Project Description


RENEW CAPACITY-BUILDING PROJECT
To Provide Secondary Transition Services for Youth with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

PURPOSE

This project is designed to develop the capacity among mental health providers to provide RENEW (Rehabilitation for Empowerment, Natural Supports, Education, and Work) services to 60 adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders in New Hampshire, and to support the systems change, training, and sustainability issues related to the implementation of this practice throughout the state. This initiative is funded by a grant from the New Hampshire Endowment for Health, a non-profit foundation that has adopted improved children’s mental health as its newest priority area.

RENEW MODEL

RENEW was originally developed in 1996 by project staff at the Institute on Disability (IOD) at UNH and the now-closed Institute on Emotional Disabilities at Keene State College, with support of a federally-funded grant. In 1998, the project staff worked with community stakeholders to create the Alliance for Community Supports, Inc., a non-profit organization in Manchester, NH, to continue to provide RENEW services to youth using fee-for-service reimbursement, contracts, and grant funding. RENEW services have been provided to over 500 young people in New Hampshire, and training and research activities related to the RENEW model have been conducted by the IOD.

RENEW is designed to help youth at high-risk of school and community failure to: 1) successfully complete high school, 2) obtain jobs, 3) transition into post-secondary education and training programs, and, 4) successfully transition into adult community life.

The key features of the RENEW model are (a) self determination, reflected in the personal futures planning process, (b) creative and individualized school-to-career services including work-based learning, school-based learning, and connecting activities, (c) unconditional service provision and supports, (d) strengths-based service provision, (e) an emphasis on building relationships and linkages in the community (natural supports), (f) flexible resource development and funding, (g) wraparound team development and facilitation, and, (h) workplace or career-related mentoring. RENEW Facilitators focus on personal futures planning, knowledge of community resources, resource development and community resource mapping, team building and facilitation, counseling, secondary transition planning and special education rules and policies, flexible education programming (internships, independent study, work-study, among others), naturally supported employment, and crisis management.

PROJECT GOALS

  • Develop and maintain policy-level improvements at the state and local levels that facilitate the provision of evidence-based, developmentally-appropriate secondary transition services to youth with emotional and behavioral disorders, by developing and facilitating a state-level Project Leadership Team.
  • Build the capacity for the community mental health centers and the Tobey School to provide evidence-based RENEW secondary transition services to youth with emotional and behavioral disorders by developing and delivering comprehensive training and on-site technical supports to 2-3 staff members in 3 community mental health centers and the Tobey School.
  • Ensure that no fewer than 60 youth with emotional and behavioral disorders receive intensive, person-centered “RENEW” secondary transition services and supports by providing training to, supporting, and developing organizational processes that enable 12-15 staff members in the community mental health centers in the Nashua, Manchester, and Concord regions and in the Tobey School.
  • Ensure that the youth being served by the RENEW demonstration project receive seamless support and the services they need by developing, supporting and maintaining efficient and effective local transition collaboratives in Nashua, Manchester, and Concord.
  • Sustain the network and expand the capacity of community service providers, community mental health center staff, and school to provide RENEW secondary transition services to youth with EBD by developing proposals to potential federal and state fundors.
  • Ensure that the experiences and outcomes of the RENEW demonstration project are known to key stakeholders and policymakers throughout the state and nationally by developing a white paper, journal articles, and presenting at state and national conferences.

PROJECT SERVICES

During the period January 2009 through August 2010, a Master Trainer from the Institute on Disability will provide training and technical assistance to staff members (Case managers and Therapists) at the 3 Community Mental Health Centers and the Tobey School. Staff members will learn how to engage high –risk youth between the ages of 16 and 21, how to facilitate the personal futures planning process, develop a team to support the youth, and develop and engage human, social and financial resources so that each youth can achieve his or her career-related goals.

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Project Partners

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Project Staff & Contacts

JoAnne Malloy
Project Director
UNH/Institute on Disability
Phone: (603) 228-2084
Email: jmmalloy@aol.com

Jonathon Drake, MSW
RENEW Master Trainer
UNH/Institute on Disability
Phone: (603) 228-2084
Email: jonathon.drake@unh.edu

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Resources and Links

RENEW Capacity Building Project (pdf)

For more information about the RENEW model, please visit the APEX II project page.

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