Our Daily Show Interview! Centerstone: Pathways
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ALTON - Centerstone and the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services partner to offer support to kids with complex behavioral health needs.
The Pathways to Success program works with Medicaid-enrolled kids under age 21 and their families. The program connects families with a care coordinator who will spend time in the family’s home and learn more about what each member needs to be successful and healthy.
“The Pathways to Success program is a wraparound program with the goal of building families’ strengths and resiliency,” explained Charity Thompson with Centerstone. “We are working to try to reduce higher needs, crisis intervention, get kids away from inpatient placements and residential placements by providing them with connections to different providers and services in the community.”
The care coordinator and the family work together to build child and family teams. These teams might include a pediatrician or therapist as well as a church member or neighbor.
There are also several specialized programs within the Pathways to Success program. The care coordinator can set up equine and art therapy or help the family secure transportation or personal care items.
Thompson emphasized that no matter what specific needs a family has, the goal is to always listen to them. Unlike the social work of years past, when a social worker might announce what is going poorly and prescribe a service plan to a family, the Pathways to Success program encourages families to take control of their own care. Thompson stressed that the client is the expert in their own experience.
“This program shifts gears and really leans on the family,” she said. “They’re the experts on their own family. We’re there to really listen. What’s worked for you? What’s not worked for you? What do you want to get out of life? How do you want your family to change? How do you want your school life to change? Just spending that time really hearing their voice. Part of the motto of the program is, ‘Family voice, family choice.’ So giving every family member the opportunity to talk about, really, what is their family vision? What do they want support with? What do they want to work on? It’s been huge.”
The Pathways to Success program aims to eliminate barriers to care and help families build their support systems. The care coordinators also build and celebrate the family’s strengths.
“This program really encourages families to ask for help and to seek support and to look and see who’s around. It’s community-based, which I love,” Thompson added. “We’re working to wrap these families and teach them how to wrap themselves. When I say ‘wrap,’ I mean, get them connected to linkages, resources, supports, and then help them to stay in connection with that. That’s where the kids have fallen through the cracks historically.”
Kids must be under age 21 and enrolled in a Medicaid program to qualify for the Pathways to Success program, and they must complete an assessment through Centerstone. Thompson encourages families who want to self-refer to call Centerstone at 1-877-HOPE123 (1-877-467-3123) and ask for her.
For more information about Pathways to Success and Centerstone’s programs, including how to get help, visit their official website at Centerstone.org.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.
