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CROSSROADS The Family Services Component of The PathFinder Project, Inc. is Crossroads. The name confirms our belief that the role of the family, as seen through the eyes of its individual family members, is to provide opportunities to successfully travel the many possible roads throughout one's life. However, there are certain times in life in which one encounters crossing roads. The decision of which road to travel must be made. The memories and experiences that one holds, which have been influenced by family, can help or hinder in making an often life altering decision, when one is facing life's crossroads. Adolescence is a period in the individual's life, as well as the life stage of a family, in which there are many, often critical crossroads. The challenges facing families with members between 11 and 17 years of age, especially today, are some of the most difficult in life. Crossroads is w holistic, adolescent focused and designed to use a systemic approach to assist families in understanding and meeting the needs of their adolescent family members. The services of Crossroads have three central goals for the Family Services Component of The PathFinder Project, Inc. Crossroads helps family's lifestyle of the adolescent period while assisting parents and other significant adults in the adolescent's lives prepare these young people to enter the adult world. • Crossroads helps families understand the developmental stages, issues and challenges facing adolescents and the culture and systems that they must live and work within. It also helps them develop skills and resources to meet these challenges and mediate these systems in order for them to reach their greatest potential.• Crossroads assists families in moving beyond the issues that often create distress and or trauma in the family as a. result of problems faced by adolescent family members.The focus of The PathFinder Project, Inc., is Afrocentric and Crossroads offers services from a perspective that is designed to meet the unique concerns of the African-American adolescent and their families. Although this perspective is a central feature of the Family Services Component of The PathFinder Project, families from other ethnic, racial and/or national groups are welcome and would find great benefit from Crossroads. CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE LIST OF SERVICES OR SCROLL THIS PAGE |
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NUBIAN EYE The PathFinder Project, Inc., is well aware that many of the problems adolescents' face will manifest themselves in other facets of their lives. If these problems are allowed to fester, they create a new set of problems for the adolescents and their families. One area in particular that is adversely affected by troubling, outside circumstances is the area of academics. Oftentimes a child's schoolwork will be the first thing that suffers from unresolved difficulties. The PathFinder Project, Inc., has created Nubian Eye to address challenges adolescents may face in their academic life.The program's main areas of concentration will be reading and mathematics. It has been proven that every other academic area is co-dependent on the ability to read and understand what is being read. Furthermore, unless students grasp the fundamental components of mathematics, they do not form the foundation on which all other mathematical concepts are built. The goal of Nubian Eye is to build a solid framework for basic reading and mathematical skills, so that a student will understand how to learn by building upon the basics.Participants will be addressed in three (3) ways:
The staff is trained to recognize and take into account the various and differing learning styles of students and will train participants on how to work with the style he or she is most comfortable with. We are sensitive to the challenges participants are dealing with outside of the academic area, and will help the student deal with these before any academic challenge will be addressed CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE LIST OF SERVICES OR SCROLL THIS PAGE |
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LADIES IN TRANSITION The Pathfinder Project, Inc., conducts a fourteen week therapeutic group for 14 and 16 year old females. The Project is the areas newest comprehensive, therapeutic treatment facility targeting adolescents and families in crisis. For information on our program for males, read information under our Young Male Empowerment Group. Our program is wholistic based and serves to address the spiritual, emotional and academic needs of those it services. Adolescence is a difficult time for adults and teens alike. This middle phase of adolescents appears to be particularly turbulent for girls, and consequently places many families in crisis. To address the call for help from teens and families in this category; we will be addressing the following issues:
The group will meet for 1 1/2 hours weekly from 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. at The PathFinder Project, Inc. CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE LIST OF SERVICES OR SCROLL THIS PAGE |
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BACK TO OUR ROOTS As African Americans, our heritage is rich and diverse and our achievements span across time to the birth of this nation (and far beyond). Our contributions to this country are nothing short of invaluable. For an African American adolescent, discovering this wealth of culture can be a great source of self-esteem and self-identification. The PathFinder Project, Inc., is fully committed to arming the leaders of tomorrow with the powerful lessons of the past. Back to Our Roots has
been created to provide its participants with a window to peer into the
struggles and victories of African Americans. Working together with
our Role-playing will be a significant device in imparting knowledge to participants. For each period of history discussed, a scenario will be re-enacted to reinforce teachings. Hands-on preparation of sets, period clothing and food will help bring to life scenes that students would ordinarily only read about in history books. The practical questions of family life, housing, farming and other concerns will compel participants to relate these details to their own aspects of daily life. Experts on African and African American culture will be invited to give supplemental teachings to participants. Back to Our Roots is fun and educational. CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE LIST OF SERVICES OR SCROLL THIS PAGE |
