Thornwell

Residential services: 56 children between the ages of 12 and 22 were served in 2022. For 147 years, Thornwell has been a safe and welcoming place for children and youth whose lives have been shattered by abuse, neglect, displacement, and abandonment. Some are placed here by the state of south carolina. Others have been adopted by families but have struggled to overcome their trauma. Children living on the Thornwell campus are provided with loving christian homes, nutritious meals, clothing, educational support, medical and dental care, and mental health counseling (45 children received counseling services in 2022) to help them heal from the traumas they have experienced. Thornwell has a partnership with an equine therapeutic riding program, an art therapist, and a drama therapist to give children other ways in which they can manage feelings and process past trauma. An occupational therapist assesses sensory needs. In addition, Thornwell uses the evidence-based trust-based relational interventions (tbri) model to create a therapeutic milieu that can help our young people heal attachment wounds and develop an ability to form strong, supportive relationships.

Academic services:thornwell's academic services served 341 children in 2022. These services include a child development center, a learning center, and read right. Child development centerthornwell's child development center is licensed by the south carolina department of social services (dss) and operates under all applicable federal, state, and local laws. The center partners with the south carolina advocates for better care (abc) - (sc's quality childcare rating system), the south carolina association of community action partnerships' (scacap) early head start, and the south carolina first steps 4k programs to provide nurturing, responsive, and high-quality care and learning services to children, ages 8 weeks through 4 years old. These partnerships align with the developmentally appropriate practices, curriculum, and activities goals of south carolina's early learning standards.our facility provides care and services to over 120 children and families and houses six (6) early head start classrooms, one (1) 3k classroom, and three (3) 4k classrooms. Our classrooms' learning environments are rich, varied, warm, stimulating, and safe for young children's healthy exploration and development. Each classroom has age and developmentally appropriate furnishings, equipment, materials, toys, and learning centers. In 2022, 198 children ages 6 weeks to 4k received high-quality educational care.our teachers help to support and promote optimal development in the areas most important to young children by establishing a sense of trust and safety, along with autonomy with connectedness, empowerment, and self-worth. All classroom teachers have at minimum the ecd101 credential, and all 4k teachers are educated at the bachelor's level. All classroom teachers are trained in the creative curriculum for early childhood education (a research-based developmentally appropriate curriculum which provides goals and objectives for children with four main categories of interest: social/emotional, physical, cognitive, and language), teaching strategies gold (an authentic, ongoing observational system for assessing children from birth through kindergarten) which helps our teachers observe children in the context of every day experiences, and conscious discipline (a classroom-first behavioral model that extends into a wider life model based around empowering adults first and subsequently children with positive conditioning, emotional regulation and loving guidance). Through advanced education, on-going trainings, and professional development opportunities, our teachers are equipped to meet each child's academic and social/emotional needs using developmentally appropriate practices in a stimulating, engaging, hands-on, and safe learning environment, all of which prepares our children for success in school and in life.learning centerfor 2022, the learning center served a total of 42 residential students in the afternoon tutoring program. Seven presbyterian college students were hired to provide tutoring services in all general education subjects with math as the main focal point. Four of these tutors were funded through title i n&d funds and three were funded through the presbyterian college federal work study program. They all worked diligently with our residential students with homework, projects, final exam prep & end of course exam preparations. In june 2022, the school year ended with 18 students and a 100% passing rate. End of the year star assessment data shows an average of 4 months (0.4) of growth in reading & an average of 5 months (0.5) months of growth in math. One student took two virtual courses during the summer for high school credit with intensions to double up on the required english & math courses during next school year. In addition to tutoring residential students, the learning center offered momentum summer camp a day camp for kids ages 5 to 12 that provided an opportunity for children to grow academically during the summer while also having fun. In 2022, 23 campers experienced an average grade-equivalent growth of one year in reading and half a year in math in two months of educational summer fun. Read rightin addition to these tutoring programs, the learning center also offers read right which served 78 students in 2022. Read right is a reading empowerment program that seeks to eliminate reading problems by remodeling the neural network in the brain specific for reading. It is different from most reading intervention programs in that read right focuses on deriving meaning from the text to read at a level of excellence. Read right is delivered in small groups or one on one in the read right center or virtually wherever a student may reside.

