Sally & Anthony Mann Center
Youth Empowerment Program
(YEP!)
PRESENTERS
Meghan Lathrop, LMSW Senior Social Worker
Melissa Webster, LCSW Senior Social Worker
Erin Mack, LMSW Social Worker
Laura Mitchell, CPI Coordinator
Francisco Reyes, Milieu Counselor
(YEP!)
 YOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM
 The Residential Treatment Facility Team including Clinicians, Milieu
Counselor, and CPI Coordinator from the Sally & Anthony Mann
Center will present our new Youth Empowerment Program (YEP!)
 We will discuss how our Youth Empowerment Program was created
and implemented as a means of engaging and empowering at-risk,
vulnerable youth in a residential treatment facility.
(YEP!)
This program was created in response to a growing need to
provide services to the youth who were displaying…
 limited independent skills, a loss of hope, poor motivation to
participate in treatment, chronic stress, trauma reenactment,
and risk of sexual exploitation.
(YEP!)
 Identified Need:
 Due to a reduction of inpatient acute and state hospital stays,
a reduction in our length of stay in a residential treatment
facility, an increase in transitional age youth admitted to the
program, an increase in admissions of youth that had been
sexually exploited, and an overall deinstitutionalization of the
youth in our program and in our communities….. we would
need to transform the way in which we engage our residents
in treatment.
(YEP!)
 We identified a larger responsibility for our facility to work towards
empowering the youth and to facilitate a program that was designed to
better fulfill the needs of the population we serve.
 We collaborative with Shanise V. Rhiney, LMSW Youth Development
Programming and Training Specialist from the New York City Field OfficeOffice of Mental Health, in creating our Youth Empowerment Group
Program.
 Shanise Rhiney created our first Girls Empowerment Group which was a
dance/poetry/writing group. Later this group was run by two Youth
Advocates from the Family Resource Center of Northern Manhattan Mental
Health Association of New York City, Sasha Rivera and Jennifer Watkins.
(YEP!)
This group was so successful that he residents
began to ask about attending more groups. The
clinicians asked the residents what groups they
would be interested in attending. With the
assistance of the group facilitators and our
residents, they came up with….
(YEP!)
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Sanctuary Orientation
Relationship Group
Girls Empowerment Group
What Inspires You: Mural Group
Healthy Habits Group
Beyond the Face Group
Boys Empowerment Group
The Gray Path
Poetry Group
Cooking Group
Crossover Yoga Project
Girl Talk
Capoeira
Substance Abuse Group
(YEP!)
 We will discuss the various interventions that we implemented
including Youth Empowerment Groups, Sanctuary Red Flag
meetings, Peer Counselor, ESI Reduction data, and our AntiTrafficking Committee (SLAE).
Using data to inform and create change
Red Flag Meetings
 Based on a collection of our ESI data, we noticed that we had a
high number of individual residents accounting for multiple ESIs.
This had a direct influence on the community and additional
restraints.
 We made it our priority to hold a Red Flag meeting for each
youth when they have had two or more ESIs within a two-week
period.
 If they had two in one evening, they are having a Red Flag… if
that had one Monday and then at the 14th day another…. They
were having a Red Flag. We started to see our numbers drop.
Using data to inform and create change.
 The Youth Empowerment Program (YEP!) has been extremely
successful. We have not only see a decrease in ESI’s, an increase in the
residents participation in their treatment and attainment of treatment
objectives, an increase in pro-social engagement, independent skills and
motivation and hope for the future.
 We have found that the program empowers our youth as they become
stronger advocates for themselves and as they strengthen their
individual sense of self or purpose.
 We identified ESIs reduction as a need for our RTF. At the time we were
averaging 30+ per month. As we discussed our need to reduce ESIs, we
recognized early that we needed to get everyone on board with ESI
reduction in order to have an effect and to influence our numbers. Who
are we?
Create a change in culture
 We also started to see a culture change with the Red Flags and the
increased conversation about ESI reduction.
 The underlying message to our staff and our youth:
 we want to promote safety and empowerment
 we want to avoid the use of ESIs – we do not want to put a youth in a hold
 we all have a part to play in order to empower our youth, promote a
healing environment and feel a sense of accomplishment.
