback also prompted her to incorporate games and activities into Teen Talk: “Nobody wants to sit in a circle for an hour and just talk about feelings.”

Cornell said River of Refuge provides invaluable assistance through free housing and case management. The therapy is an added benefit.

“I think it’s so great that they’re able to provide such wraparound services to the client,” she said.

 

Abundant Life Church Cleanup Day

Our friends from Abundant Life Church returned on Saturday, May 4 for their annual spring cleanup at River of Refuge. As usual, they did a tremendous job clearing out brush and weeds around the outside of the building. The group spent about three hours cleaning up, and we are always so thankful for the time church members put in to keep our grounds looking nice.

 

FROM THE DIRECTOR

One of my top priorities is ensuring the mental health of the parents and children living at River of Refuge. It’s something that keeps me up at night. Our program is rigorous; we ask a lot of our families.

Regular readers of our newsletter know of my focus on mental health from many of my previous columns. In recent months, we have celebrated funding from the Children’s Services Fund of Jackson County to help us provide counseling to our teen residents.

The beginning of this month brought another mental health milestone for us. That is when Authentic Life Clinical Counseling and Wellness opened a second location at River of Refuge to complement their other office off the square in Independence, Missouri.

Authentic Life owner Laurie Carpenter and I started discussing the possibility in November. We wanted better mental health therapy for our families, and Authentic Life was seeking another location to better serve Kansas City and the surrounding areas.

There were a lot of what-ifs and questions about how it would work, but Laurie and I never lost hope of our conversations becoming a reality. We are so excited to have them occupy our largest office space on the second floor and count them as partners in mental health wellness.

Caitlin, who is featured in our lead story, came to us earlier this year as a student under the supervision of Authentic Life. She has worked with our kids, and after graduating with her master’s in social work and getting licensed, she now works full-time out of this new office.

How did all of this get started? It was Dianna Poston, ROR senior case manager, who introduced me to Laurie and had a vision of what something like this might look like.

Authentic Life’s move-in serendipitously comes during the observance of Mental Health Awareness Month.

Ever since its inception in 1949, Mental Health Awareness Month “has been a cornerstone of addressing the challenges faced by millions of Americans living with mental health conditions,” according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). NAMI’s theme this year is Take the Moment, which you can learn more about here.

In his proclamation recognizing this year’s observance of Mental Health Awareness Month, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said it is a time that “we recognize the bravery and resilience of the tens of millions of Americans living with mental health conditions, and we show our gratitude for the dedicated mental health professionals and devoted loved ones who stand by them every step of the way.”

At River of Refuge, we are happy to play a role in improving the mental health of our community.

Be well, both physically and mentally!

Until Next Time,
Pamela Seymour, Executive Director