From Reflection to Reach: Building on Success
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Best Practices at NC SOC Meetings
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| The NCVA team attended 194 SOC Collaborative meetings this year. While attending these meetings, best practices were observed at 95% of the meetings. This is an increase from best practices being observed at 82% of the meetings during FY 24. Examples of best practices include highlighting the impact of the work people have done/ are doing; informal/conversational tone for meeting; creating opportunities for highlights/spotlights to share information and resources; family/youth funding/compensation; facilitator keeps up their own positive energy; welcome and introductions/(greeting people as they join); and engaging people in icebreakers to ease anxiety and decrease power differential.
In addition, we are in the process of collecting interview data to explore the best practices by local SOC collaboratives that help to increase meaningful youth/family participation in local and statewide collaboratives. This data will be used to develop a best practice guide. Here are two examples of best practices suggested to increase SOC Collaborative engagement from youth members attending SOC collaboratives. |
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Behavioral Health System Needs Assessment
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| The NCVA team is in the process of conducting a brief behavioral health system needs assessment, which will lead to a larger needs assessment to better understand the experiences that family partners have with the behavioral health system. When asked about what services and supports in the behavioral health system need to be changed, two examples of the following responses were provided.
Example 1
“I think all behavioral health care could use some improvement. They could even learn from HFW programs. Especially exercising family voice and choice. As well as understanding that there is absolutely no cookie cutter way to provide services.”
Example 2
“The system of care when it comes to group homes and intensive in home. I feel like intensive does not truly get to the core and the upper levels of systems of care is based on medicating the child and not truly allowing a child to be looked at as individual.”
A larger needs assessment is scheduled to be conducted by the NCVA team during the Fall. More to come soon! |
| During Quarter 3 (January 1, 2025 – March 31, 2025), NCVA conducted a total of 14 trainings to connect with the public (e.g. youth and families), provide technical assistance for the workforce, and foster systems level change. |
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What reach do our trainings have?
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| We had 747 Registrants in 65 Counties in Fiscal Year 2025 |
| Participants from various regions across the state of North Carolina attended the trainings this year. Over the course of the lifetime of our program, we’ve reached registrants from 90 of the 100 counties in N.C. |
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Training Our Way to Transformation
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| * Training facilitated by the NC HFWTP in a collaborative effort to educate Youth Peer Partners and Family Partners being certified through NCVA.
**New Trainings offered by NCVA in Quarter 3. |
| Upon completion of the trainings, approximately 97.5% of the participants indicated being satisfied with the results of the trainings and shared positive feedback on the satisfaction surveys. |
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How many people have we we trained?
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| We have had over 943 Participants across our 145 trainings so far! |
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Where can I find a Peer Support Professional?
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| There are currently 28 Certified Family Peer Support professionals in 23 counties
and 24 Youth Peer Support professionals in 19 counties |
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| Frederick Douglas
Family Training Coordinator |
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Back to School Success: A Matter of the Heart
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| Hello Parents,
Well, summer break is almost over, and our children are facing a time of transition. This can be a time of both excitement and anxiety. There is a lot of excitement to shop for new school clothes and supplies, meet new teachers, and maybe attend a new school. But for many, it can be a time of anxiety, especially if there were challenges in the previous school year. As a parent of a
child who has mental health challenges, I remember the anxiety I would get when I would hear those three little words: “Back to School”. My mind would reflect on the
previous year’s experiences and think about what things need to remain the same and what additional strategies should be documented in this year’s plan.
What I have learned over the years to ease the transition back to school and to support my child’s good mental health is not to be so hard on myself. Take a step
back and acknowledge all the successes that were achieved last year. Yes, I know it can sometimes appear that these successes are few and far between, but I
promise if you look closely, you will find them for both you, your child, and your family. I have learned that even though I need to prepare for the upcoming year, I
should also live in the moment and rely on the knowledge I have gained and the support and services I have identified that have been helpful. It’s important to
walk into the new year not as “Super Mom” but as my child’s greatest supporter and advocate. These are just a few tips that I believe will be beneficial to know in
the approaching new school year:
• Start gradually shifting to a school-day sleep schedule a few weeks before school starts, beginning the transition from the flexibility sleep schedule for summer into the more structured sleep habits for school nights.