 The Red Flag is much like a larger debriefing. Within each Red Flag meeting, the youth
are empowered to take charge of their treatment; it is a solution-based meeting.
 We actively and collaboratively revise Safety Plans, in part through identifying
triggers, developing additional ways to cope with stress maintain safety.
Using data to inform and create
change
 As our ESIs began to reduce as it pertained to individuals, we
continued to discuss other areas related to ESIs that need a
change in direction. It was quickly identified through a review of
the data that the afternoons, between 3-4pm was a time frame
identified to have more ESIs than other times.
 A decision was made to increase groups during these times.
With that implemented, we did see a decrease in ESIs. The same
held true for the evening shifts, and with feedback from the
youth that they enjoyed art and the creative process, additional
free-expression/free-art groups were added to the evening
schedule.
PEER COUNCIL
 Another significant program aimed at empowering our residents
that we will discuss is Peer Council. This council is made up of
youth representing each apartment at our RTF, and is another
forum for our youth-representatives to talk about their needs
and exchanged knowledge between the treatment teams and
each other.
 Peer Council is made up of youth representing each apartment
at our RTF. ESI reduction is a standing agenda item. This means
that our youth-representatives talk about their needs and then
hear from us that we want to reduce ESIs, we share the
information with our information with our youth and gain
knowledge.
POETRY GROUP
 One of the groups that we will discuss in detail is our Poetry
Group.
 The Poetry group was created to find a bridge between
expression and healing as they prepare to transition from our
facility into the community.
Poetry Group
 Setting the Tone and expectations
 They know that the program is an outlet for them to express
themselves in order to help relieve some of the stress caused by
their situations.
 They also have to feel safe writing about whatever they want to
write about as long as it’s appropriate. So they have to feel like
peers aren’t going to repeat things heard in the group, so there is
very little tolerance for that type of behavior within the structure of
the group.
 They know that they can do as little or as much as they want as far
as expression, following up on performing, or even reading up on
things that will help them write better.
Poetry Group
 A lot of the clients find themselves wanting to do more or learn more
about the poetry outside of the time afforded to us by the group. This
way they can learn and read up on stuff at their own pace and when
they find the interest to do so.
 i.e... Haikus, end rhymes, internal rhymes, etc…
Poetry Group
 Sharing techniques and advantages.
 They can share their work in a variety of ways that match their level of
comfort. Examples:
 They can share in the front of the group standing up with no paper as a
memorized piece or a read piece.
 They can have the group leader or someone they feel safe with stand with
them in front of the group for support which works pretty well if you have a
good connection with the client.
 They can share from their seat, or with the class having eyes away from
them. As is class turning their backs, looking away, or closing their eyes.
 They can also give the work to the group leader beforehand so to make it
anonymous and no one not know who wrote it.
 All of these techniques can be effective depending on where the writer is
with the work they’re expressing.
Poetry Group
 Things that they look forward to
 In many instances the work that they do, they look forward to
showcasing it outside of group because it appreciate the
responses they get from a finished product. A lot of the clients
never even thought they could write to the capacity that they do
with a little help and a lot of times want to showcase their
ability.
 We schedule open mic forums that are implemented into the
facility recreational department and we’ll give them a stage to
show off some of the things they have been working on.
 Also gives them an opportunity for other clients to see them in a
different light and maybe not the light that have come
accustomed to seeing them in.
Poetry Group
 Current Events Discussion
 We discuss current affairs and give them an opportunity to have an opinion
on society and some of the things going on around them. It brings out their
fears and there criticisms. It’s important that they feel heard and that they
feel like their opinions matters. With that said we also get to know some of
the misconceptions circulating, so that information can help bring
perspective to their thinking process. We feel that this helps not only spark
thought to inspire writing, but it also gives them an opportunity to see how
writing isn’t limited to only things going on with them, but around them.
 We give them some options about different topics that they may or may not
be interested in. Having the options lets them feel involved in choosing
what to discuss, which starts (again) the notion that they’re opinions matter.
The STRUGGLE is REAL
 As the largest RTF in the state, we have encountered
many exploited youth and have also recognized that
many, who are not yet exploited, are at increasingly
high risk.
SEX TRAFFICKING
The most common age of entry into the commercial sex industry in the U.S. is 12-14 years old.
