Community Connections: Morrison Child and Family Services

Morrison Child and Family Services has been providing leading edge mental health services for more than 60 years. Morrison is the largest nonprofit in the Pacific Northwest providing a continuum of specialized mental health services for children from birth to 18 years old. They serve over 5,000 children and families each year.

Morrison Child and Family Services:  Mission Statement

To provide quality, comprehensive social, mental health and educational services that strengthen the family and to establish partnerships that promote community responsibility for children and families. http://www.morrisonkids.org

Roxanne’s Story…

The elderly couple came to Rosemont, a treatment center for adolescent girls run by Morrison Child and Family Services. Why? To visit Roxanne, a 13-year-old girl from Ashland who, they were astonished to learn, was their granddaughter. Because this would be their first meeting, they didn’t know what to expect. While apprehensive, they were more excited to know that they had a granddaughter and were very curious to meet her.

Roxanne met them at the reception desk. She seemed confident, healthy, and bright. “Would you like to take the Rosemont tour?” she asked. Together, they walked through the security door and into the facility. “I’m doing real well in the school here and I have lots of friends. See, this is my classroom.” The grandparents nodded approvingly. They peaked into her dorm room. The neat, tastefully decorated space conveyed that an adolescent girl lived here. From what they could tell, Roxanne seemed to be a normal, outgoing teenager. They were perplexed. 

“But why were you sent here, honey?” her grandmother asked. “We were told this place was for girls in trouble.” “Oh, I had some problems in my last foster home. I kind of broke down a door when I was sent to my room.” Tiny Roxanne seemed an unlikely candidate for such destruction. “You mean you pried it open?” “No, I broke it with my shoulders and my feet. I smashed it until it came off the hinges. I think I hit it with a chair and a lamp too. I really don’t remember all of it – I was on drugs, too. Then I ran away.” Tears were welling up in her eyes and she looked away. In a hushed voice she said, “I tried to tell my foster parents that one of their friends was trying to make me do things I didn’t want to do. They called me a liar and sent me to my room.” Roxanne paused, took a breath and said, “But he did … some bad things. They told the police that I tore up their house and that I was a drug addict. That’s how I got here.” By now, the grandparents were upset and not sure what they should do. All they knew was that they wanted to talk to someone about Roxanne’s situation.

At lunch, they met with a dual diagnosis therapist who was actively involved in Roxanne’s care. “Roxanne has been through things no child should ever experience, and she’s resorted to substance abuse and fits of violence. The focus of her treatment has been to help her deal with her feelings in a more productive way and to be clean and sober. With her mother out of the picture and no dad on record, she’s been in seven foster placements since she was 3 – no one knew that she had any living relatives, it seems. But she’s doing really well here. She’ll be leaving in a few months, but so far, we haven’t found a placement for her. I know you’re concerned and want to do something, but do you think you’re up for the challenge? It’s going to be work, very, very difficult work at times, but we’re here to help you every step of the way.” They looked at each other, and with resolve in their eyes, said “Yes”. The therapist was encouraged. “Well the next step is to see how Roxanne feels about this and for all of us to help her. We want her to thrive, not just survive, right?”

It was time for good-byes. “Would you like to get to know us a little better, honey?” her grandmother asked. “Yes, I think I would,” she said. “But lots of people have said that to me. So I won’t get my hopes up this time.” All three were crying as they went their separate ways. Later, months later, Roxanne did indeed have hope. Her grandparents stayed involved with Roxanne and Morrison’s therapists throughout the process. And today, she gets to go home, home to the new room that her grandparents decorated … just for her.

Opportunities To Become Part of the Morrison Team

Work for Morrison

Morrison employs nearly 500 people, from basic support staff to therapists and site managers. We have internships and entry level positions as well as positions requiring extensive experience and post-graduate credentials. For employment information, please visit:
http://www.morrisonkids.org/employment

Volunteer for Morrison

Volunteers play a crucial role in fulfilling Morrison’s mission. They serve as mentors; support our development staff; bring music, art and literature to youth in our programs; and provide child care for families in group meetings. For complete list of volunteer opportunities, please visit:
http://www.morrisonkids.org/support/volunteer.aspx

Program Highlights

The Incredible Years

Incredible Years is a prevention and intervention program for preschool children at risk for developing severe behavioral and aggressive problems. Morrison has been called a model site, in terms of program implementation, by the creator of The Incredible Years (Dr. Carolyn Webster-Stratton, M.S.N., M.P.H., Ph.D., Professor and Director of the Parenting Clinic at the University of Washington). The program includes parent groups and children’s social skills groups.

Morrison’s outstanding implementation of The Incredible Years was recognized this year by SAMHSA, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which presented Morrison with its prestigious Science and Service Award in the Mental Health Promotion category, the only such organization in Oregon to be recognized.

Doctoral Internship Program

Morrison’s Doctoral Internship is an American Psychological Association (APA) approved internship program. This full-year, full-time intensive training experience with a child/community focus has been offered since 1963. An intern’s time is divided among four main roles. These include:
1. Core (i.e., primary) placement in a community outpatient or specialty treatment program
2. Conducting psychological evaluations
3. Juvenile justice consultation/intervention
4. Extensive supervision and training

Four Ph.D intern positions are anticipated for the 2008 - 2009 training year.
Deadline for applications is Nov. 30, 2007.
For more information, please contact Morrison’s Outpatient Department at 503-258-4320.

Program Evaluation

For more than 25 years, Morrison has collected and analyzed data in order to evaluate the effectiveness of programs, guide program modifications and maintain a high level of integrity and accountability to both our funders and clients. This unique internal competency has become such a powerful tool that other organizations now contract with Program Evaluation to review the effectiveness of their own programs. For more information on Program Evaluation, please visit: http://www.morrisonkids.org/programs/evaluation.aspx

Cultural Accountability

We at Morrison serve a diverse population. Therefore, we believe it is imperative to create and maintain an environment where the organization’s workforce and people utilizing services, feel respected and appreciated for their specific and unique contributions. We work to continuously improve the delivery of culturally responsive and competent services through the development and maintenance of relevant policies that produce measurable outcomes at every level of the organization.

Among the ways in which we support cultural accountability:

• examining our organizational culture and identity and applying what we learn as a part of our directive around continued organizational improvement;

• supporting personal education and growth;

• increasing personal awareness of bias, its impact and the need for reduction;

• reaching out to the community that is utilizing our services;

• assuring diverse representation in our workforce throughout the various levels of the organization;

• identifying and meeting benchmarks on an ongoing basis;

• honestly evaluating our outcomes

For more information contact Morrison Child and Family Services.