• Create and organize a designated study area that is organized and free from clutter to reduce distractions and maximize their ability to focus.
• Educate yourself on healthy eating habits and balanced diets, which provide essential nutrients and vitamins to support brain health and energy levels.
• Engage in regular physical activity, such as sports, dancing, or walking, to release and manage stress. These can be activities that you and your child do together.
• Get plenty of rest!
• Reduce screen time on social media, especially before bed, to improve sleep quality and reduce potential anxiety.
• Encourage interactions with classmates and friends, when possible, to renew old friendships and build new ones.
• Continue to attend school events and be in communication with your child’s teachers to build a strong collaborative support system.
• Make sure your child knows that they can share their experiences at school with you, whether good or bad.
• Help children recognize what triggers their anxiety and develop healthy strategies to overcome them.
• Speak up if you think your child is exhibiting behaviors that you believe need additional services or supports.
• Make sure you and your child take the time to celebrate when you accomplish something important to you!
• Ask about Family Peer Specialist programs to provide support in navigating systems. |
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| Kara Lynch
Communication & Outreach Coordinator |
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| Over the last fiscal year, NCVA’s outreach metrics have grown nearly 20%. What does this mean and why is it important? This means that the word is spreading about who we are and what we do. It is important because we exist to enhance the peer support workforce in NC, and this cannot be done unless people know who we are and the support and training we provide.
About three years ago, when I began in this role, I had no idea about the amount of work it would take to raise awareness about something so great and necessary. Coming from a youth peer support role I just knew in no time, everyone would know about the great work being done for the youth and families of this great state. Excited, nervous and uncertain of how it would all work out, I began what has been the journey of a lifetime.
From learning how to post engaging social media content to speaking with countless individuals across the state at conferences and outreach events, I’ve seen the questions about what we do transform into excitement about what’s coming next in our programming. The question is no longer what do you all do? The question is now what new trainings are you rolling out next and how can I be a part of what you’re doing? Watching this shift has been incredibly humbling to watch.
I’m proud of our growth and the work we’ve done to raise awareness through every process we’ve created. Outreach goes far beyond how many clicks, likes and shares resulted by our efforts. In retrospect, I can see how every post, every email, and every conversation is a part of a larger picture that cannot be quantified only in data, but in the stories we exchange, the reach we gain and the lives that will ultimately be changed because of what we do. |
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| Chandrika Brown
Collaboration Coordinator |
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Closing the Gaps That Hold Students Back
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| As a Family Partner, we support families of different walks of life. Some have young children, and some have middle school and early high school youth. And we try our best to support them to the best of our ability. For myself, I have never really run into a family or youth that I was unable to help, until recently or so I thought. I met a young man that was attending one of our state universities. He is the first in his family to attend college and from another state. All his life he had a mental health diagnosis, but it has never prevented him from achieving in school because he always had support from his teachers. Things changed once he got to college. Being a student athlete became very difficult for him. Staying on top of his class assignments, projects and tests became challenging with no guidance in sight. When I was introduced to him we began to talk about how things were challenging for him and how he felt he wasn’t doing as well as he knew he could. After midterms he was suspended from games until he got caught up on assignments and improved his grades. He did that but it didn’t last long. He fell behind again and that’s when I discovered he needed his assignment and schedule written out in plain view for him to keep up with. We began that process, but it was a little too late. At the end of that semester, he was dismissed. We wrote a letter of appeal to explain his situation; however, his appeal was denied with an explanation that gave him an opportunity to redeem himself and a chance to return to school early. We worked hard on getting things rolling. We got him reconnected with his therapist, enrolled in a community college to help pull up his GPA and to earn the missing credits. Although we put together transition and action plans for how he would support himself once back on campus, we hit a roadblock. There is a big gap in assistance for out of state students. They can’t use the services from home, but they also can’t get assistance from the state they are in for 10 months out of the year. They are penalized for not seeking help but cannot receive the help they need because they are not a residence of that state. It must make sense and for these young adults it does not. They often feel like they are fighting a losing battle. I stood by his side through this whole journey. I followed his lead throughout this whole process. We wrote another appeal letter and included the supporting documents of all his plans. I spoke with his parents and connected them to OARS to get him registered for services on campus. I assisted his mom in completing FAFSA and keeping up with all emails related to his appeal and other services on campus. After a long battle and endless nights, the decision came, and he was re-admitted to school with the possibility of returning to the sports team. He was so excited, he said he felt like nothing was going to work out for him. We advocated for the coaching staff to file for a waiver for him to play while continuing to work on catching up on his credits. We are still awaiting the decision of the waiver, but in the end he and his parents feel they had more success because they had support. This is a success for me because a big goal was accomplished through a youth-led process that I supported. It showed me that there are other gaps that we need tackle to help our youth succeed in life. My journey supporting young people is just beginning. |
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| Kyle Reece
Youth Training Coordinator |
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Success With Training Youth
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| Over the past few months, the NC Voices Amplified Youth department has had fantastic opportunities to train young people and connect with organizations that are helping youth in NC and across the country.
