Programming

Transformational Relationships

At the core of Roca’s work with young people lies the Transformational Relationship Model. We fundamentally understand that in order to engage very disconnected and disengaged young people in opportunities to move toward self-sufficiency and living out of harm’s way, it is essential to first spend the time to reconnect and re-engage them in positive relationships. It means showing up in a young person’s life, over and over, both when things are going well and especially when it gets very hard. Transformational Relationships create a connection that can hold the balance and the tension of growth and change. Transformational relationships engage young people and adults that care in a process of change that enables them to increase positive knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors over time and through the stages of change.

Roca has identified five stages that an individual typically will move through on the way to undertaking intentional efforts to improve his or her life and then sustaining them:

1. Pre-contemplation - The young person is not thinking about or has explicitly rejected change.
2. Contemplation - The young person is now thinking about change, and perhaps seeks out Roca or some other program; also, she or he may respond to some suggestions from the staff member.
3. Planning -The young person and Roca staff talk about what it would take to make change happen, and what the young person wants in the future.
4. Action - The young person begins to take positive steps toward improving his or her life through practice (trial and error) - in the context of a plan that has been discussed in detail between the young person and Roca staff.
5. Sustaining - Through continuing staff support during difficult times and new cooperative efforts, the young person is able to achieve concrete improvements in his or her life, move demonstrably toward achieving a self-sustaining lifestyle, and is living out of harm's way.

As change is difficult for any of us, relapse is often part of the process and can happen at any point in the stages of change. Relapses can be painful, embarrassing, demoralizing, and can make change seem impossible or provide a weak justification for staying the same. However, they are also the times where a great deal of incredible learning can take place and work can be done. The relapse period can provide the opportunity to identify our own barriers or harmful behaviors that prevent change, can make us have to fight and yearn for where and who we really want to be, and can help us understand that we have to hold ourselves within our change process not just when it is easy, but also when it gets hard. Roca engages 600 young people in transformational relationships each year.

For more information on the transformation relationships model, contact Anisha Chablani, Deputy Director of Roca at 617-889-5210 x257 or Anicha@rocainc.com.

Transformational Relationships in Youth Work: The Case of Roca
By Kay E. Sherwood

Project SOL (Strengthening Our Lives) is an intensive intervention program for 150 in-school youth ages 14-18 in Chelsea. Project SOL’s goals are for young people to graduate from high school and have options for their future. Project SOL is a free program that runs five days a week from 3:00-8:00 p.m. Programming includes academic assistance, college preparation, computer classes, art, dance, sports, field trips, and life skills groups. We provide consistent, long-term supportive relationships with nurturing adults; these relationships become a foundation for success. For more information contact Anisha Chablani, Deputy Director of Roca at 617-889-5210 x257 or Anicha@rocainc.com.

The Via Project serves 240 youth and young adults ages 16-24 every year with education, life skills, and employment opportunities. Designed for youth and young adults who are street, gang, court or system involved, and for newcomer groups, the Via Project offers positive alternatives through transitional employment opportunities, job readiness and pre-vocational training, and alternative adult educational classes. Youth workers reach participants through relentless street outreach and referrals from community partners and the justice system. Youth workers provide case management and run groups focused on parenting support; HIV/AIDS, STI and substance abuse prevention; and re-entry groups in DYS and adult facilities. VIA accepts youth and young adults from Chelsea, East Boston, Revere, and Charlestown. For more information contact Dana Betts, Via Project Coordinator, at (617)889-5210 x 262 or Dana_Betts@rocainc.com.

Healthy Families Program serves more than 170 first-time young parents with children ages 0-3 years old in Chelsea, Revere, Winthrop, Charlestown, and East Boston through a unique home visiting program that focuses on both parent and child. Roca’s program integrates Healthy Families of America and Healthy Families of Massachusetts with Roca’s youth development model of transformational relationships. Roca’s program is unique in that it is housed in a community-based youth center and provides academic and vocational support to parents. Roca’s Healthy Families Home Visitors reach young parents through outreach, home visits, and referrals from community partners, health centers, and Roca’s other programs. Home visitors run gender-specific school-based parenting groups at local high schools, an on-site Family Center every Monday afternoon, and life skills/parenting groups in collaboration with school-based health centers and Massachusetts General Hospital Adolescent Health Centers. For more information contact Heather Rebmann Hernandez, Healthy Families Program Coordinator, at (617) 889-5210 x 219 or Heather_Rebmann@rocainc.com.

Youth Star is an Americorps-funded program that provides transitional employment and youth leadership development to 17 young adults from Chelsea, East Boston, Revere, and the surrounding communities. Members of this civic action corps commit to 11 months of community service and organizing work and receive a weekly stipend and an educational scholarship for college tuition. Youth Star members are working on an anti-violence and health awareness campaign and are conducting 20 educational workshops for youth and adults throughout the community. Members collaborate with community partners, volunteer at two area food pantries serving several thousand people per year, and reach many more community members through weekly outreach. The corps hosts five major community events per year to engage their peers to take action on critical issues, promote generosity, and work toward community change. For more information contact Lissette Sanchez-Gil, Youth Star Coordinator, at (617) 889-5210 x 232 or Lissette@rocainc.com.

Roca’s MGH clinic was established in response to Youth Star identifying an important need that wasn’t being filled – young people accessing vital health care services. The initiative for the clinic began during Youth Star team discussions, when members saw young people at Roca and in the community who had nowhere to go for free confidential medical care including pregnancy testing, HIV/AIDS testing, physicals, birth control, and general health care and advice. In partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital, the full-service, fully-equipped clinic operates on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 9 p.m. and provides free anonymous care to anyone who desires it, including referrals for substance abuse counseling on-site. For more information contact Lissette Sanchez-Gil, Youth Star Coordinator, at (617) 889-5210 x 232 or Lissette@rocainc.com.