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A Canadian commission found that prostituted women are 40 times more likely to be
murdered than their non-prostituted counterparts.
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In some cities, when a prostitute or homeless person is found dead, they are unofficially labeled as
“NHC.” (Non-human casualty). Dehumanization.
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64% of adult women prostitutes have been raped while “in the life.”
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75% of adult women prostitutes were formerly homeless.
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71% of adult women prostitutes have experienced physical abuse in the life.
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In Thailand, 75% of men have purchased sex at least once.
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90% of teen/20-something year old sex workers are girls of color (NYC and other areas)
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Drug addiction tends to put women at higher risk of being sexually exploited.
SEX TRAFFICKING
 Q: Why do you think there is such a huge demand for sex work?
 Q: Why does the public see sexual exploitation in other countries as
“sex/human trafficking”, but when discussing it in the US, there just
called “prostitutes” and pitiful/disgusting?
 The notion of “choice” in reference to individual’s involvement in
the commercial sex
 Q: Why do we see “prostitutes” as criminals, drug addicts, easy,
slutty, etc. Why don’t we see them as runaways, immigrants,
kidnapped, scared?
 How much “choice” do you think is involved once a woman/girl is in
the life? How much “choice” did these women/girls really have even
before entering the life?
SEX TRAFFICKING
 De-criminalization in places (like Sweden) did not
decrease forced/coerced prostitution. Also, places
that have de-criminalized also happen to have smaller
poverty rates. (Often women/girls in the life come
from the lower socio-economic areas/families.)
 Many sex workers in the sex industry saw love-sexabuse through a substandard lens as children.
SEX TRAFFICKING
 Gary Ridgway aka Green River Killer, American serial
killer. Murdered 48 women/girls, mostly prostitutes (27
were teens). "I also picked prostitutes as victims because
they were easy to pick up, without being noticed. I knew
they would not be reported missing right away, and might
never be reported missing. I picked prostitutes because I
thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without
getting caught.”
 There are over 480,000 sites offering illegal child
pornography and hundreds of thousands more offering
legal ‘teen’ or ‘barely legal’ pornography.
Sex Trafficking & Child Welfare
 Sex Workers – Easy Targets
 Correlation between Youth in Care & Exploited Youth
 Unmet Needs (Physical, Emotional, & Material)
 Vulnerability
 Searching for love, acceptance, support
 Exploiters make promises of love, acceptance, & support
 Trust gained
 Coercion begins
Sex Trafficking & Child Welfare
 As per the Office of Children & Family Services, the
New York State definition of sex trafficking is:
 Profiting from prostitution by providing drugs,
using false or misleading statements, withholding
or destroying government documents, debt
servicing, force, a plan or pattern of coercive
conduct, or other acts.
Please note: Under the Federal definition of sex
trafficking, victims under age 18 are automatically
victims regardless of whether or not force, fraud or
coercion is present
 (http://ocfs.ny.gov/main/humantraffic/)
Sex Trafficking & Child Welfare
 How do we best help?
 Motivational Interviewing
 “Meeting the person where they’re at.”
 Resistance vs Pre-Contemplation
Sex Trafficking & Child Welf
 Dealing with ALL the RISKS
 We are implementing interventions such as risk assessments,
AWOL debriefings, Motivational Interviewing, and the harm
reduction model as it pertains to helping heal and provide our
youth with the necessary tools and skills.
 AWOLs
 AWOL Debriefing Form
 Can be uncomfortable for person administering and youth but an amazing
tool.
 Knowledge & Harm Reduction = KEY
SLAE
 New York State Safe Harbour for Exploited Children Act (2008)
 Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC)
 Survivor
 Leadership
 Advocacy
 Empowerment
(YEP!)
 Many of our milieu-led groups are related to the interests of the
children and the milieu counselors teach, guide and encourage
the development of their strengths, what we’ve gained from
talking with the youth in their Red Flags.
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Cooking Group
Crocheting Group
Work Out Group
Walking Group
In Conclusion
 We try to help our youth cultivate a sense of purpose by tapping
into their…
 Strengths, their hobbies, their likes and then we weave it into our
program.
 This empowers our youth as they become stronger advocates for
themselves and as they strengthen their individual sense of self or
purpose.
 Chyenne’s speaks