Annual Report
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Perseverance and Grit Standing Mission Strong HARMONY AT HOME ANNUAL REPORT 2020-2021 Our mission To end the cycles of violence and abuse by empowering children and young adults to lead healthy and productive lives. HARMONY AT HOME 2 FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AUGUST 2021 Dear Friends of Harmony At Home, The past… We all just experienced an incredibly challenging year. The The future.... pandemic of 2020-2021 has been devastating on many levels to Now, as we see the light at the end of the tunnel, the need our community and our world. Our hearts continue to go out to to build our infrastructure to best support our community is all those who have experienced loss and pain. Mental health and wellness awareness has taken on a new dimension in the light does to support traumatized youth and families, we are now of Covid-19. All of us at Harmony At Home recognize the trauma recognizing that our entire community has been traumatized. The work that Harmony At Home will be doing over these next few years will be critical in addressing and treating the many issues Gratitude… share with our partners, Harmony At Home would not have Our Commitment to our Monterey County family… survived over this past year and a half. Due to the generosity of • We will continue to expand our services throughout Monterey County, as needed and requested, to address continue to support our community throughout the trauma of the presenting mental health and relational issues facing Covid-19. our children, youth, and families. • We will continue to provide programs that will help lift Pivoting… When we learned of shelter-in-place, Harmony At Home developed the infrastructure to provide services either virtually With Gratitude, or by phone within one week. Due to the strength of our sound organization was positioned well to make this shift. There were many considerations moving to this new model of service Julianne Leavy that had to be attended to. With guidance and support from Founder and Executive Director continue the continuity of care and the quality of service that our school and community partners have become accustomed to. Letter from Our Board President Dear community, Welcome to Harmony At Home’s First Annual Report! Before COVID hit, Harmony At Home’s immediate goal was to expand its programs beyond Salinas and the Peninsula to the If you are already a friend and supporter of Harmony At Home, you know about the vital and life-changing work done every day supporters, we were able to achieve this goal despite the Our primary Mission is to directly assist children who have If you have supported Harmony At Home in the past with your experienced trauma in their lives, with high-quality counseling force against bullying in school - our work in bullying prevention is fundamentally changing school culture in 50 of our County’s important than watching our children grow up strong and resilient, and ready to change the world. and parenting support to teen mothers, with a focus on higher Leslie Finnegan education, and we provide support to parents and children who Board President meticulously and creatively constructed by licensed mental health hands-on “working” Board of Directors, the organization is well- thousands of children every year. 4 HARMONY AT HOME Board of Directors 2020-2021 Jose Arreola Director Leslie Finnegan Susan Prest Donald Leach Mike Leavy President Vice President EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS BOARD Carol Kolb Lynn Lozier Fran Mosher DeeAnn Thompson Treasurer Secretary Julianne Leavy Executive Director 5 Our wonderful Office Staff The Administrative Team is pleased to support all of Harmony At Home’s systems, manages our grants through the County, sends out regular updates to our partners and the community and provides human resources and program management and support. challenges and uncertainty due to the pandemic and distance learning. But, members of our community who most need our support. Once Shelter-In- innovative and resourceful. Our Administrative Team has been diligent in staying up to date on evolving COVID-19 protocols and ensuring that the needed information, signage, online resources and safety and cleaning In photo, L to R - Claudia Fernandez (HR Manager), Christina Wright (Program Director), and Highlights “I am so impressed with the In summer of 2020 we welcomed Administrative Team for Harmony At Home. When I stopped by the other Harmony At Home, including a new Program Director, Sticks and day just for a quick check in, you Stones® Program Manager and Lead were all so engaged in your work and Administrator for our Community completing your mission. I really had and Onsite Counseling services. to work hard to interrupt you.” — Marsha Kelly, Founding Board Member 6 OUR PROGRAMS Highlights Bullying Prevention 2020-2021 School Year - Harmony At Home Frances “Pinkie” Weesner successfully supports all participating school Our school and community wide anti- sites and districts during the Covid-19 Pandemic bullying programs positively impact community. We utilize the internationally renowned program, Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP), while also implementing Student-Led Assemblies engaging students, parents, and teachers. The support of our school partners in bullying prevention, is to ultimately help create a safe and positive climate and culture for our students to best learn. bullying occurs. Those who are either targeted, North Monterey County Middle School engage in the behavior, or witness it, are all goals for limiting opportunities and rewards for bullying, and common expectations regarding safe “If someone is bullying us or we don’t feel OBPP supports both community level and individual safe with someone, we can talk about it, change at schools by reducing existing incidents Northridge Mall and Harmony At of bullying, preventing the development of future Home partner to promote Pink Shirt come up with a solution, or talk to a teacher.” bullying issues, and improving peer relationships. Day (Feb 2019) — 6th Grade student from Los Padres Elementary During distance learning, the bullying prevention team continued to serve over 9,000 students, their schools, and families. The team provided SCHOOLS: 15 virtual trainings, parent engagement and outreach (13 in Salinas, events, instructional materials, and periodic 1 on the Peninsula, attendance at virtual classroom meetings. They 1 in South County) also were successful in presenting a virtual Pink Shirt Day event, an internationally recognized STUDENTS SERVED: 9,965 annual bullying prevention observation. AGE RANGE: 5-14 Mr. Oscar Sanchez and students at Los Padres Elementary School on Pink Shirt Day (Feb 2018) 7 Sticks & Stones® Highlights Lorena Rodriguez Our Sticks & Stones® school-based • We have secured new partnerships, counseling program targets children and for the 1st time we extended and youth who have experienced our services over the summer for trauma which is negatively impacting their overall functioning. The program uses evidence-based cognitive • Increased family engagement behavioral strategies to best address through telehealth services the trauma they may be holding, which if not addressed, can not only negatively • impact learning opportunities, but also social and emotional functioning. School District, Sacred Heart Throughout the year, there has been • Sticks & Stones® services extended “Quality Family Time” - The Rodriguez Family for our services. We collaborated with those around the students to identify needs and continuously check for progress. One of the greatest challenges for students during distance learning was loss of social interaction. Many looked forward to their next Sticks & Stones® session to have an opportunity to connect with someone outside of their own home and share updates about their daily activities, “Sticks & Stones® was our saving grace, thoughts, and feelings. especially when COVID hit.” Although services via telehealth did not work well for some, for many others and their - Veronica Rodriguez, parent ® families it was a life-changing experience. We Sticks & Stones : learned how to engage families and help them SCHOOL DISTRICTS: 12 communicate better. Although there still exists SCHOOLS: 52 some stigma against mental health services, many families became more open to the idea of COUNSELING SESSIONS: 4,869 counseling. STUDENTS SERVED: 582 (432 in Salinas, 112 in South “Being invited into people’s homes via Telehealth County, 38 outside the County) helped us increase mental health awareness and, in some cases, destigmatize feelings AGE RANGE: 5-18 around counseling and therapy,” said Lorena Rodriguez, Sticks & Stones® Program Manager. “Sharing Feelings Activity” - Ms. Lorena with Anthony & Alex Rodriguez 8 Community Counseling Sylvia Chaires Our Community Counseling program provides an array of collaborative counseling support to address a myriad Highlights of social, emotional, relational, and mental health challenges. The counseling can occur on a school campus or at community agencies that we partner with and is Community Counseling tailored to support the population at each site. With extended services under Community Counseling, we are Monterey County (Salinas and Seaside locations), Community guardians of the young clients we serve. In partnership Partnership for Youth, International School of Monterey, Witness Assistance Program, we also provide trauma- Vista Verde, and Washington informed counseling services to victims of crime. Our Onsite Counseling program