Current Stories
The work we do at Victor changes lives. We understand many businesses or organizations can say the same, but we actually see the proof in our client's success stories.
For one of our Wraparound Program Clients at VTC Pomona, the last two years made the difference between a young woman becoming homeless or thriving in her foster home.
The Wraparound Program Supervisor was thrilled to be able to recommend J for graduation from the program this year. We are excited to share their first hand account with you:
Building a Relationship
Our Wraparound Team at Victor started working with Jo* in 2018 when she came to us with a history of self-harming behaviors, suicidal ideation, and several hospitalizations. When we met Jo she was struggling at home and in the school setting. We also knew she was in a foster home after being removed from her mother and was facing some challenges with her placement.
The two main goals of the Wraparound Team were to encourage Jo to learn how to utilize positive coping skills and also seek out what Jo's underlying needs were. However, before we could do that, we needed to get to know Jo and build a relationship with her.
We understood the trauma Jo had faced and wanted to make sure that she would have a consistent support network as she faced future changes. During the next two years, through every placement and every school, our staff continually reminded her that we were there to support her.
Healthy Coping Skills
Our team of experts worked together to provide the resources Jo needed.
- Her Child and Family Specialist worked on discovering what Jo’s interests were so we could learn the most effective ways to communicate.
- Her Clinician focused on Jo’s mental health.
- Her Parent Partner worked with her foster mother and biological mother, helping them find community resources, interventions, and tools they could utilize to better assist her.
- Alongside the Clinical Social Worker, her Facilitator worked with the family on how to best help Jo.
We were able to help Jo identify that her underlying needs were wanting to feel safe and be heard. We discovered that most of the time she felt nobody listened to her and that the only way to be heard at all was to hurt herself.
Our Child and Family Specialist discovered that Jo really enjoyed boxing, coloring and video games, so we purchased a punching bag and some arts and crafts. We were able to help Jo develop positive coping skills using her interests and the activities that she enjoyed.
As you would expect, there were a few bumps along the way and some issues came up that had to be worked through, but we helped Jo see these as learning experiences. Through the rough patches and the challenges that came with changes, the Wraparound team was a consistent source of support.
Communication and Home Life
When Jo was placed in her current foster home, she mentioned to the team that she was concerned she would be "kicked out soon.”
Our team worked with the foster parents, encouraging them to do family activities, eat together and make their home feel safe for Jo. She eventually felt comfortable expressing herself to her foster parents and was able to identify her emotions and use her coping skills.
We are happy to report that in July 2020 we recommended graduation for Jo. The social worker, family and Jo were all on board with her graduation. Though we are proud of the work our staff did, we are even more proud of Jo who was able to push forward and succeed.
We wish her nothing but success in her journey forward.
Helping Others Soar
Jo’s story is a perfect example of how we help others soar at Victor. Through our staff working together, listening to our clients, and focusing on our goals we change lives for the better.
If this story resonates with you, maybe you are the type of person who could help others at Victor. Click below to see what opportunities we have available.
*Jo is not the client’s real name
With civic unrest, a presidential election, and a pandemic, the past few months have been enough to make us want to pull out hair and scream. However, we as adults have the ability to identify our emotions and calm ourselves down when anger arises.
For some of our clients, anger is an overwhelming emotion that they don’t know how to manage and it ends up bursting out of them. It affects their school time, home, and friendships. It is out of one of these situations that we have a Victor Success Story.
Big Emotions, Little Person
Things became very serious for 8 year old John* when he was facing expulsion at his elementary school in 2018. He was in crisis, exhibiting severe aggressive and destructive behaviors in school and at home. He was the type of kid that threw chairs in class, got into fights at school, and was aggressive towards teachers.
No one wanted to see John in this much emotional turmoil. He had a good support system at home and at school. With his siblings also at school, his mom a volunteer and active in the PTA, and his teachers and the administrative staff knowing him since he was in kindergarten, he had a team rooting for him to gain better control over his emotions. We wish all our kids could be so lucky.
John showed improvements but also backslid and there weren't any consistent changes sticking. After a serious aggressive episode, it was explained to him that he may have to change schools. It was at this point that our Victor team was introduced.
Wrapping Around
We went to work, focusing on helping John to regulate his emotions so he could stay at the school and with the community that cares so much about him. He was also really determined to do better and was receptive to the interventions and skills being presented to him.