Community based services:building familiesthornwell's community-based family intervention operates program sites in: greenville (1 site with 3 staff, 0 open positions), columbia, myrtle beach, and charleston, scroswell, lilburn, tucker (0 open positions), savannah, ga was eliminated in 2022 Florida- quincy and clearwater were both eliminated in 2022, operating in tampa (2 sites, 3 staff)the building families program continues to provide in-home counseling to children and their families, with the mission of providing high-quality, trauma informed, attachment focused clinical intervention. Building families also offers parenting classes and group workshops (both in person and virtually) which are open to the community. During 2022, we continued to provide in-home services with virtual options to serve families who were out of our service area. In 2022, our program served a total of 1,802 family members with all services. This was a 23% increase from the previous year (1,471 family members). Since we were able to have additional parenting classes and workshops, building families was able to reach more individuals in 2022. In 2022, building families served children and families in the following ways: 1,506 total therapy sessions (1,096 in home sessions and 410 telehealth sessions) 1,171 individuals received workshops or parenting classes. There were an additional 371 supportive phone calls for families. 66 families completed 12-15 weeks of intensive family therapy with 86% (57/66) of families successfully completing the clinical program. The building families program is an intensive therapy program, assisting families to increase overall functioning and to improve family relationships. Additionally, the treatment services focus on decreasing interfering behaviors, supporting caregivers, and processing significant transitions. Families are supported in achieving their personalized goals concentrating on family connectedness, developing new skills, and reducing stress for caregivers. Building families strives to improve communication and healthy family functioning through the use of clinically supported practices, using a trauma-informed perspective, based on trust-based relational interventions (tbri). All therapists are master level educated with full or provisional licensure in their field. Foster carethornwell's foster care program was established in march 2016 as a child placing agency (cpa) licensed by the south carolina department of social services. Thornwell's foster care program is designed to equip, train, support and retain well-trained foster parents to ensure stable foster placements for children in south carolina. Providing children in need with safe homes to support trauma recovery and healing while their families cope with crisis is a priority for the foster care program. Thornwell foster care has expanded in 2020 to the midlands and in 2021 to the pee dee area. There are now a total of 8 staff members including a foster care program director, program coordinator,4 family specialists, 1 foster care lead family specialist, and 1 foster care licensing specialist. In 2022, Thornwell created a new position in the role of program marketing and recruitment specialist. This role serves as the point of entry for all individuals inquiring about fostering and provides information, clarity, and support until the decision to apply to foster is made. This position is integral to targeted recruitment efforts and plans. The foster care program has adopted trust-based relational intervention (tbri), an evidence-based therapeutic approach, to train foster care staff to work with foster parents to meet the needs of children from hard places. Thornwell organizes a quarterly family fun day for foster parents and their children so families can meet and network with each other, offering a community of support. Thornwell offers regional trainings on a quarterly basis to both Thornwell foster families and individuals that are interested in learning more about fostering.in 2022, the foster care program added 13 new foster families (for a total of 72 licensed foster homes) and served 91 children throughout the year. 36 children placed in Thornwell foster homes were positively reunited with a parent or family member, achieving a sense of permanence in their lives. In addition, in 2022, Thornwell foster care program began renovation on the second home to the foster care village on the clinton campus, set to be ready for occupancy in april 2023. The foster care village was created to make use of vacant buildings on the Thornwell campus and serve larger sibling groups as well as teenagers. With two homes in fc village, Thornwell will be able to serve 5 children in each home. The foster care program has been implementing expanded use of the electronic health records in 2022 to improve service delivery and meet the needs of contract requirements as well as standards set by our accreditation entity. Moving forward with technology support is an ongoing process which will provide a consistent approach to caring for children in the foster care system. Strengthening familiesthornwell partners with gateway counseling center (local alcohol and drug abuse commission) and the children's trust of sc to bring the strengthening families program to laurens county. Strengthening families is an evidence-based family skills training program that works with parents/caregivers and their children for 14 weeks. Strengthening families is considered an early intervention and prevention model. The parents/caregivers must have a child between the ages of 6-11 to participate, per grant requirements. The families are incentivized to attend by Thornwell providing a family meal, gas cards to help with transportation cost, and take-home family activities and meals to encourage and reinforce family bonding and family relationship skills. In 2022, Thornwell provided 2 cycles of strengthening families, serving a total of 65 children and families with a 100% graduation rate for both cycles. Additionally, Thornwell provided 2 booster sessions to keep skills current and bolster healthy relationships where 20 former graduates were provided with passes to and vouchers for food and activities at Thornwell's spring and fall festivals.

Other programs:dining hallin partnership with the usda, Thornwell's dining hall provided 28,435 grab-n-go free meals in 2022 to children who may have been experiencing food insecurity across laurens county, south carolina. The grab-n-go meals program initially started as a response to the pandemic in 2020. This vital program helps ease caregivers' burdens by providing free, healthy breakfast and lunch options and ensures children stay nourished and healthy during the summer months. Thornwell's child nutrition team has served 168,489 meals since the program began in 2020.lushacres farmlocated on 340 acres of Thornwell's campus in clinton sc, lushacres farm is a working farm that exemplifies the "supporting healthy communities" arm of Thornwell's mission. Lushacres farm exists to provide healthy food products grown on farm, as well as family-focused activities and events for Thornwell and the surrounding communities. The products grown at lushacres are sold and distributed via the year-round farm market that is located on site with proceeds from all market sales and events going back to support the Thornwell programs serving children and families. Lushacres also serves as an educational hub for several different groups across the state by hosting land lab opportunities for agricultural education classes at the high school and college level, as well as partnering with clemson extension's rural health and nutrition program to begin coordinating learning opportunities for food and nutrition education, and clemson extension's agricultural safety program for farm and work safety education. In 2022, 318 school field trip visitors learned about the importance of agriculture and its impact on healthy living.in 2022, lushacres worked to combat local food insecurity. In late 2022, cross-departmental planning began to develop the framework for combatting food insecurity in our local community. Members from across the ministry came together and fostered new relationships with representatives from the city of clinton and presbyterian college to plan food collection and distribution efforts for 2023. Additionally, the farm market became eligible to accept snap and healthy bucks, increasing its ability to combat food insecurity issues in the local community. Lushacres was also able to assist the city of clinton with successfully securing a grant that placed a food hub in the local ymca (fuel station) that provided individuals in need with fresh produce and food items. In this work, lushacres donated 1,000 pounds of produce to local food banks and the city fuel station at the clinton ymca to fight food insecurity.in the farm's efforts to promote heart-healthy and family-friendly activities, lushacres has a playground and a mile-long walking trail (added in the spring of 2022) in the farm market area which are free and open to the public.lushacres hosted a spring strawberry festival and a fall festival and corn maze in 2022. 3,195 people attended these events which provided recreation opportunities for children and families and also served as a way for the public to engage with Thornwell staff to increase awareness of the programs and services that are offered by Thornwell. 151 volunteers devoted 623 hours of work to support these farm efforts.