Patti had a rough start.
She remembers getting on a bus with her mother, who then collapsed from a drug overdose.
Treating Families
The psychologies of child abuse are many, and none of them is simple. Understanding its causes, finding remedies for its underlying problems, and repairing the damage it does involves us deeply with the lives of victims, perpetrators, and even bystanders. In assembling our array of treatment services, the Family Resources Treatment Services team has adopted a flexible system of programs and techniques that produce practical results.
We help families find ways to keep at-risk children in their homes through Crisis Intervention, Family-Based Mental Health, and Family Unification Solutions. We resolve mental-health-related stresses with the aid of our Family-Focused/Solution-Based Services team, and reduce the risk of violence towards children while helping individuals and families function more effectively through our Outpatient Psychotherapy service. And we assist young children who have been abused or neglected, or who have witnessed domestic violence, at our Therapeutic Parents' and Children's Center.
Patti's story
"Patti may have been physically abused. She certainly was neglected. She told me she remembers getting on a bus with her mother, who then collapsed from a drug overdose.
I'm a therapist at Family Resources. For almost a year, I've been working with Patti, who is 4 right now. Patti's father was uninvolved with the family, so she was placed with her maternal grandmother. When the grandmother died of a drug overdose, Patti was sent to foster care. Then her foster parent died. So much loss for a little girl.
Patti was placed with another foster family, and this foster mother has been bringing Patti to us for play therapy. At first, Patti was mute, lying on the floor in my office. Sometimes she would yell at me, 'You're bad, shut up!' Gradually, Patti has started to be able to talk about her feelings. She is playing with other children in more appropriate ways and doing better in her preschool. Her foster family can't adopt her, but an adoptive family is almost ready to take her. Patti's new parents will be her godparents. Both families get along-recently they all took Patti to the zoo together. Next year, Patti will go to kindergarten."
"I'm optimistic that she will flourish in her new family, and I'm humbled to have been a part of her life."
-Melissa P., Family Resources Therapist
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