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Last year alone, more than 6,000 children and adults took us up on that. One of Crossroads most important roles is to empower individuals, families, organizations and systems to make healthy lifestyle choices. Prevention Programs are designed to increase awareness, provide information and enhance understanding of chemical dependency and mental health issues and to intervene early with people who might not otherwise seek professional assistance.
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Strengthening Families ... Because family experiences are the single most important factor for a child's development, we offer a variety of programming to enhance family life. We offer parent-child interactive groups which increases parent skill in stress management, positive parent-child interaction and builds a healthy support network. Children learn appropriate behaviors, positive social skills, emotional expression and resiliency skills. A variety of parenting educational support groups and workshops are also available. Prevention specialists at Crossroads offer focused services to families who have a preschooler with a behavior problem in the preschool setting. Skill building groups, home visits and consultation with the teacher help families make positive changes.
Early Intervention ... A child develops faster in the first three years of life than in any other period. We know that early experiences have a long-lasting impact on how they develop, their ability to learn and their ability to function in healthy ways. Offering help to families very early can support healthy development patterns, especially for children at high risk. Crossroads offers services to infants and toddlers and their parents or caregivers that will enhance their emotional, social, physical and intellectual development. We work to increase our communities understanding of the importance of early intervention to promote healthy children and families. We partner our efforts with the Early Intervention Collaborative, Healthy Start, Families and Children First Council and other agencies and provide training and consultation to day care providers, Head Start and schools.
School & Community Based Programs ... Increasingly we recognize the importance of a comprehensive, community-wide approach to strong school-community partnerships in mental health and drug and alcohol prevention programs. Crossroads staff and Lake County schools join hands in providing an array of school based groups and programs geared to help children and adolescents develop positive self esteem, healthy peer interactions, strong decision-making skills, prevent drug alcohol and tobacco use and other risky behaviors and to promote respectful, non-violent conflict resolution. Programs are provided at the elementary, middle and high school levels and include, but are not limited to: Extra Step programs, individual and group student outreach services, violence prevention, conflict mediation, pregnancy prevention, rape prevention and depression awareness. An important aspect of our work is developing leadership skills among youth in order to promote a peer-to-peer substance abuse prevention message. To accomplish this Crossroads works with TEEN INSTITUTE and AMERICA'S P.R.I.D.E. Prevention staff also work with Community Action Teams to support their efforts to reduce at-risk behavior of youth and to promote positive youth development strategies.
Bullying Prevention ... According to the National Association of School Psychologists, about one in seven school children (five million children) have either been a bully or a victim. Research also indicates that more than one in three students say they don't feel safe at school. All children have the right to a school environment where they feel safe and can learn to the best of their abilities. Bullying can have lifelong consequences for both children who are bullied and the children who exhibit bullying behavior. Bullying also effects the children who have witnessed repeated bullying behaviors by others. They may become fearful and feel that the adults are not in control, or are uncaring. Children who are bullied may experience low self-esteem that remains into adulthood. While the bullying is occurring, they may exhibit physical problems, school phobia and symptoms of depression. A child's school performance may also decrease. Children who bully very often become adults who continue bully others. One study found that 60% of chronic bullies had an arrest record in their early twenties. Bullying behavior is also linked with other anti-social behaviors, such as fighting, vandalism, drug and alcohol abuse and developing gang alliances. Crossroads' Bullying Prevention Program is based on the internationally recognized Olweus Program. The program has been implemented in Norway, the United States, England and Germany, with up to 30-70% reductions in student reports of being bullied and bullying others. The Olweus Program was developed by Dan Olweus, Ph.D., who has been named "the world's leading authority" on bullying problems. The Bullying Prevention Program includes school-wide and classroom-level activity, individual interventions with children who are bullied (victims) and children who exhibit bullying behavior (bullies), and community involvement. This bullying prevention program combines the efforts of all school staff (including teachers, principals, guidance counselors, cafeteria workers, custodians, bus drivers, etc.) as well as students, parents, and other members of the community to reduce bullying and other violent behavior.
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Crossroads, Lake County Adolescent Counseling Center
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...Good People, Good Work, Good Lives |  |
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he best time to get help is before you need it!
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