Renewal of the Supported Education grant in the amount of $25,000 and how it is helping our clients
- Supported Education at Alexian Brothers Center for Mental Health
The Supported Education Grant in the amount of $25,000 has been renewed for 2008 by the Helen Brach Foundation. This will allow the Alexian staff to provide assistance to twelve clients to help obtain and maintain secondary educational pursuits. Clients participating in this program will receive support from an education coach to assist in managing clinical issues in and out of the classroom as well as helping clients to maintain good academic standing. We would like to thank the Helen Brach Foundation for partnering with us to help improve the lives of our clients.
- A Supported Education Success Story!
Recently, a supported education coach helped Ronnie, who resides in our supportive living residential program sign up for reading tutoring sessions at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library. His volunteer tutor, Carol, has been giving him report cards each week which provides feedback to him and the staff on his progress. Ronnie is very proud of these reports. He continues to work hard by reading independently for practice in an effort to improve his performance.
Ronnie attends a Friday night social group as part of his treatment. He has been attending this group for the past five years. Recently, he was actually able to read the words on the screen while singing karoke in front of the other group members. He was able to sing songs he was unfamiliar with for the first time. This is a very different person than the one who asked to 'pass' when he was asked to read aloud to other group members. Now he is choosing to sing aloud to other group members and actively participate rather than being passed over.
We would like to thank the staff at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library Literacy Program for offering us this valuable service. They have been very understanding, patient and a very important community partner in helping make a difference in the lives of our clients. We would also like to thank Ronnie for his hard work, commitment and motivation.