We had our first ever graduating class of Speakers Bureau Youth Advocates- and we were thrilled with all the progress and commitment to advocacy they brought to every session. We are so excited to see all the amazing work they will do in the future!
We represented North Carolina and the work that we are doing with Youth Peer Support at the Training Institutes hosted by UCONN at the National Harbor outside of DC. We are extremely excited to see all the amazing work that is done across the country and were thrilled to be invited to present on Youth Voice withing community and residential settings. We presented a youth leadership training to a local youth group in Alamance County. The young adults we trained are excited to start advocating for themselves and their peers within their community through a photo voice project.
As we are coming into the fall semester, we are excited to host another Youth Peer Support Training, as well as a Youth Engagement training for anyone wanting to engage youth. We also can’t wait until we offer our next Speakers Bureau cohort in the fall!
As we continue to train youth on self-advocacy and peer support and connect with organizations that support youth across the state and the country, we are so excited to see young people getting the support they need and advocating in amazing ways! |
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| Willow Burgess-Johnson
Program Manager |
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| NC Youth and Family Voices Amplified is continuing to grow our impact on NC. NCVA continues to work collaboratively with multiple systems in NC to grow the Family and Youth Peer Workforce. In an environment where services are cut-back or curtailed, peer support becomes even more vital to support people navigating complex and changing systems and to provide a genuine connection that inspires hope. NCVA is looking to increase awareness of mental health experiences, to decrease stigma, and increase hope. We regularly communicate out to the public the resources available and information about Youth and Family Peer Support. NCVA is also launching a content creation project to highlight the voices of those with lived experience on our social media. As we get the word out more about the supports offered by NCVA we are seeing an increased demand for training and technical support. NCVA is growing the capacity to support local communities in engaging youth and family in community collaborations. Currently NCVA attends most of the local System of Care collaborative meetings across NC. We provide consultation and feedback to the local collaboratives. Our ability to attend these meetings in-person has been limited, and so with an expansion of our Community Collaboration team we will be offering additional in-person supports to local SOC Collaboratives. NCVA is listening to the community and we are expanding the offerings we have for both training and technical assistance. Our training program has a number of new offerings this year to support ongoing professional development of the Youth and Family Peer Workforce. We are also adding to the core curriculum recommended for Youth and Family Peers to complete training.The core trainings will provide the 88 hours of training needed for National Family Peer Certification. NCVA continues to see fruitful collaborations through out the state. This model has led to more in-person Youth Leadership and Advocacy training through out the state which we expect will continue. NCVA is excited to offer our second Speakers Bureau Training for Youth with lived experience to better prepare them for sharing their stories publicly. NCVA works very closely with an evaluation team to help us to understand better what makes for effective training for Youth and Family Peer Support Specialists. NCVA is excited to have the opportunity to continue learning about how to effectively train and support Youth and Family Peer Specialists, and to have the opportunity to better understand the impact of Family Peer Support services on families and youth. Through an historic investment in behavioral health supports, the NC General Assembly allocated funding for Family Peer Support services in NC communities. NCVA is thrilled to partner with Alexander Youth Network and Monarch NC to build effective Family Peer Support services. Through this partnership we anticipate gaining deeper insight into the impact of Family Peer Support Services on Youth and Families. |
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| Call or Text the 24/7 Lifeline at 9-8-8 |
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