August 2020 Newsletter
A Message From Our President & CEO
This week school begins for PHILLIPS Programs! Staff and students alike are full of excitement.
For fifty - four years our first day of school has become steeped in beloved traditions; however, the first day of school is vastly different this year.
Following on conducting a virtual summer school, we are taking the lessons learned and applying them with great expectations for success. As always staff come together, get creative and problem solve.
This weekend, counseling staff and teachers from our Fairfax campus conducted home visits to deliver bags stuffed with traditional supplies, manipulatives, fidgets, calculators, mini white boards, chrome books and hot spots and textbooks. Each bag also contained a personal welcome letter.
We serve 23 jurisdictions from DC/VA/MD. The reach and breadth of our service area covers the entire DMV. Staff began visits on Friday and worked throughout the weekend.
Several students were so excited they came outside of their homes, wearing masks and socially distancing, posing for photos with their bags, exclaiming, “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you drove all the way out to my house. It’s so good to see you!”
One parent said, “I am so grateful that you went out of your way to personally deliver this! Thank you!”
That’s what we do. Our expert staff always go the extra mile for their students.
Along with the excitement about the start of a new school year, we have deep concerns about how to provide for everyone in our community. The children, youth, and families we serve continue to grapple with personal challenges intensified by the nation’s immersion in a crisis trifecta: COVID 19, economic downturn, and social injustice.
If you are able, you can help them succeed.
Thanks to partners like you, for over 50 years, PHILLIPS Programs has helped our youth and families thrive by providing the resources they need to learn and grow.
Our expert staff and supporters like you have provided our youth and families with the crucial attention they need to reach their full potential. Your donations provide groceries to the hungry, hot spots and chrome books to the disconnected and underwrite evidence-based treatment like the PCIT program for children and parents.
In this time of unprecedented uncertainty, the need for our youth and families is magnified. If you are in a position to assist our youth, the time is now.
The need is great, but together we can make sure that our youth and their families have the support they need to thrive where they are.
Become a PHILLIPS Programs’ “solutionary” and help our youth reach their full potential, no matter what this year holds.
Sincerely,
Piper Phillips Caswell
703.941.8810
piper.phillips@phillipsprograms.org
P.S. When you select your gift, please consider becoming a monthly donor at $10 or more. Your monthly gift will have significant impact on our youth throughout the entire year and ensure every youth has the support they need to succeed. Thank you for caring.
See the Masterpiece in Every Child:
"Focus on my Abilities!"
PHILLIPS School~Fairfax kicked off its extended summer year (ESY) program! The staff and administration didn't miss a beat and was in full teaching and learning mode with the creation of organized virtual classrooms filled with assignments and resources accessible to all the ESY youth.
In addition to academics, group counseling services continued and addressed critical, ongoing issues with our youth such as experiences with having a disability label and its overall impact.
Lauren Harper, ESY Counselor said,
The students supported each other in recognizing similar instances of feeling judged or left out due to having a disability and stated they often felt dismissed by others before people had a chance to get to know them. These students brainstormed ways to reduce the stigma of having a disability and increase people's awareness of the importance of knowing people past their labels. The group had open, honest and vulnerable conversation with students feeling safe to process their thoughts and emotions with others.
The students also shared their desires and hopes on how to alleviate the stigma. Harper noted,
Solutions focused on increasing awareness of each person's individual skills and abilities rather than making assumptions about them based on their disability. They discussed advocating for increased inclusion for people with disabilities and providing psycho-education about autism in order to reduce stigma and misconception about their disability.
We Need Chromebooks and Groceries
You are here because you are a giver. Your belief in our mission and sense of responsibility for their success is the reason we are able to do what we do. Thanks to two grants, we have come close to covering the cost of 300 Chromebooks and 60 hotspots to provide distance learning. However, we still need to raise an additional $8,000.
Since March 16, we have been providing 70 families with grocery gift cards based on the donations of friends like you.
If you would like to contribute to these ongoing efforts, please click here and select Grocery Gift Card Program or Chromebooks in the Program Menu section. Thank you for your support!
PCIT: A New Evidence-Based Parent Training Offered by Family Partners Promotes Positive Interactions
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an empirically-supported treatment that places emphasis on improving the quality of the parent-child relationship and changing parent-child interaction patterns. Watch this video to learn more about Family Partners and this new service or visit https://www.phillipsprograms.org/pcit.
Family Partners helps families cope with and meet the challenges associated with their children's individual needs. Whether it be mental health, behavioral difficulties at home or school, developmental disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, or adjustment to traumatic life events, children and their families count on the support of our expert staff to help them succeed. Learn more about Family Partners: https://www.phillipsprograms.org/about-family-partners.
PHILLIPS Programs for Children and Families is a private, non-profit organization serving the complex needs of children and youth living with cognitive, emotional and/or behavioral challenges in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. Through excellence in specialized education, community programs and individualized support services, we provide our children and families every advantage to ensure they develop to achieve their greatest individual success. Their potential is our commitment.