Similar to other successful cases, consistency was a key factor in helping John. His single mother of six, who is also a grandmother of one, utilized the skills and interventions we suggested to her. His clinician and behavior specialist were in the home two days a week and at the school another two days a week (face to face services before COVID).
With consistency, support, and a non-judgmental environment, Victor staff and his family were able to help John turn around his behavior. They created incentives for John to strive for and week by week were able to help him overcome the hurdles that popped up.
Getting Creative
Knowing John is an athlete and loves Spider-Man and The Flash, his clinician incorporated them into his services. By using his favorite super heroes as examples, they could talk about feelings and making choices in response to those feelings. By asking questions like, "What would Spider-Man do if he faced this same conflict?” John stayed more engaged. Because what child doesn’t want to make their hero proud?
We are lucky at Victor to have clinicians that care so much for their clients. By spending time really getting to know John and what he is interested in, they were able to craft sessions to motivate and inspire him. He could learn about controlling his emotions and behavior through identification with one of his heroes, The Flash. For John, relating to his hero particularly assisted in the face of using digital counseling after COVID restraints were imposed.
Graduating
John is now graduating the program - he's not only graduating, but he can recite his skills. He is able to identify specific scenarios and discuss what he should do. He is now able to recognize his feelings and remember what tools he has to manage them.
His family is optimistic as well. His mother said she is very happy and excited that he is graduating and feels like she can manage his behavior with the skills and interventions that the clinician and behavior specialist have taught her over the past couple years.
It has taken a couple years to get here, including time in a pandemic. It’s the moments of success when John would demonstrate his understanding and ability to use a new tool that served as inspiration and motivation over the years. Moments where the client succeeds are huge and what it’s all about. It’s not just teaching a kid how to stay in school, but it is also about setting them up for a healthier and happier life.
His clinician said that she believes it is Victor’s responsibility to teach and help these families improve their lives. That looks like developing better cognitive and emotional skills to help reduce the symptoms of whatever is going on in their family’s life and help them cope with various challenges. That belief is what gets her through the ups and downs of being a therapist in the midst of so many societal stresses.
If you have similar hopes and ideas about how to improve families’ lives and their children’s emotional well-being, maybe Victor is the place for you. Follow the link below to see what job openings are available that you would be a good fit for!
With the holidays drawing near, we are reminded of the value of family time and being able to gather with one another under the same roof. However, life circumstances can sometimes prevent relatives from staying together.
At Victor, we see varying reasons families are moved around or temporarily separated. Our Victor Success Story this month features Sophia, who helped a set of grandparents prepare their home for their two grandchildren whose mother was unable to care for them at the time.
Necessary Separation
Sometimes it becomes necessary for children to leave their parents and go to live with another relative. This can happen when a parent needs to fulfill requirements laid out for them by the court or caring for children becomes too great a responsibility.
These separations can vary in length of time, but for however long, the kids will need to stay with a relative or designated guardian. That’s where Victor comes in with our Relative Home Assessment Services:
- Resource Family Approval Training
- Resource Family Approval Post Approval Training
- Home Environment Assessment
- Resource Family Approval Applicant Home Environment Corrective Action Plan
- Relative Caregiver Emergency Fund
Our Client
To be able to host their grandchildren, the grandparents needed to pass the Resource Family Approval process through the Department of Children and Family Services. RFA combines elements of the current foster parent licensing, relative approval, and approvals for adoption and guardianship processes.
Unfortunately, the grandmother faced some unique challenges concerning the paperwork portion of getting approved. So, Sophia collaborated with her supervisor to find the resources the grandmother needed to complete the requirements.
This was a very long process and the grandmother started feeling hopeless and helpless. She was worried her paperwork wouldn’t be submitted in time and didn’t want her case to be denied because of it. Her biggest fear was having her grandchildren taken away from her, but she was determined to succeed.
Happy News
Sophia consistently checked in with her and ensured she had what she needed, like helping her with ways to improve her home to make it safer for her grandchildren and following up on paperwork. After three long months, the paperwork went through, the grandmother got fingerprinted, and everything was complete!
Everyone involved felt a huge sense of relief and joy. The process took a lot of time, but in the end, everything was well, and the grandchildren were able to start living with their grandparents.
The services we provide at Victor are many, but they all focus on helping others soar, whether that is mental health, foster care, the justice system or otherwise related. If helping families like Sophia did, or any of these other areas speak to you, we invite you to see what positions we have available and to read our blog for other Victor Success Stories.
