We believe that participants in our program are most successful when their overall system of supports is well-integrated, and that as an organization we share the responsibility for helping ensure that integration.
When it comes to the landscape of services for a participating family, more is not necessarily merrier. Redundancies can cause confusion, fatigue, exasperation and demoralization. It can be retraumatizing for participants to tell their story again to yet one more person. Transportation and communication problems – flat tires, detached mufflers, bus schedules, scarce gas money in addition to suspended cell phone service – exacerbate the logistical challenges of multiple weekly meetings. Vital information may be miscommunicated or missing altogether in the course of shuttling from one provider to the next.
Participants, already overwhelmed, often find it hard to keep track of who does what and how, the full range of available services, and how they fit together.
“As people think and work together, a fabric of shared meaning comes into being.”
― Harrison Owen
Navigation and Advocacy: We help participants navigate this often bewildering landscape of services. We believe that in doing so we are making everybody’s work that much more effective – saving time, energy, money, confusion, and emotions. We keep a focus on regular communication and follow-up across supports. In many cases, especially as crisis may begin to unfold, we take responsibility for convening group meetings of supports to develop common understanding, conduct gap analysis and harmonize efforts. In every situation we are in a position of advocacy for our families. Learn about our Child Integrated Services program.
Flexible roles: RCPCC’s programming and staff structure is uniquely configured and situated to play a lead or supporting role for participants, to plug gaps like transportation or food needs, to be flexible and adaptive to the needs of the moment in order to provide leverage or “back-stopping” for our participants in their efforts to address challenges and optimize their supports. Learn about our Shared Leadership approach.
Our partners: We also understand that we can accomplish little without our numerous interconnections within the larger community. We treasure the many entities with which we collaborate. See our partnering agencies and organizations.
When we are working together well, we are building a healthier and more robust community.
“Collaboration allows us to know more than we are capable of knowing ourselves.”
~Paul Solarz
“You won’t benefit from diverse perspectives if you aren’t open to utilizing differences.”
― Eunice Parisi-Carew