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WHAT'S HAPPEN’N "Children must be taught that they are capable of and expected to make intelligent, responsible decisions." Gail Jackson, LCSW-C,B.C.D., Director of The PathFinder Project, Inc. Youth today face tremendous pressures about issues they may or may not be equipped to handle. Issues regarding sexuality, emotional and physical conflict and abuse, rebellion, peer pressure, relationships and others, many times are not comfortable topics for discussion with parents. The goal of What's Happen’n is to help build a sense of kinship and community through commitment and support. The coordinators believe that if we as parents, adults and teachers invest in children with support, encouragement, guidance, love, understanding and direction, the fruits of our labor will be youth who will grow up to be responsible, productive adults. The self-imposed challenge of What's Happen'n is to promote change through education and positive exchange. What's Happen’n strives to create an environment where youth can discuss, debate, interact, share and learn from each other. It is designed to help youth develop skills for making responsible choices and coping with what may be viewed by their peers as an unpopular choice. The program is comprised of a weekly, 2-hour session. What's Happen’n, is dedicated to discussion, sharing, and venting. The discussion topics are developed and provided by the program coordinators, however, flexibility is key to this component. The facilitators create an environment of expression and support aimed at group consensus toward appropriate avenues for problem solving. The second hour, Back to our Roots, is African-American history. This segment is a unique presentation of history, teaching from present-to the past. Our methodology presents a live, relevant depiction of history, while instilling a sense of responsibility in the youth that share in the experience. (See Back to Our Roots program description). Each time limited group is conducted for 10-12 weeks, allowing a comfort level to be established among the participants and coordinators of the program. CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE LIST OF SERVICES OR SCROLL THIS PAGE |
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE Domestic violence crosses all ages, socioeconomic, religious, racial and educational backgrounds. No one wants to be emotionally or physically abused by an intimate partner. By staying in an abusive relationship a person may be emotionally dependent, have traditional values about marriage and parenthood, be fearful, and be economically dependent. Choosing not to have an abusive relationship does not mean that you are masochistic, stupid, weak or naive. It does mean that you want to have a relationship with someone you deeply care about. Abuse can have a devastating effect on children. Even children who may not have witnessed their mother being abused can intuitively sense their mother's distress. Children may become fearful, angry, isolated, experience low self-esteem, and lose trust. This can lead to learning and behavioral problems, which can deepen as the child grows older. Children who grow up in violent homes learn to model this abusive and demeaning behavior, and are at a high risk for becoming adult abusers or adult victims. The Pathfinder Project, Inc., has a domestic violence support group for battered women. Victims of domestic violence can rind support through their peers. They will learn to identify behaviors and situations that are red flags, create safety plans, and build their self-esteem. CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE LIST OF SERVICES OR SCROLL THIS PAGE |
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PARENT EMPOWERMENT Over the past thirty years, the definition of parenting has become increasingly unclear. The specific attributes of parenting have become vague. Sadly enough, our society-has seen the perils of the lack of parenting. Our society is now infested with children who are out of control, disrespectful, hostile and angry. These children cannot distinguish between right and wrong. These same children suffer greatly from low self-esteem, and a low value for human life. Our children are crying out for parenting. Our society is in need of a viable solution. In recent years, many programs have been developed to address the needs of parenting. With the growing population of children in alternative schools and home situations, it is evident that parents, as well as children need support and assistance. Parenting must now take a realistic approach. Parenting must return to love with limits. We did not create ourselves, but we have been created. We are designed and fashioned by a creator who wrote the owner's manual for our successful navigation through this life. Our success as parents is determined by our willingness to embrace parenting from a spiritual perspective. Including spiritual directives on parenting and implementing them will ensure our success as parents. This Parenting Program has been designed from a spiritual perspective. It will explore the successes and failures we have experienced as parents. It will reveal the purpose and responsibility of parenting as well as give a step-by-step approach to developing a healthy parent-child relationship. CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE LIST OF SERVICES OR SCROLL THIS PAGE |
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Group Therapy
A great number of our African Forefathers' societies were communal in nature. Not a single major event went without the approval of the communities, elders. These extended to the development of their young men and women. When the young men of the community reached an acceptable age, a gathering of the community was called. Young men on the threshold of manhood went before their elders and asked if they would be allowed to undergo the rites of passage that would lead to their being recognized as men. They then had to surpass certain milestones in order to complete the rites of passage. In today's society, messages from a wide variety of sources give our youth an, oftentimes, distorted image of what adulthood constitutes. As a measure of prevention against some of the disastrous consequences these confusing messages may cause, the PathFinder Project, inc., has developed its own Christian Rite of Initiation. The aim of the Young Male Empowerment Group is to equip young men with-the tools to develop value systems that have well-defined concepts of the requirements for adulthood. The program will offer training and guidance in the following issues:
Within the framework of these topics, a variety of subtopics will also be addressed. Progress will be marked in much the same manner as our ancestral communities did. An initiation ceremony will be held, where participants will announce to members of their families and friends that they will undergo a rites of passage program. The community will then be allowed to ask prospective participants questions pertaining to their reasons for wanting to complete the training process. Questions will test the extent of each participant's knowledge. At the conclusion of the program, a final ceremony will be held in which participants will ask the permission of elders and community members to continue on the path to manhood. CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE LIST OF SERVICES OR SCROLL THIS PAGE |
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TEEN
RECOVERY GROUP There is no charge for these meetings.
CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE LIST OF SERVICES OR SCROLL THIS PAGE |
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EMMAUS WALK It takes a whole village to raise a child. This ancient African proverb is the motto of The PathFinder Project, Inc. Nowhere is this principle applied more than in the mentorship component, Emmaus Walk of PathFinder Project, Inc. Mentors are dedicated to enriching and making a difference in the lives of young men and women.Being a wholistically based program, Emmaus Walk seeks to encourage its participants to not only develop their career goals, but to enhance their lives spiritually, socially, and culturally. (All mentors undergo a train phase and assessments, utilized prior to participation, in order determine the best possible match for a young individual.) Mentors are given some creative freedom in planning activities for participants. They are also required to meet monthly to discuss issues they've had to face, activities they've participated in as well as other topics aimed at providing participants with the maximum amount of benefits. The Program Director also provides resources to aid mentors with their creativity.There are quarterly meetings for participants in the program, offering the opportunity for young men and women to meet new friends and provide participants with a well spring source of ideas for further activities.Mentors meet with participants at least once a week. That way, they are always abreast of whatever challenges and triumphs participants are experiencing.CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE LIST OF SERVICES OR SCROLL THIS PAGE |
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PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION A Psychological Evaluation is a tool that aids in clarifying a diagnosis, identifying personality dynamics and determining the presence of a learning disability. The results of a psychological evaluation are often used to develop a more precise treatment plan for client care. Additionally, a psychological evaluation is often an important component of a larger evaluation process such as custody or a forensic evaluation. The psychological evaluations completed at The PathFinder Project, Inc., are extensive assessments that integrate test data with personal history and behavioral observation to provide a comprehensive picture of a client's cognitive and emotional functioning. A Licensed Clinical Psychologist with years of experience in assessing children, adolescents, and adults performs our evaluations. CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE LIST OF SERVICES OR SCROLL THIS PAGE
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Refer Someone to
PathFinder Project, Inc., Use Your Tab Key To Move From Field to Field
DATE OF REFERRAL:
FILL IN THE FOLLOWING WITH INFORMATION ABOUT THE PERSON YOU ARE REFERRING: NAME: DOB: AGE: GENDER: NAME OF PARENT(S) OR GUARDIAN: STREET ADDRESS: APT.: CITY: STATE: ZIP: HOME PHONE: WORK PHONE:
REFERRER INFORMATION: Please Check One If Applicable: parent guardian sponsor foster parent FILL IN THE FOLLOWING IF YOU CHECKED ONE OF THE ABOVE: NAME OF INDIVIDUAL MAKING REFERRAL: ; HOME PHONE: WORK PHONE: FILL IN THE FOLLOWING WITH INFORMATION YOU ARE WITH AN AGENCY: Other Agency:WORKER'S NAME: PHONE/PAGER: E-mail Address TYPE OF SERVICES REQUESTED Individual Therapy Mentoring Crisis Intervention Anger
Management Substance
Abuse Young
Male Empowerment Group IN-HOME THERAPY: Individual Family GROUP THERAPY: Ladies in Transition What's Happen'n / Back to Our Roots REASON FOR REFERRAL: IDENTIFIED GOALS: CHALLENGES TO GOALS: EMERGENCY CONTACT(S):
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