COMMUNITY OUTREACH SERVICES
Benson Forman, PhD, Co-Chair
Joseph G. Slavin, PhD, Co-Chair
Community Outreach Services was founded in 2001 to advance the School's desire to meet training and consultation needs of agencies working in the community with underserved or disadvantaged populations. Through this service, the School works collaboratively with other area nonprofits to enhance the services these groups offer directly to the community. Services are tailored to meet each organization's or group's particular needs.
The Washington School became a founding member of THEARC (Town Hall Education, Recreation, and Arts Center in Anacostia) with a primary mission of supporting and collaborating with the various agencies within THEARC who offer front line services to children and families. Since that time, WSP has offered ongoing consultation to professional and paraprofessional staff at the Washington Middle School for Girls, Boys and Girls Clubs of the Greater Washington Area, and the Children's Mobile Health Care Project. Additionally, Community Outreach Services developed a training workshop for Covenant House, and over the past year has had an ongoing weekly presence at THEARC, offering consultation services to the Washington Ballet and the Levine School of Music as well.
While the particulars of what we do with each program vary according to the specific nature of the programs themselves, our task has been to help staff step out of a primarily reactive/crisis mode into a more proactive stance. For all programs we emphasize the importance of staff being a steady presence amidst the turmoil experienced by their clients. In addition to education on topics relevant to each particular agency (e.g. child development, trauma, resilience) we help staff develop a more realistic view of what they can accomplish as well as the limitations of what they can offer. In so doing, we hope that they will achieve a more realistically based sense of their competence.
Among the key psychodynamic principles that we have tried to bring to staff are the following: (1) all behavior is meaningful and motivated; (2) the internal world of the individual is shaped by his/her cultural context and is significantly impacted by ongoing trauma; (3) to effect change in our clients, we must first help them to pause and reflect; (4) this capacity can be supported most effectively in the context of a caring and containing relationship.
OTHER COMMUNITY OUTREACH SERVICES
Community Outreach Services has sponsored a one day workshop at WSP for clinicians working with underserved and disadvantaged populations. A second workshop is planned for the fall; and we hope to offer a short course next winter.
If you are interested in discussing continuing education or consultation needs of your agency, please contact us at WSP.
FURTHER INFORMATION and OPPORTUNITIES
As this project grows, there are opportunities for becoming part of a team working with an agency or group, or to become involved in other ways. For further information, contact us at the School.
Steering Committee
- Nickole Scott-Conerly, PhD
- Lucius Durden
- Robert Freeman, PhD
- Caroline Simon, PhD
- Bruce Sklarew, MD
Funding for this service since its inception has been provided by Fannie Mae Foundation, the Alper-Small Family foundation, and most significantly by Adele Lebowitz. Further support and grants are currently being sought.