Brightside for Families & Children

Brightside for Families and Children

What Families and Referring Agents Say About Brightside

"The whole experience with FST was a very special one - you helped me to find myself and showed me how to handle situations that before I found too difficult to deal with.  You have touched this family in ways you can't imagine.  You will not be forgotten.  I will carry you in my heart forever...  You will always be thought of as friends sent from heaven." 

"Your upfront and professional manner was very reassuring to me and I immediately sensed you had been through similar, probably far more severe, situations.  You in no way discounted our case and you immediately related to us as a regular 'family'."

"I am compelled to write this letter to tell you how extraordinary our (FST workers) have been...They have been able to accomodate so quickly to our needs...we are all in a much stronger place than when we started four months ago.  We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but I feel so blessed that we have had this time with (the FST workers) - they have touched our family in a beautiful way and forever changed and strengthened our lives."

"I would really like to thank you for making our Christmas a very special one.  You can't imiagine what that did for all of us..."

Brightside Offers Neuropsychological Assessments and Diagnostic Evaluations

Brightside is now able to conduct neuropsychological and other assessments as part of services offered to the community.   Dr. Robert Ferguson has expertise in evaluating brain function in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders of childhood.  Neuropsychological assessments help to clarify diagnosis and provide recommendations about treatment and intervention.  Evaluations include assessment of Attention, Memory, Language, Visuo-spatial, and Executive functions.  Comprehensive evaluations may include assessment of general cognitive ability, academic achievement, and activities of daily living.  Dr. Ferguson can also perform projective and other personality assessments when indicated.  As part of the Brightside professional training program, doctoral level psychology students may perform some of the test administration under supervision.

BRIGHTSIDE GOLF CLASSIC

Brightside In-Home Counseling

The call came... "I don't know what to do and I'm afraid that I may hurt my child."  Forty clinicians and behavioral specialists from Brightside visit with families desperate for assistance.  Over 400 families have asked for help this year and are seeking guidance in navigating through troubled waters, afraid that their child may not be able to remain in their home.  Caring members of the Brightside team are in their homes right now helping them sort out complicated family problems.
Brightside Family Support Services - there every step of the way... A transforming, healing presence within our community.

Brightside Angels 2011

This year Brightside Angels are available at www.brightsideangels.com (available all year long) and at the Mercy Medical Center Gift Shop (Hours-Monday to Friday 9a-6p). Check out the on-line store for some new and exciting gifts this year! We have gifts that would be great presents year round as well as our holiday favorites

We would like to thank our major sponsor, O'Connell Convenience Plus and ABC40. 

By purchasing Brightside Angels, you help support Brightside to continue its mission of providing services to protect our community's most vulnerable children and strengthen their families. In 2011 over 400 at risk children and their families were served in their homes throughout Western Massachusetts with in-home counseling and family support. Thank you for your generosity.

If you have been a past Brightside Angel Volunteer we thank you for your many years of loyal service. We could not have done this campaign without you. If you would like to continue your tradition and help in new ways please contact the Fund Development office at (413) 748-9920 or anna.liakas@sphs.com. We have many other exciting opportunities for you to help support children this holiday season.  

2011 Holiday Wish List Program

Thank you to all of you who participated in this year's Holiday Wish List program for the children of Brightside.   Please know that your donations made a difference in the lives of many of the children and families served by the programs at Brightside.  Happy New Year! You will find more details for this program by visiting WISH LIST.

Brightside Family Support Services

Brightside provides a variety of skilled treatment services through its Family Support Services Program. 

In-Home Therapy develops a structured, strength-based, therapeutic relationship between a Master and/or Bachelor level clinician and the family for the purpose of treating the youth's behavioral health needs.  Emphasis is placed upon improving the family's ability to provide effective support for the youth and promote healthy functioning within the family.  Interventions are designed to enhance the family's capacity to support the youth in the home and community, and may prevent the need for out-of-home placements in hospitals, residential programs, or foster care.  In-Home Therapy offers a combination of therapy as well as training and support, and is provided by one or more members of a team that includes a clinician and an outreach worker.  It is available to the youth and family as long as the service is medically necessary.  Bilingual Spanish speaking staff are available.  Eligibility:  Youth under 21 with a serious emotional/behavioral disturbance and their families - especially for those youth at risk of out-of-home placement or those transitioning from placement back to home.  Must have MassHealth.
 
Therapeutic Mentoring provides a structured 1:1 strength-based relationship between a youth and a mentor to address identified daily living, social, and/or communication needs in the home and community.  Therapeutic mentors support, coach, and teach skills related to age-appropriate behaviors, effective interpersonal communication, problem-solving, and conflict resolution.  Mentors can help youth expand natural supports and get involved in chosen community activities.  Eligibility:  Youth under age 21 with a serious emotional disturbance.  Youth must have MassHealth and must be receiving a clinical "hub" service: outpatient therapy, in-home therapy, or intensive care coordination.  Best suited for youth who present with some distress tolerance skills and not at imminent risk of harming self or others.

In-Home Behavioral Therapy (coming soon) is behavior therapy provided in the home or community for children and youth with specific problem behaviors that may not be helped by other therapeutic approaches. 

Brightside's Family Stabilization Team (FST) clinicians provide time-limited, intensive, innovative, and solution-oriented services designed to meet the individual needs of the family.  These home-based services may be implemented as a post-acute follow-up service (i.e., following hospitalization or other placement) so as to help re-integrate the youth and stabilize the family, or they may be used to prevent the need to enter higher levels of care in the first place.  Services include:
-  Skill Building:  Behavior management and modification, including communication and listening skills, creating structure and routines, decision making, anger management, etc.
-  Education:  Topics may include substance abuse, community resources, suicide prevention, etc.
-  Crisis Intervention:  24-hour coverage available to de-escalate crisis situations.
-  Treatment Planning and Coordination:  Goals and action plans developed jointly with the family and coordinated/communicated with other service providers.
-  Family Therapy Clinicians:  Specializing in Family System Therapy to assist in improving parent/child communication, strategies for specific mental health disorders, behavior modification, etc.
-  Parent Education:  Understanding child development, improved limit setting and boundaries, alternative forms of discipline, etc.
-  Service Referral and Linkages:  Referrals to other clinicians, services, community resources, recreation and tutoring, etc.
-  Bilingual Spanish speaking staff are available.
Eligibility:  Children in need of greater in-home support (than that provided in typical once-a-week outpatient therapy) to stabilize the child in the home and prevent escalation to a possible out of home placement.  Funded by MassHealth and some private insurances.

Community Support Program (CSP) Services are short-term transitional services with the goal of assisting children, adolescents, and their families by providing outreach, resources, and wrap-around services needed to live successfully in the community.  CSP services are frequently used as a step-down from FST if the goals from FST have not been fully completed.  CSP services include advocacy, coordination of treatment, assistance with basic needs, skill building, and facilitating linkages with other support systems.  Bilingual Spanish speaking staff are available.  Eligibility: CSP services are appropriate if the child is not in a state of mental health crisis and the primary goal is case management of community services/programs.  Referrals can come directly from parents or community providers.  CSP services are funded by MassHealth.