Relief Nursery

Therapeutic early childhood program provides a unique combination of individualized classroom and home-based developmental experiences for children newborn to six years of age. All aspects of the program focus on the specific issues of children from multi-stressed families who have experienced trauma, abuse, and/or stress, or are at risk for such experiences. Multiple features contribute to the therapeutic nature of this program and its effectiveness in preventing child abuse and neglect. The curriculum and environment provided at Relief Nursery support the individual needs of each child. Teachers, specialists, and parents work together to establish individual goals for each child. The therapeutic classroom is part of a larger system providing comprehensive, ameliorating services to both child and family. To provide continuity between school and home, the child's classroom teacher is also the family's home visitor, helping to enhance parenting skills, promoting parent-child relationships, and creating a healthy and nurturing home environment. In this program, the focus is on the social and emotional development. There is a low ratio of adults to children in the classrooms.

The outreach program provides "front-end" intake, enrollment and crisis response for families at initial contact. It uses a strength-based and creative approach, offering choices and support to families in a compassionate manner. In addition to intake and resource referrals, outreach provides respite childcare, home visits and access to other Relief Nursery services such as family literacy events, mental health counseling and substance use disorder recovery support.

Accessing success is a substance use disorder recovery support program for parents participating in other Relief Nursery programs. Accessing success provides peer support, parent for recovery support group and social skills activities to support parents in achieving and maintaining recovery. A unique aspect of accessing success is that it is staffed by peer support interventionists who are in recovery themselves, to provide mentoring and support for parents. The parents for recovery support group includes transportation, childcare and a light meal for parent and child.

Healthy families is an intensive home visiting program for qualifying families with a child aged birth through 3 years of age. Healthy families has an infant/toddler mental health focus and is designed for families facing challenges such as single parenthood, low income, childhood history of abuse and other adverse childhood experiences, and current or previous issues related to substance use disorder, mental health challenges, and/or domestic violence. Families enrolled in healthy families have access to other Relief Nursery services, as well. Parenting education integrates formal parenting education classes, individualized in-home parenting education and special parenting activities. All services are offered in english and spanish. Transportation support, light meals, and childcare are provided in order to ensure access and remove barriers and challenges that would otherwise prevent a family from participating. Mental health counseling services include providing mental health assessments, counseling for children and families, individual play therapy, family therapy, individual and group skills development, in-home and classroom-based therapeutic services, individualized treatment plans, consultation, group therapy. Highly trained counselors provide individual adult, child and family counseling. This program follows a family systems model based upon the belief that working with the entire family is the most effective means to help individuals achieve treatment goals. A strong focus placed upon parent-child attachment and relationships, emotional regulation skills, behavior management strategies and resiliency and trauma- informed therapy. Basic need support makes additional services available to all Relief Nursery families including transportation, a clothing closet, diapers and personal hygiene products, food pantry, meals and childcare at all on-site activities and family literacy events.

In home safety & reunification services(isrs) is a contract with department of human services(dhs) to provide services for the immediate safety of children at risk of maltreatment by managing the safety threats within the family, or when children have been placed in protective custody or substitute care, to help them return home by providing safety and change services such as in-home observation, supervision and specific intervention. Strengthening, preserving and reunifying families (sprf/navigator) is a contract with dhs. The overall goals of the program are to safely and equitably reduce the number of children in the foster care system by reducing the length of stay in foster care, maintaining children safely at home with their parents or caregivers, reducing the re-referral and re-entry rates of families into the child welfare system, and increasing the timeliness of permanency.