Counseling leads SYMin clients to brighter futures!

 

Counseling leads SYMin clients to brighter futures!    We all know homelessness is a central issue in Austin. We focus on one small but high-potential piece: helping street-dependent young adults and their children find hope and stability.    Diverse clients ages 28 and under find practical support and, more important, guidance counseling for the long haul.    Clients are helped to envision brighter futures, then build them. They learn skills that equip them to set goals and achieve them: finding housing, re-entering the workforce and recovering from substance abuse.    Clients who engage deeply in counseling perform two to four times better than those who do not. We update this calculation regularly on our website.

Group sessions    Clients have multiple weekly opportunities to engage in counseling, either one-on-one or with others, e.g. peer groups, men’s and women’s groups, Bible study and Prayer Chorus. Some are accessible in-person from multiple sites, and all can be reached on-line from anywhere.    Attendance has grown steadily. The photo above was taken in the support group room of our new upstairs Learning Center, and all seats were taken!    In October, 27 clients attended peer support groups, and we counted 75 deep conversations on impactful topics. Nineteen clients reported 59 goal completions; six new clients joined the meetings. Outreaches    We lead staff and volunteers to outreaches in suburban Austin, the Austin Central Library, and San Marcos several times each week.    We hold group sessions inside the library, and we deliver bags of food tailored to clients living either on the street or in apartments. This has opened us to new clients who cannot reach us at the Drop-in Center.    In October, we met 103 clients on outreach, including 66 for the first time. Twenty-six engaged in deep conversations, and 15 clients accomplished a total of 36 goals. Learning Center    Our Learning Center is stocked with laptops purchased with grant money from the city and the Glimmer of Hope Foundation.    Clients take advantage of two programs to earn points redeemable for above-average value rewards like laptops, tablets, smart phones, etc. Some watch videos teaching life skills, then take quizzes over what they saw to earn their points. Some engaged in “soft skills” training, a program designed by a company used by several Fortune 500 firms.    Learning the skills gives clients a better chance to obtain and hold good jobs and enables them to navigate the ups and downs of employment in the real world.    In October, a total of 10 clients took advantage of this new facility and the training, and the number is growing steadily.