Who are the people Epworth serves?
"The children have brought us together to do this work . . . "
By: Kerry Hoffschneider
It was 1924 at Mothers’ Jewels Home, now Epworth Village. A letter was received at their headquarters located at 2119 North Division Avenue in York. It said a father was, “wholly incapable of giving those children anything like a good home. He is considered unsafe . . . By all means keep them there if possible.”
Throughout its 122 years of existence, Epworth Village has received many pleas for help. Human beings have not changed a lot through the years; however, the ways mental and behavioral health issues are addressed have. From an orphanage to family-centered therapeutic treatment, Epworth has evolved with the times. Leadership says if they are asked one question more than any by outsiders and supporters it is, “Who are these people that you serve?”
First and foremost, the more than 1,000 people Epworth serves each month in their array of family-centered therapeutic programs including the Epworth Village Learning Center, Residential Services, In-Home Safety Services (IHSS) and Foster Care are people looking for hope. In Epworth’s view, they are God’s children and worthy of help and support. The agency’s vision is telling of this mission, “Epworth Village believes all of God’s people are of worth and value. We envision a world where families will have a clear pathway to the resources they truly need to lead healthier, more hopeful lives. We believe together we can find a way.”
“Today we may be serving the family down the street, the boy next door, perhaps your son, daughter or maybe grandchild,” said Tom McBride, President/CEO of Epworth. “We don’t have an ‘average’ person in our programs because we serve everyone from infants to adults. They might be tall or they might be short. They may have no family or they may have a connected and caring family. Their common denominator is they are facing a mental or behavioral health issue that is serious enough that it has disrupted virtually every facet of their lives.”
The news is saturated with stories about the state budget and Nebraska legislators considering a number of bills that will impact the “system of care” for a host of families facing numerous issues. Currently, McBride said nearly 15 agencies have either closed doors or programs due to a complicated array of funding issues. Yet, despite the “chaos” in the current system, he said Epworth Village continues to provide care to people in a variety of circumstances and from all walks of life.
“Throughout my years here, I have witnessed many wonderful things,” said Dave Rea, Lead Residential Manager. “For example, there are times when 'treatment' is playing ball with a client who never had a chance to do that because no one ever took the time to teach him how. There are also the hundreds of times we allow kids to express their points of view on things when few people have listened to them before. It’s neat to hear what they have to say. There are also the times when you just give kids attention and make them laugh and that is an awesome feeling. Then, we hear from parents who have had kids under our care and they let you know that their child is doing well since being home and that they have learned a lot.”
“We have some children who are recent immigrants to this country,” said Eunice Williams, Therapy Director. “The child may have gotten involved with negative peers and broken laws, taking him into the legal system. The child is then placed in a living unit where we provide help in the form of Individual Therapy. We also work with parents and siblings in Family Therapy. When the parents do not speak English, we get an interpreter to communicate during Family Therapy sessions. Their own cultural family values are considered and used to solve the problems with the child and to get them back in the home and function in the current culture.”
“We have several ‘international’ connections,” added Kathy Highstreet, Epworth Village Learning Center (EVLC) teacher. “We’ve served a student who had observed some of the Guatemalan wars and witnessed relatives shot dead. We have also had refugees from Asia, Syria and Iraq. The obvious connection with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is easy to make in cases like these.”
“I had a student who had an explosive temper because of the environment he came from,” said Scott Wiles, Director of EVLC. “One day while working with him, he suddenly exploded and began to punch me in the head. I and Tom McBride were able to gain control of this young man without hurting him. Shortly after he began to cry and state he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. I was able to sit next to this young man and tell him I forgive him, and I’m here to help. For the first time in his life, people didn’t respond to his violence with more violence, but with forgiveness. This had a huge impact on his life. By the time he left, he had the tools to deal with his anger. People were no longer afraid of approaching him. We had made a difference in his life. He had been given another chance.”
Some children come from abusive homes, but many other parents are vital partners with Epworth in the success of their children. “Mental health treatment offers children and families an opportunity to grow and learn in a safe, structured setting,” said Kristi Weber, Vice-President of Programs. “I have sat and talked with many parents who share in the excitement of their child’s successes. Parental involvement makes a huge difference in treatment. Behavioral health services at all levels of care are important options in providing opportunities for some of the most deserving individuals in this state.”
Foster Care and IHSS are both relatively new programs at Epworth Village. While Epworth does not facilitate them, the agency has already witnessed a long-awaited successful adoption take place. “She said, ‘I don’t now why I’m crying, this is a good thing,’” recalled Allen Meade, Foster Care Specialist, as he talked about a young girl and her sister’s story about a Foster Family Epworth worked with that led to the girls’ adoption. “It was so rewarding to witness something that carries a deep meaning to children in foster care, the precious gift of permanency.”
“The main thing we want potential foster parents to know is we are here to provide you with the support and information you need,” said Hannah Miller, Foster Care Supervisor. “There is literally someone available 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week to answer your calls. Yes it can be challenging, but it’s so rewarding when children’s underlying needs are met and families can find the hope they need.”
Family re-unification at all levels of care is the ultimate goal, although that doesn’t end up being the case in every scenario. The IHSS program is designed to have caring staff members involved with families directly in the home setting. The following is an example of their many diverse “clients.” Brandee Ehlers, who is a supervisor in this department, took a young mom to the Epworth “Christmas Store.” The “store” consisted of a host of donated items where children and families from all program areas could pick out toys and items they needed. When Ehlers first told the mom about the “store” filled with donations from across Nebraska, she seemed hesitant and wasn’t sure about using it, feeling as though she would try to pull some gifts together herself. However, Ehlers was able to convince her to use the resource.
Not long after, the Development Office at Epworth received a stack of donations, neatly folded and clipped together among them were three dollar bills. Under the bills was a note that said, “A donation from a mother served by IHSS for the Christmas store.” Ehlers said the mother had insisted upon giving Deb Makovicka, operator of the “store,” all the money she had to pay for the toys she received for her son.
There is yet another example of this type of humbleness shared by Staci Moorman, Health Care Assistant at Epworth. “I took one of the boys we serve in residential treatment to Lincoln for a dentist appointment and on the way we were listening to the radio. They were trying to collect 2,000 toys for another service agency. The young man I was taking said, ‘I wish I had some money to buy a gift to donate to them.’ After the appointment, I asked him if he would like to go and pick out a toy and take it to the agency. He was so excited to go and not once asked to get anything for himself. Once he found something he said, ‘I bet the little boy that gets this remote control car will love it!’ We went to the agency and he said, ‘I have a gift to donate. I used to be a part of this program and I know what it will mean for the little boy who gets this gift.’ Needless to say, I was in tears.”
“For many of the youth we treat, it must be realized that the mental health issue they are facing is something chronic and will be with them perhaps the rest of their lives,” said McBride. “But we help them identify how they can manage this illness and when there is a recurrence how they can minimize that episode. A child happily returning to their family is a success. A child moving forward in school is a success. A child who is appropriately socially active is a success. Receiving a high school or college graduation announcement or a wedding invitation from a former client is a success.”
“The work is on-going,” said Rea. “For every child success story, there are also many children and families that are still lost and we need to still work together to make the families that are in crisis not hurt so much and give them that ‘golden ray of sunshine’ and the everlasting virtue of hope. There are many different people working at Epworth Village, but there is a commonality among us all that we agree upon, the children have brought us all together to do this work.”