services We will offer at drop in center and/or shelter
Bloom House Youth Services will offer the following services either in-house at the Drop-In-Center and/or Shelter or via referral to community partners.
Intensive Comprehensive Mental Health, Laundry and Clothing, Food, Bathing and Hygiene Needs, Educational Achievement, Employment, Childcare for Parenting Youth, Life Skills Development, Health Education and Safe Relationship Education, Safety, Legal Assistance, Healthcare Access, Substance Abuse Treatment, Religion and Spiritual Needs, Financial Literacy.
Note: As this will be an inclusive youth shelter, all staff and volunteers must be trained on issues faced by LGBTQ youth and fully trained on pronouns, avoiding dead-naming, misgendering, and trained to confront any ingrained stereotyping they may have. All will need to take the Implicit Bias Test and address implicit biases they have. More about staffing below.
NOTE ABOUT PETS:
IDEA: We have an attached kennel-space for dogs which would need to have a few (3 or 4?) separate medium kennel spaces set up like a stable - a door to enter, and a dog bed inside, toys, food/water dish. A doggy door to a fenced in yard space, separated from the garden area. This would be ideal, as we don’t want to have to seperate people from their pets. Pets that could stay in rooms = small container pets like rats, gerbils, lizards, etc. Cats could also stay in rooms and the youth will be responsible for maintaining litter box. It would be great to have a trained therapy animal with a hypoallergenic coat as the shelter pet. We’ll definitely have an office cat for the admin offices.
Intensive Comprehensive Mental Health, Laundry and Clothing, Food, Bathing and Hygiene Needs, Educational Achievement, Employment, Childcare for Parenting Youth, Life Skills Development, Health Education and Safe Relationship Education, Safety, Legal Assistance, Healthcare Access, Substance Abuse Treatment, Religion and Spiritual Needs, Financial Literacy.
- Comprehensive Mental Health Services
- Art therapist trained to offer standard client centered talk therapy as well as expressive arts therapy/music/drama/etc for those who are unable to / find it difficult to speak
- Trauma informed approach
- Gender and Sexuality Diversity Informed
- Domestic Violence / Childhood Abuse Informed
- Trained to recognize Sex Trafficking signs and address therapeutically
- Offer family reconciliation, mediation, and group and family therapy
- Understand the systematic racism in our societal structures
- Understand poverty and the issues faced by those in poverty
- Disability and Neurodiversity trained - able to recognize invisible disabilities as valid and understand neurodiversity is to be accepted and not “cured”.
- Must understand the role of therapist is to give voice to their clients, to guide them in their expression and assist in not only ameliorating stress caused by societal inequality and injustice, but to validate the anger of their clients.
- Laundry Services / Free Clothing
- Must be at the shelter and at the drop in center
- Must include Clothes Closet free to all youth and stocked with all variety and sizes of clothing for the youth in need to choose what they want to wear / how they choose to present. These will come primarily from donations and we will need to dry/wash/dry before hanging up for youth to take. Any donated clothing that is not in good shape can be cut to be re-used for rags or in art projects if applicable material. We will need to specifically ask for donations of underwear specific to trans youth’s needs. We may not always have enough donations for this and should consider looking for a funding source to supply at least $2,000 per year to supplement what we do not get in donations.
- Full kitchen at shelter and space for non-perishables in rooms as well. We will need to have at least 5 refrigerators with partitions denoting room #s so the youth staying in shelter will feel autonomy of space and that their food is secure and clearly theirs. Food insecurity is faced by homeless populations of all ages and time homeless, but can increase if the youth is from a home with many people and very little food. Will need to have a staff refrigerator that will hold back ups of necessities and provide for house meals when all are together for a meal, otherwise individual youth may be eating separately or in groups depending on school/work etc.
- Food pantry and small kitchen at drop in center
- Food Garden and greenhouse at shelter - no chemical pesticides used
- Native prairie wildflowers with certified bee/butterfly garden - no chemical pesticides used. Make use of yard space at shelter and drop in center / offices to be functional as well as beautiful. Perennials, not annuals - all flowers and grasses should be native.
- Bathing Needs: Safe, individual, shower stalls with ability to be secured from inside and with walls that reach ceiling. We will need to have a closet for toiletry items of all sorts stocked at all times that is accessible to the youth all the time.
- Education Needs: Connection with Kansasworks youth program (16-24)for FREE GED prep and testing at Adult Education Center, FREE tuition covered for most degrees at FHTC, FREE supportive services: interview clothes, work uniforms, school supplies, and transportation costs to and from work, childcare assistance for any with children.
