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The Catholic University of America
School of Nursing
Grand Opening: February 15, 2003
The opening of the Child & Family Community Behavioral Health Center was held on February 15, 2003, despite the snow. During the day, the DC Mobile Lead Van was available to screen for lead poisoning. Other events included free health screenings, classes in parenting, nutrition and substance abuse, and childhood development screening also will be offered.
Purpose
The intent of the CUA clinic is to (1) create a service-learning environment for advanced practice nursing students to learn and apply their knowledge and skills in pediatric behavioral health; (2) to provide direct care/referral child/adolescent behavioral health services to the residents of the Pentacles Apartment Community in Northeast Washington, DC serving Wards 5 and 6; (3) provide an environment for faculty practice and scholarship.
Definitions
Behavioral Medicine is the interdisciplinary field concerned with the development and integration of behavioral, psychosocial, and biomedical science knowledge and techniques relevant to the understanding of health and illness, and the application of this knowledge and these techniques to prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation.
Service-learning, we define service-learning as "a structured learning experience that combines community service with explicit learning objectives, preparation and reflection. Students engaged in service-learning provide community service in response to community-identified concerns and learn about the context in which service is provided, the connection between their service and their academic coursework, and their roles as citizens." Service-learning helps foster civic and social responsibility, is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum, and includes structured time for students and participants to reflect on the service experience.
Faculty Practice and Scholarship is faculty activities in the performance of research, teaching and service functions contribute jointly to an underlying foundation of scholarship by promoting the development representation, and utilization of knowledge. The scope of these activities includes the many ways the faculty draw upon their expertise in performing their teaching, research, practice and service.
The Scope of the Center
The target population is children, adolescents and their families of the Pentacles Apartment Community and local residents of Wards 5 and 6. The proposed activities would be based upon the needs of the community and service partners.
A needs assessment of the local community was completed during the summer 2002 in collaboration with Nation’s Capital Child and Family Development and other identified community partners.
Services provided include, but are not limited to:
(1) assessment, screening and referral activities, such as
· mental health and developmental assessments
· lead and health screening
· referral to network partners and identified case managers
(2) prevention focused interventions, such as
· school-based observations
· parenting classes
· youth and family advocacy
· patient health and medication education
· creative arts for self-esteem building
(3) supportive therapies (not as the primary intervention provider), such as
· stress management
· teen decision-making
· anger management
· school adjustment interventions
· weight management
(4) “holding” services that provide short-term stabilization, such as
· play therapy to assist child expression
· family meetings where members are temporarily disorganized or need to make decisions
· teen groups
Community Networks
The Community-Campus Partnership between the The Catholic University of America's School of Nursing Child/Adolescent Behavioral Health Program, Horning Brothers, Inc., and the Pentacles Apartment Community provides a unique opportunity to develop a community-based organization as an advocate and provider of non-traditional services in Wards 5 and 6.
The value of such partnerships, such as the District of Columbia Primary Care Association are for raising awareness of barriers and offering realistic solutions to health disparities. This process requires community-based organizations to demonstrate expertise and skills, to partner with public and private systems of health care, and expand advanced nursing practice roles within interdisciplinary treatment settings.
Through participation in District planning committees, garnering family participation in the community, and demonstrating professional service capacity, CABHP hopes to become a bridge connecting family need and community support potential in meeting the behavioral health needs of children and adolescents in Wards 5 and 6 of Washington DC.
The Child and Family Community Behavioral Health Center is a member of the Edgewood Brookland Family Support Collaborative. E/BFSC is one of seven neighborhood-based Collaboratives in the District of Columbia, which make up the city-wide Healthy Families, Thriving Communities Collaborative. E/BFSC has been in existence since 1996 when a partnership consisting of residents and neighborhood based organizations received a planning grant from the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA). The planning grant facilitated the development of a community based collaborative effort to design and implement a neighborhood based family support system.
In partnership with DC Developing Families, Healthy Babies, the DC Birthing Center, and the Nations Capital Child and Family Development Program, we propose to demonstrate the benefit of trained peer-support staff in assisting multi-need families to bridge service gaps among health, behavioral health, and social service resources.
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