On Wednesday September 17, 2014, Delaware Family Voices hosted the Creating A Common Vision Summit. People from across Delaware came together in a conjoined effort to improve the lives of children with mental health and severe behavioral health needs. It was a successful day packed with networking and collaboration.
The Summit Goal
The goal of the Creating a Common Vision summit was to develop a strategic plan for the development of a Delaware based parent-run chapter of the Federation of Families.
The Federation of Families is a national organization that focuses on issues relevant to families of children with severe emotional, mental health, and/or behavioral challenges. Learn more about the mission of the Federation of Families organization at our blog, Federation of Families Is Coming To Delaware and at the Federation of Families website.
Let’s Get Talking!
The Summit was attended by representatives from agencies across the state, including state departments, school districts, mental health agencies, and community agencies. Also attending the summit were parents of children with severe mental health and/or behavioral health issues.
Everyone in attendance had one goal in common – to assist children with severe mental health and behavior health needs. What an impressive collaborative effort by everyone in attendance!
The Summit opened with a warm welcome from Ann Phillips, Executive Director of Delaware Family Voices.
Ann began the conference with a few words about Delaware Family Voices and the Family To Family Information Center, the infrastructure under which Delaware Family Voices operates.
The Division of Prevention and Behavioral Health (DPBHS) was on hand to support our Delaware families in developing a strategic plan to address children’s mental health issues in Delaware.
DPBHS representative Barbara Messick addressed how they can better engage families throughout Delaware. She also provided families with information about the services DPBHS already have available to help children with mental health and behavior issues.
The Summit was the perfect setting to honor Delaware Family Voices’ 2014 Volunteer of the Year award winner, Trina Cale-Rosario. Trina is a dedicated volunteer to Delaware Family Voices, assisting us in helping families across Delaware.
Trina not only is a key member of our Family Leadership Advisory Council, she also volunteers at many community events on behalf of Delaware Family Voices, and she is a trained Support Parent for our Parent to Parent program. Great job Trina! A heart-felt thank you from Delaware Family Voices.
The Summit was the ideal venue for a collaborative brain storming and strategic planning session.
Summit attendees were divided into two separate work groups, each tasked with a different topic:
Group 1: What would be an effective vision, mission, and value statement for the Delaware Federation of Families Chapter?
Group 2: Effective parent and professional development and improving systems of care within the state of Delaware.
This interactive, collaborative portion of the Summit proved to be a most valuable experience, with very helpful take-aways that will further our efforts in supporting children with mental health and behavior issues.
With the assistance of our facilitator, Diana Autin, Summit participants were actively engaged in their focus groups, working hard to develop ideas and strategies for creating the parent-run Delaware chapter of Federation of Families.
The Summit was a smashing success! The information received during the work groups has helped Delaware Family Voices develop a series of common interests and will be instrumental in the development of the infrastructure for the Delaware chapter of the Federation of Families. We are already well on the way to completing the chapter’s mission statement.
Thank You Everyone!
The Delaware Family Voices staff is very appreciative of everyone’s efforts and participation in the Creating A Common Vision Summit. Your participation was tantamount to the overall success of the Summit. As the families move forward with the development of the Delaware Federation of Families chapter, they now have a wealth of information from which to create the chapter.
Would you like to become involved with the Delaware chapter of Federation of Families? Please let us know! You can either leave a Comment below, or contact Wanda directly at snf@defv.org or (302) 669-3034.
A Very Special Thank You To SFN!
Delaware Family Voices would like to thank the Statewide Family Network Grant (SFN), who provided the funding for the Creating A Common Vision Summit. The Statewide Family Network Program is also made possible through the SFN grant via SAMHSA. The focus of this program is to assist families that have children with mental health and/or severe behavioral challenges to obtain resources and information. Another key component of this program is to assist these families with the creation of a parent run organization within Delaware, which in turn, led to the development and execution of the Creating a Common Vision Summit.