Model and Strategy
A Home Within (AHW) connects current and former foster youth with experienced therapists to support their resilience and healing from trauma. Mental health and well-being are the bedrock of all healthy functioning, and are established through relationships. AHW therapists commit to providing high-quality psychotherapy and a healing relationship for free, for as long as it takes.
AHW’s partners in the project are San Francisco and Contra Costa County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA). AHW and CASA will recruit, train, and provide ongoing support to therapists to facilitate their long-term pro-bono commitment to youth who, by definition, have experienced abuse and neglect. Through no fault of their own, they have been placed in foster care, a system that struggles to meet their needs. The project will create a replicable, scalable solution to the challenge of inadequate mental health support for foster youth by leveraging CASA’s skill at volunteer recruitment and AHW’s track record of providing professional development and ongoing support for the long-term pro-bono commitment of therapists working one-on-one with foster youth — for as long as it takes.
Impact
A Home Within envisions a world in which all foster children have relationships with stable, consistent adults who love and care for them. The Foster Care Research Group at the University of San Francisco established that our model of supporting long-term healthy relationships for foster youth significantly reduces the mental health symptoms that otherwise hinder their chances for positive, successful lives.
Foster youth receiving therapy perform better in school and have more fulfilling relationships with their peers, relatives, and foster families. They find more stable employment and are less likely to end up in jail. Therapists report reductions in clients’ depression, anxiety, aggression, and relationship problems. AHW therapists also benefit, reporting that they gain satisfaction while deepening their clinical skills.
A Home Within and CASA of Contra Costa County have partnered to provide counseling services to foster children and youth in California through the A Home Within–CASA Therapy Project (ACTP).
The ACTP provides California foster youth with one-on-one, stable, and committed relationships with volunteer psychotherapists who provide free weekly teletherapy and are supported by A Home Within. Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) provide one-on-one mentorship and support youth in engaging with the courts, social workers, and other service providers.
To date, nearly 2,000 AHW therapists have worked with over 1,500 youth. Our clinical volunteers provide nearly 16,000 hours of therapy per year. An average hour of private therapy in the Bay Area costs at least $175. Historically, AHW therapists meet with clients 46 times a year, and therapy lasts three years. If the project matches 50 new therapists with youth each year, the value created would be over $1.2 million.
Leadership
-
Reed Connell
President