- Job Readiness / Employment Needs: Through connection with Kansasworks youth program (16-24) can get resume, coverletter, budgeting and general financial literacy assistance, as well as inclusion into Work Experience and On The Job Training and Registered Apprenticeship programs where Kansasworks helps get the youth started in a career via financial incentives to employers (very simplified explanation)
- Childcare: We may see youth with young children - will need to have equipment on hand such as diapers, playpen, soft toys, kids meds, formula, bottles, etc. have the foresight to have a generally child-safe home. I’d expect we may see approx 3 per year. May need PRN childcare provider / child development educator. Look to license childcare providers in area, ECKAN childcare, etc.
- Life Skills Education - this will be some overlap with Kansasworks services mentioned above, but offer more in-house service - time management, budgeting, confidence building, interview practice, hygiene, good habits, how to handle stress, general life skills
- Comprehensive Safe Sexual Health/Education - need to have condoms available, a connection with Gender Identies/Sexual Orientation informed and accepting OBGYN in town for birth control and std testing and education, etc. Will need to have trained case managers. Connections with Physicians out of town who do hormone treatments, surgeries, etc to whom we can refer our trans clients in need.
- Individual single bed bedrooms for each youth with a lock to their room. Staff will need to have a master key to all doors, but no other youth should have a key that would be able to open another’s door.
- Video cameras throughout shelter aside from bathrooms/bedrooms and alarm system.
- Video cameras throughout office/drop in space aside from bathrooms/bedrooms and alarm system.
- Legal Aid - have a lawyer versed in emancipation process and child abuse on retainer for all youth’s needs when they arise. Will need to have good connections to certain, trustworthy, gender/sexual orientation informed police officers so we can call them directly instead of just 911 when emergencies arise. Have good connections with E.R staff at hospital, clinic, and counselors at schools. Connection with community corrections for those youth who are on probation or coming from juvenile or adult detention.
- Healthcare - SOAR certified staff to assist youth with disabilities in applying for SSDI and medicaid. Connections with Flint Hills Community Clinic, individual physicians - including dentists and optometrists, and psychiatrists in the community, and Newman regional.
- Substance Abuse - In-House: all therapists and case managers need to be trained on the NA/AA 12 step system for the youth who prefer this as well as alternatives to 12 steps approach to substance abuse which is seriously lacking in American institutions. Out-house: connections to sponsors in the NA/AA community, connect with Corner House for outpatient substance abuse counseling. Have connections with vetted non-church based inpatient treatment centers for those who are needing inpatient detox for exceptionally painful (heroin / opiates) or life threatening (alcohol) withdrawls.
- Religious / Spiritual Needs: All staff need trained on religious diversity and accepting of all religions. We will need to reach out and have good connections with a wide range of religious leaders who are LGBTQ-welcoming and accepting for religious youth
- Community Partnerships:
- Southeast Kansasworks - Emporia, and statewide
- Literacy Center - Emporia
- Adult Education Center - Emporia
- Flint Hills Community Health Clinic
- Newman Regional Hospital
- Emporia Mainstreet and Chamber of Commerce
- Area safe businessess
- Emporia High School / Learning Center
- Emporia State University
- Flint Hills Technical College
- Corner House
- Crosswinds
- Other Area Shelters for Referrals: Plumb Place, Shiloh House, Rescue Mission
- Continuum of Care - Statewide
- Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition
- Safe churches: United Methodist, St. Andrew’s Episcopal, more as determined….
Note: As this will be an inclusive youth shelter, all staff and volunteers must be trained on issues faced by LGBTQ youth and fully trained on pronouns, avoiding dead-naming, misgendering, and trained to confront any ingrained stereotyping they may have. All will need to take the Implicit Bias Test and address implicit biases they have. More about staffing below.
NOTE ABOUT PETS:
IDEA: We have an attached kennel-space for dogs which would need to have a few (3 or 4?) separate medium kennel spaces set up like a stable - a door to enter, and a dog bed inside, toys, food/water dish. A doggy door to a fenced in yard space, separated from the garden area. This would be ideal, as we don’t want to have to seperate people from their pets. Pets that could stay in rooms = small container pets like rats, gerbils, lizards, etc. Cats could also stay in rooms and the youth will be responsible for maintaining litter box. It would be great to have a trained therapy animal with a hypoallergenic coat as the shelter pet. We’ll definitely have an office cat for the admin offices.