Because we know the COVID-19 pandemic has been so hard on our foster children, like Kate, we started a pen pal program to connect them to each other. Kate’s Social Worker had the great idea to connect her to another one of her clients who is 15 years old.
Kate was so excited when she received her first letter. Finally, she had someone who could relate to what she was going through and that she could connect with. The same day she received the letter, Kate wrote her reply.
She expressed that she sees her new pen-pal as a mentor, someone she looks up to and who shares common interests. Kate has even asked her foster mother if she can meet with her pen pal at Starbucks once COVID-19 is under control.
Seeing this kind of response with the program, Victor FFA hopes to utilize pen-pals more in the near future. Resiliency building and connection are vital to the healthy development of our pre-teens and teens. And while pen pal programs have always been a great exercise, the benefits are even more evident in this season. The pen pal program helps our kids in a number of ways including promoting patience, sharing new perspectives, developing social skills, as well as improving their reading and writing skills.
Birds of a Feather
Much of our work at Victor is helping our clients develop appropriate coping skills and build resiliency, and we have knowledgeable and experienced staff trained to address a variety of needs. During this challenging season we have had to get creative and incorporate different strategies to serve our clients, like introducing a pen pal program.
Our team at Victor isn’t immune to the waves of emotions that we are all navigating in life and work these days. We are finding new ways to connect amongst ourselves as a staff and we know that sharing positive stories, like Kate’s, is a big part of keeping everyone inspired. We hope it’s given you some encouragement too. If you think a place that helps others soar and cares about its employees supporting one another, then take a look at what job opportunities are available
*Kate is not the client’s real name
Ruby started working at Victor as a Bilingual Clinician in 2018. She recently had a breakthrough with a client that we just had to share with everyone. It's stories like these that keep us going, and doing the hard work that pays off with perseverance.
Working with teenage clients has it's own set of challenges and rewards. Ruby started working with one particular teenage girl when she was in 7th grade. This young girl was exhibiting symptoms of depression. She even said that she was sad for most of the day and was also easily irritated. She would spend long hours in her room, isolating herself from her friends and family...and it got worse.
She would stop bathing for long periods of time, she struggled with insomnia and fatigue. Unable to concentrate, her grades suffered and she had feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness. Eventually thoughts of self-harm crept in and she began cutting herself.
Ruby utilized multiple treatments in her approach to help this client, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing and Family systems. Two months into treatment Ruby realized they were actually making progress. The client had been unable to develop trust with therapists in the past, due to a bad experience with a school counselor, but Ruby had started to develop a connection with her. One day she opened up to Ruby about cutting herself and said, "Ruby, help me, I am cutting and don't want to do it anymore."
It's been almost a year since they started working together and the client has made so much progress that they were recently able to finish up and close services. Her depression symptoms have lifted, thoughts of suicide and self-harm have been gone for 5 months, and she's been openly communicating with her family and friends again. The client is actively forming positive relationships. She will discuss her feelings, partakes in social activities and even joined a drama class and has been involved in multiple performances. She just recently tried out for volleyball and made the team too! Her grades have significantly improved rising from F's to A's and B's.
The client's mother is beyond thrilled with her daughter's progress. During the session to terminate services she said there had been a complete change in her daughter and that she was so proud. She also stated, "Not only did you help her, but you also helped the rest of the family, we are a family again."
Reflecting on this experience, Ruby said...
"We live in a world full of challenges that can be overwhelming and confusing. If I think about my darkest moments in life and everyone else around me, I know how powerful it can be to have someone supporting and encouraging you to be your best and most authentic self. I am passionate about personal transformation, self discovery, exploration, and healing. I want to be the one to walk alongside people in their journey and instill hope to help them get the most out of life."
Ruby has perfectly summed up what we do at Victor. Our stated mission is to be a catalyst for sustained improvement in the lives of those we touch. That's what Ruby did for this client and that's what we try to do for every client as well as our own employees.
As we come to the close of another year, we wanted to share a story with you from the CEO of Victor, Douglas Scott. The image of the plaque you see is a "thank you” to the staff in Santa Rosa CA for exemplifying the Victor way during the incredible wildfires that changed the face of Santa Rosa in October. Here is what Doug had to say.
