Children's Therapy Center Family Support & Information Center
WHS Children's Therapy Center Family Support & Information Center provides support services to parents of Washington County children with serious medical conditions by helping families obtain healthcare services; connecting them to community resources addressing their special needs; and educating them for effective communication with caregivers, physicians, schools or other agencies This program is provided through a Family Resource Coordinator that works directly with families to provide resources specific to their needs. This program is important because there is a great need for the Family Support and Information Centers for families so that they are not overloaded with information from other care providers. This program benefits families of children and young adults from birth to age 18 with medical conditions and physical, mental, cognitive and emotional disabilities. The goal of this program is to facilitate child development through increased parent/caregiver awareness of and ease of access to community resource information and to promote opportunities for parent/caregiver networking.
Teen Outreach ECHO (Educate Children for Healthy Outcomes)
The Teen Outreach ECHO program provides a proactive, evidence-based early intervention program that seeks to empower and strengthen families to communicate well, set limits, and avoid risky behavior during adolescence with an emphasis on encouraging youth self-worth. ECHO targets children who have a relative who experienced a teen pregnancy; experienced sexual assault or abuse; are in foster placement or problem families, or have school problems like truancy, academic failure, or acting out. This program is provided through one-on-one weekly meetings with each child in their homes. ECHO creates connections between adult mentors and teen mentees to enhance educational growth and improve teen decision making and problem solving to enhance self-worth. This program is important because there is no other program providing one-on-one educational mentoring in Washington County.
Teen Outreach Peer Education
Teen Outreach Peer Education program provides young people with an avenue for growth, education, and mentoring. This program is provided through all 14 school districts in Washington County. Peer education is the only program training teens to teach others by empowering them to find their own voice and self-worth to empower young people to make healthy decisions. Our program encourages youth from all of Washington County through schools, agencies, youth groups and churches. Teens remain in this program throughout high school and often return as alumni for special programs. This program is important because it opens an educational door for many teens that would not be available in any other way. Peer education benefits Washington County teens who are students in all school districts and those who are homeschooled and cyber-schooled. The goal of this program is to empower young people to make healthy decisions.