Staff Above & Beyond, Hats Off & Positive Community Feedback January 2019

Above & Beyond, Hats Off and Positive Stakeholder Feedback

Above & Beyond 

Sarah Busemeyer was nominated for going Above and Beyond due to her commitment and exceptional work while conducting a home visit with one of her foster families when they accepted a referral for a new placement.  Sarah stayed at the home for several hours into the evening after her home visit was completed to help the foster family navigate the placement.  She contacted the pharmacy and Medicaid provider to determine the correct prescribed medications, dosing instructions and mental health diagnosis.  She provided support for the family during the initial placement and continued to check in with the family, even though she hadn’t yet been assigned to the case.  The family appreciated the support they received and couldn’t thank Sarah enough for her help!

Shelly Brazier was nominated for going Above and Beyond for her work with the Child Focus Toy Drive and Giving Tree.  Each year brings growth in toys and number of families and children served and this year is no exception.  The toy drive netted, 1,816 toys, which was 409 more than last year.  Giving Tree had 119 families including 334 children. Despite difficulty with late entries of some recipients into the Giving Tree and sponsors cancelling or not showing up on time, Shelly has expertly handled the logistics of both programs with grace and patience. During a very busy time for Child Focus and her own family, Shelly activated continuous help and support from her amazing daughter Shelby. Thank you, Shelly, for making sure so many of the CFI families have the opportunity to enjoy the holidays during such a busy and hectic time!

Hats Off 

Craig Johnson, Jackie Pridemore, Stella Juenger, Elyse Pyle and Kelly Merecicky were nominated for Hats Off for their work in coordinating the giving tree program for the Genesis building.  Thanks to the generous donations by AK Steel employees, 17 families were blessed with gifts for their families at Christmas.  The team graciously drove to West Chester to pick up the gifts and helped to make all contacts with the families including carrying everything out to the cars.  Our families are blessed by AK Steel’s generosity along with the Genesis Team’s willingness to coordinate the Christmas program.  Thanks for going the extra mile to Make the Difference!

Jennifer Rafferty was nominated for Hats Off for her work with resilience youth.  It was praised that Jennifer is flexible and has worked to create a bridge between the mobile crisis team and the youth wraparound teams, which is very helpful.  Thank you for your work and collaboration with Family and Children First!

Four staff were nominated for Hats Off for their participation in the community showings of the documentary that explores the causes and effective treatments and management of anxiety,“Angst”,  in the Forest Hills School District.  A panel discussion following the movie was conducted, fielding questions from parents.  Led by Alison Price, who was present for both showings, the team provided families with excellent information and resources.  A special thanks to the team which included:

Alison Price

Amanda Hager

Nicole Snyder

Rebecca Zingarelli

Jodi Quehl was nominated for Hats Off for her willingness in being so proactive with Bonnie Olds-Carson in getting a client transferred over to Genesis.

Positive Community Feedback

The following positive feedback was shared from a Director at one of the sites for which Dashia Stanz provides Early Childhood Mental Health consultation: "I just wanted to come up and tell you how wonderful Dashia is. She is such a joy to work with and I just don't know what I'd do without her support. She has helped our teachers and me be more supportive of the kids with challenges."

The following positive community feedback was provided by a QPR participant: Melanie Palmer "did an outstanding job presenting and the information shared was highly relevant. I spent the evening debriefing with my husband because my eyes were opened to many things I didn't know about suicide and finding hope. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise. You were delightful!" - QPR Training Participant

The following feedback was provided by a DJFS staff member: "Eric Carpenter has consistently gone above and beyond to ensure the safety of a child on his caseload. He is professional and consistent and deserves to be acknowledged for his excellent work.  Because of Eric's insight, the agency was able to prevent a disruption and ensure the children’s safety. Eric represents Child Focus, Inc. in a very professional manner. - Clermont County DJFS Staff

A Highland County Children’s Protective Services worker shared, "I just wanted to let you know how much we love working with Child Focus Community Mental Health staff. We send a lot of kids to you guys and you always do a great job."

A grandmother working with the Wasserman Day Treatment program noted, "Wasserman has given my child many tools to work with, coping/social skills, how to manage her emotions and thought processing/hallucinations. I cannot praise them enough."