"In the mental health services industry there is a lot of pressure to develop and present data to prove that what we do works; that data and statistics are the most important thing to present to people. Amidst this pressure, is an implied message that our stories don’t matter. The belief is that stories of our successes are self-serving and limited. I beg to differ. Our stories matter.
On November 1st I made a visit to our Santa Rosa Residential and School Programs. This city, the surrounding County, and our programs were all heavily impacted by massive fires that took many lives and burned the homes and businesses of thousands of people. The pictures on the news cannot convey the horrible destruction or the mind-boggling reality of seeing entire neighborhoods in the middle of a city totally burned to the ground. As I drove into Santa Rosa over the hills, the devastation was at first sporadic and contained in the hills. However, very quickly, I entered an area where every home was gone. The only remnants of the families that lived there were metal bar b ques, burned out cars, swing sets, and fireplace chimneys. I have heard the phrase "it looks like a bomb went off” many times on the news, for many disasters, and this is all I could keep thinking of. The devastation is impossible to grasp without being there. As I drove to a staff meeting at Roundtable Pizza, I felt deep sadness for the lives impacted.
However, as the day went on, I met with residential and school staff, toured the destruction, and I heard stories.
I heard a story about how staff formed texting groups in the middle of the night in order to check in on each other and discuss how to get to work. I heard a story about the city being evacuated, with everyone heading south, and the only cars heading north were our staff and emergency vehicles. I listened to a story of a staff riding their bike to work, through smoke and ash, so that they could evacuate kids and vehicles from our homes. I heard a story of a staff who was offered shelter in the homes of two other staff. I heard stories of staff showing up to work in the early morning hours, bringing their children with them so that they could keep their children and ours safe. I heard stories of the program leadership making hundreds of calls to ensure that all kids and staff were safe and getting needed support. I was told of staff who asked to stay around the clock, far from their homes, in order to meet the needs of the kids we were forced to evacuate out to the coast. In the midst of chaos, flames, and smoke, our staff thought of the kids and each other.
Throughout the day, I heard story after story that touched me and made me proud of the people who work for Victor. Our stories matter! It’s not only the stories that happen during an emergency that inspire. It is the daily stories I know of where our staff show courage, kindness, compassion, and love, for our kids, families, and each other. At the end of the day, it is only these stories, and the relationships they reflect that matter. I am honored to be the CEO in Victor.”
We recently received a letter from a young man who has been involved in our Transition Age Youth program. It warmed our hearts to hear, in his own words, what it felt like to overcome many of his challenges and gain hope for the future. We want to share his letter with you, but first let's answer the questions that you may have...
What are Transition Age Youth?
Transition Age Youth are clients between 15 and 24 years old who are moving towards adulthood and in many cases, independence. This is a critical time for them to receive support and guidance, especially those in foster care who may still be overcoming trauma and lack a standard family support structure. Our Transition Age Youth, or TAY programs focus on equipping clients with the skills they need to function as highly as possible. Our services address all identified transition needs including employment, educational opportunities, living situations, community life, medication, mental health, physical well being, drug and alcohol use, trauma, domestic violence, physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.
A Journey from Despair to Hope
The letter of gratitude that we received from this particular young man, illustrates the dramatic change that is possible for young men and women, when they have the right support structure and put in the work. He has turned his life in a new and positive direction. He went from struggling with negativity and self-destructive behavior, to having a positive outlook on life, a new job and hope for the future. Let's hear it in his own words.
I've been at TAY since I was 18 years old. In the beginning of my mental illness I was 15 years old. I started to smoke marijuana at age thirteen and soon enough I was diagnosed at the age of fifteen. I've had many different experiences, going to the psychiatric hospitals, getting angry, being destructive and thinking I hear voices.
Before, I had a different perspective about how I would see things, but my therapist always had hope for me. All I needed was a time of healing, experiences to change my perspective, and the love and compassion from my support peers and family. At TAY I have learned to manage my thoughts, my anxiety and temper, and realizing what I'm grateful for and also realizing that it's sometimes all in my mind.
With the support of TAY I've been able to accomplish many things.
- With time, I've been able to manage my anxiety in many cases
- I've been able to get my high school diploma at Come Back Kids
- I was able to graduate from San Joaquin Valley College with perfect attendance
- I've been able to get along with my family at home
- I've been able to feel better about my self esteem and how I see myself
- With practice, my MHRS's I've been able to set boundaries when it's right to do so
- I've been able to get a job at a chiropractic clinic
- My perspective has changed a lot, and now I feel like a healthy young man with lots of love, awaiting what life has in store for me.
