| ;The Voice of Youth – the youth voice has a formal platform for communication through the Older Youth/Young Adult Council. The Council is actively involved in shaping the specific atmosphere, culture and programming at Owen's Place. It also provides a forum for discussing and raising public awareness of what are the priorities of young adults.
Individualization – the overall program will have 3 tiers to meet the individualized needs of this population.
Tier 1 – for the majority of young adults, the support and skill building opportunities provided by Owen's Place/Resource Center will meet their needs, providing both a professional and peer support network. Owen's Place community will emulate strong positive role models for living healthy, success oriented lives.
Tier 2 – for those that need more direct support, they can access a Transition Specialist who will directly assist in the development of a personalized Futures Plan. Through age appropriate engagement and strength-based, future-oriented, person-centered planning; resources and other support that meet the young adult’s individualized needs will be identified. As the role of the Transition Specialist is also to facilitate and to coach, the goal is for the young adult to increase knowledge and skills that will contribute to successful independent living.
Tier 3 – for those young adults who have serious and continuous mental health needs, support will be provided by the O-YEAH Transition Specialist in partnership with Adult Services professionals who will together help facilitate an individualized Futures Plan with the young adult. There will be heavy emphasis on identifying support services within the adult service system and creating a supportive, workable safety plan.
Planning – the centerpiece of this program is the Targeted Futures Plan that is created and directed by each youth based on their individual vision that they have for their adult lives. With the help of the Transition Specialist, the youth in Tier 2 & 3 identify their needs, strengths, strategies and the supports necessary to actualize their hope and dreams. For many youth, as they reach the age of 16½, their Targeted Futures Plan will be developed, implemented and maintained through their existing Team and Care Coordinator. This will help the youth and families focus their attention on transition to adulthood much earlier and could potentially support a gap-free more effective continuum of care and service. For youth, whose best fit is in Tier 1, they can use the Wraparound Futures Plan as a starting point for their journey into adulthood.
Owen's Place – is housed at Wraparound Milwaukee at 9201 Watertown Plank Road in Milwaukee. Designed as a drop-in resource and support center, it has computers, resource information, a lounge, a cooking facility and a few recreational outlets (gym and bowling alley). It is staffed with a house manager whose role is to build relationships, engage youth and strategically direct them to resources.
With the input of the youth and young adults, Owen's Place also offers mini workshops on life skills, such as applying for jobs, opening a bank account, cooking and even strategies on how to deal with difficult roommates.
Owen's Place is open to all youth with emotional and behavioral challenges. Hours are Monday, 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday, 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Saturday, 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Owen's Place is open to all youth of all tiers who have voluntarily chosen to be a part of O-YEAH.
The Community -The Milwaukee Interagency Youth Transition Team (MIAYTT), represented by 13+ community agencies, has as a mission to listen to the youth and assist in development of O-YEAH; assuring that it is and continues to be dynamic and responsive to the needs of the youth and young adults of the Milwaukee community. It is further charged with assisting in identifying the myriad of community resources, directing program evaluation and quality assurance and creating task forces for identified specific need area.
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