The FACES Project
Families & Adolescents driving Care for Effective Services
The FACES Project is a team made up of the Vermont Department of Health for the State of Vermont, the Federation of Families for Mental Health, Friends of Recovery-Vermont, and the Vermont Association of Mental Health.
The goal of the FACES Project is to get parents and teens involved in helping shape teen substance use and mental health services across Vermont. The Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs (ADAP) in the Department of Health has received federal funding to redefine Vermont’s adolescent treatment system. We want to improve services for adolescents and their families by:
•Increasing adolescents’ and families’ ability to get quality substance use and mental health treatment
•Making the referral process more sensitive to adolescents’ and families’ needs and concerns
•Improving treatment providers’ assessment process to give adolescents and families a clear picture of how to begin to address their needs and concerns
•Bringing treatments proven to work to Vermont to give adolescents and families the best possible service
As you can see, adolescents and families are central to this process. That is why we want to hear your voice represented throughout this effort. We want Vermont’s adolescent treatment system to be family-driven which means we want you to have a primary decision making role in the shaping of Vermont’s adolescent treatment system.
To do this, we need to hear from you. Over the next several months, the FACES Project is going to work towards developing three groups of family members to help in this effort. The first group will include 12 family members who can become, comfortably, part of every step of this project. The second group will involve 20 to 30 family members who are prepared and committed to speaking out in different settings about the strengths, gaps and needs of adolescent treatment services. The third group will include 200 to 300 adolescents and family members willing to participate in public events held as a part of this project.
We hope you will consider getting involved and letting your voice be heard. We look forward to talking with you more about this project soon! Call 1 (800) 769-2798.