- I have been able to stay clean and sober by the grace of God
Before, I was afraid, very sensitive and ready to attack because of my negative experiences. Even though it's hard sometimes to this day, I know my perspective has changed and I'm not the person I used to be. Life is a lot easier not having to fight my old fears I used to have. I'm thankful for my Mom, who has always showed affection and compassion, and a higher power for guiding me spiritually, and my friends and family who are willing to help me when I'm in need and correct my negative thinking pattern.
I've accomplished so much and I want to thank TAY for their courage and support. I want to thank Shane, my first therapist, Ruby, Stephanie, Adeola and Cheyenne for always giving me 110% support. I love you guys and thanks for the hard work you have put into me. Stephanie, thanks for being right to the point with me and being able to realize what's possible.
Thank you all, I know I have just a few more months here at TAY, but I will miss you guys and you will be a part of my life that I'll never forget. I got out of a negative thinking pattern and old habits by the grace of God, my support, friends and family. I have moved forward a thousand times and will never turn back because I don't want to feel like I used to feel.
Thank You!!!
It's Our Job to Make a Difference
It's stories like these that keep us motivated every day. Make no mistake, this is hard work for both the clients and the staff, but together we are capable of creating real and lasting change in people's lives. If you're looking for a career with meaningful work, making a positive difference in someone's life, consider a career with Victor.
Jon Fournier has been in the mental health industry for about seven years, but prior to that he had aspirations to become an audio production engineer. He worked for several years pursuing that dream and learning the skills and thought it might become his career. But with changing technology and the ease of self-producing, audio engineering became relegated to more of a hobby. Jon changed directions and went back to school to pursue a degree in psychology from Chico State, and then went on to the Wright Institute in Berkeley to complete their program in counseling psychology.
Jon works as a Clinician and has been part of the team at VCSS Chico for about 3 ½ years. Because of a partnership that is in place, Jon’s office is actually on the campus of Pleasant Valley High School, where he has the opportunity to work with teens and their families who are facing challenges.
In the summer of 2016 Jon launched a program that brought together his passion for music and audio engineering with his desire to help his clients process their lives and grow more resilient. He had experienced the impact on his own self-esteem as a teenager that came from seeing himself as a recording artist, and he wanted the clients to have that same benefit.
Jon tells it like this: "I decided that I wanted to give teens an opportunity to express themselves creatively in ways that maybe they had not done before, and also along the way teach them about the benefits of music and the joys associated with the recording arts. And, I found that they were more than willing to give it a try.”
Every week Jon brings in studio equipment including a compact Korg D3200 32-track recorder that is a standalone unit, a synthesizer and microphones. While the equipment is older, it works really well for teaching his clients audio recording and production skills. Jon also brings in guitars and he and the clients collaborate together on musical projects.
The program was supposed to last for 3 months during the summer, but the clients enjoyed it so much that one wanted to increase it to twice a week and continue it past the summer. Jon’s supervisor was supportive so they carried on.
Initially they were recording covers of songs that have been meaningful to the clients, but as things unfolded, something really amazing happened. A client wrote her own lyrics and wanted to have musical accompaniment to those lyrics. The lyrics were deep and expressive about past painful experiences. Once they finished that first original recording, this client challenged another member to write something of the same magnitude. And so, Jon says "it began to morph into this therapeutic process where these clients were sharing their own painful stories via lyrical creations, having an opportunity to take on leadership roles, and directing me to shape and refine, and make additions to the music that they were creating. It's been kind of a multifaceted process, and it involves their creative expression, their exposure and learning, and also just developing skills in the area of musical composition and production.”
The program has now been in place over a year, and over the past few months the clients worked with Jon to produce their own CD! The CD is a mixture of cover songs as well as their own original songs and anyone who has heard it has been blown away by the talent as well as the authenticity that comes through the music.
Jon would love to work on making the CD available to the public, but for now, there is just a deep satisfaction at having completed such a great collaborative project with his clients. They have successfully recorded an album, and their lives are different because of that.
Here at Victor, we love to celebrate successes. The moments when the lives of clients are truly impacted and changed. We also love to celebrate when our employees find their true passion in working with their clients. Jon’s story gives us a chance to celebrate both!