The Missouri community and government try very hard to maintain the family unit and help individuals thrive by offering a variety of services, making services accessible to the public, and by providing outreach into the community.

The Missouri community and government try very hard to maintain the family unit and help individuals to become self-sufficient by offering a variety of human services. When researching articles that described human services needs that people have in their lives, two newspaper pieces I found dealt with a teen suicide, a fourth article, published in a periodical produced by the American Public Welfare Association, looked at the services provided through Missouri’s Family Preservation Service to a young mother in crisis who was trying to take care of herself and a young baby.

In the case of the article published in People Weekly, in which a Missouri teenager, with a history of depression, committed suicide after receiving online bullying from the mother of a schoolmate. There are a variety of resources that available to assist someone thinking about suicide on the website for the Missouri Department of Mental Health. The website offers a link to many hotlines to access anonymous support and help. The site offers a link to CHADS Coalition, which is an “organization whose mission is to advance the knowledge and prevention of adolescent depression and suicide through awareness, education and research.” (CHADS Coalition, 2008) There is also the Network of Care, which provides an interactive website for people to get information about mental health services. (Network of Care, 2008) The Department of Health offers training to school counselors on suicide prevention. The training is called QPR and it allows people to provide instruction which typically takes from one to two hours that will provide general awareness about suicide, teach the average non-professional person the warning signs of suicidal thinking and behavior, and teach three basic intervention skills that can help avert the tragedy of suicide. (Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Division of Career Education. 2008) It seems that while dealing with youth, teachers and those adults in the school setting would have much contact with possibly suicidal youth and would be able to recognize some of the signs. Unfortunately, only four counselors in the state have this training, they are available to schools on a limited basis.

For families in crisis, such as single mom and baby who were featured in the article from the American Public Welfare Association there are many resources available in Missouri. The Missouri Department of Social Services offers programs through Family-Centered Services. These services are provided to families and children when a “child abuse or neglect investigation or family assessment response finds that there is a preponderance of evidence or unsubstantiated-preventive services indicated or services needed.” (Missouri Department of Social Services 2008) There is a range of treatment including day care, family counseling, evaluation or diagnosis, homemaker services and respite care. Families can access these programs through referral following evaluation or through voluntary requisition. (Missouri Department of Social Services. 2008)

Missouri also offers intensive in-home services where crisis intervention is done within the home, as an alternative to “staying, safely together”, rather than fostering out children. (Missouri Department of Social Services. 2008) In home services include counseling, parenting education, child development training, household maintenance education, nutritional training, job readiness training and other community services.

One of the reasons the Missouri community is helping people in need of human services is that many of their programs are accessible, through referral, as well as through outreach from different agencies. The Missouri Department of Social Services website is very accessible and easy to find links that can assist people in search of assistance in many form, whether is programs for the blind, health care assistance, food stamps, child care needs, or programs to assist juvenile offenders to re-enter the community. As well, the community offers good referral agencies too. From personal experience my daughter was evaluated at her local preschool in terms of educational and social development at three-years-old. Her assessment showed she might be lagging in her speech articulation skills for her age-group, and she was referred to school board for further evaluation, with possible speech therapies to follow, if needed.

In conclusion, although there are many human service needs within a community, the Missouri community is helpful in meeting a variety of needs of the community. The Missouri social service department offers easy accessibility to their services through the Internet, a venue where more and more of the community is plugging in, either at home, or school, or via public sources like the library. Secondly, the community offers services and support to keep the family unit and it’s individual together and thriving. And thirdly and most importantly, the variety of available services tries to meet the many needs of the community.

Bibliography

Augspurger, Mike. (1994, November 17) SEI mental health center reaches out to area youth. Hawk-Eye. Burlington, Iowa:, Sec A. pg3.

Hewitt, Bill. (2007, December 3) Did a cruel hoax lead to suicide? (Suicidal death of teenage Megan Meier). People Weekly, 62.23, p.135.

Hulsey, Bob & Kolb, Lisa. (1993) Family preservation in Missouri. Public Welfare 51.n2.

Meyers, JoAnn. (2004, January 18). Town to battle teen suicides. Pittsburgh Post- Gazette. Pg. C.4

Missouri Department of Mental Health. (2008). Retrieved March 2, 2008 from www.dmh.missouri.gov