Helping Children And Families Live Successfully.
More than 80 staff work in the program from 13 Youth Villages offices in Tennessee and strategically located satellite locations, allowing faster response times for calls that require face-to-face crisis assessments.
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There is a Zen poster on the wall of Michelle Grabarczyk's office in Nashville. Under the Chinese symbols are the words: "Courage to Change: To Seek Unknown Potential." Those words sum up Michelle and the Youth Villages Specialized Crisis Services program that she works for in Nashville.
Without the courage to change, Michelle would still be working for a newspaper. She was a copy editor at the
Florida Times-Union when she began to volunteer at the Children's Crisis Center. She had a good job, but, over time, it didn't seem to fit her. "It finally dawned on me that I liked my volunteer work at the center a lot better than I liked my job at the newspaper," Michelle remembers. She went back to college.She came to Youth Villages in 2002, drawn, like so many talented young counselors are, to Youth Villages' innovative family and home-based programs. Because of her previous career, she was asked to proofread a proposal being submitted to the State of Tennessee's Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities.
That proposal detailed a statewide program that would change the way crisis services were provided in the state of Tennessee. For the first time, one agency would offer crisis services throughout the state, ensuring that each child was evaluated using consistent standards of care. And for the first time, the emphasis would be on providing help for children in the home and community, if possible -- a move away from the routine use of psychiatric hospitalization.
When the proposal was approved, Michelle went to work for our Specialized Crisis Services program. "It was a whirlwind getting started," she remembers. And in that whirlwind, Michelle found the job that really fit her.
"It's something different every day. Every day you are involved with children in crisis, with situations that test your knowledge, your skills, your abilities, your dedication. There's no way to really prepare for what's coming on the next call -- other than to have faith in your abilities and in the abilities of the counselors around you."
She's proud of the team of counselors that she leads. "They aren't afraid of hard work or of taking on tough kids." Kids like Edward.
"As a team, we examined his behaviors, factors that contributed to his problems and barriers to his treatment success," she says. The team formulated an action plan. Edward was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for a brief time. SCS counselors attended his discharge planning meeting and continued to follow his case.
"He is doing exceptionally well now," Michelle says. "We hope he'll be going home to his family soon. That would be the best thing for him."
