Community Outreach: A Model For Success

Marsha Block, CAE, CFRE, Chief Executive Officer
Diane Feirman, CAE, Public Affairs Director

In November 2001, the American Group Psychotherapy Association received a $2 million grant from the New York Times Company Foundation 9/11 Neediest Cases Fund to provide group interventions for economically disadvantaged populations affected by September 11th. This was supplemented by a $100,000 grant from the AOL-Time Warner Foundation.

The opportunities for the organization, including its ability to provide its members with a venue in which to assist in the 9/11 relief effort as well as work to destigmatize mental health and promote the benefits of group, were matched only by the challenge of the organization providing direct delivery of services for the first time in its 60-year history. It was a challenge that AGPA and its volunteer leadership, membership and staff rose to by creating an outreach structure that operated on key group principles-collaboration and relationship building.

The first groups with which we established our outreach structure were our own Affiliate Societies and membership. We knew that many Societies and members had contacts within the community and, indeed, many were already providing 9/11-related services. A key ingredient to quickly mobilizing was to identify naturally occurring groups that might require services and those with contacts into these groups or members who were willing to outreach to groups identified by AGPA. Relying primarily upon e-mail, for its immediate reach and response time, members were informed about the opportunities and how they could be involved. AGPA provided members with the necessary materials to reach out to their own community contacts or assigned groups to work with to design services. The grant required services only to economically disadvantaged populations, which often was not a segment of the community with which our members readily had contact. However, since this included not-for-profit agencies, community groups, schools, and religious institutions, personal contacts in addition to professional contacts were as important. For example, members' involvement in school PTAs or at houses of worship was leveraged to reach many affected populations.

Establishing such a vast network of services required AGPA to build new relationships and design services specific to their needs. A staff position of Public Affairs Director was established and a member clinician was hired to identify groups in need and systematically reach out to them to:

• educate them on AGPA, its mission, and its members;
• provide them with information on groups and their benefits;
• identify their specific needs in relation to 9/11; and
• work with them to design a program to fit their specific needs.

A broad net was cast, reaching out to other grantees of the New York Times, groups in communities that were hard hit by 9/11 losses, particularly schools and the uniformed services, and communities with large immigrant populations. We also participated in a variety of work groups established throughout New York City to provide coordination among the different groups offering 9/11 services. Along every step of the way, collaboration has been key.

The broad net and systematic relationship building began to pay off in several ways. Many times, we would reach out to a group who would recognize our name, oftentimes through their relationship with another group who had utilized AGPA's services. We also began to receive calls from groups referred to us by those we had worked with. Indeed, it felt as though we no longer had to push quite as hard; the process began to gain some of its own momentum and the work increased significantly. The apex was surely the week of September 11 during which AGPA was at 40 sites with 96 clinicians participating, almost all of which came about through outreach to us.

Our outreach work has also provided AGPA an opportunity to connect with group workers we had previously not had much contact with, particularly those working in both public and private agency settings. At the May 3-5, 2002, Trauma Training Program, presented in partnership with the Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society Training Program, almost half of the attendees were non-AGPA members, many from agency settings. We have also established good relationships with the schools in the New York City downtown area and the uniformed services of New York City, particularly the Counseling Unit of the New York City Fire Department. The amount of group work taking place in these settings is significant. For example, at this time, there are over 30 ongoing groups for guidance counselors as well as children in the New York City downtown schools. It has been a tremendous opportunity for AGPA to work with all these groups in providing support and, in many cases, training in group skills to assist those who are also delivering services.

A profile of the more than 300 distinct groups that have been serviced is as follows: 54 Survivors and Family Member Groups (15%); 181 Community-Based Groups (50%); 64 School-Based Groups (18%); 19 Uniformed Services Groups (5%); and 44 Clinician Support Groups (12%). Services have included single-session public education events, time-limited groups, and extended services groups. Most often, needs assessment has preceded the services to determine the best we have to offer with what are the identified needs.

Moving forward, the goal is to maintain and build upon the relationships built and to determine ways for there to be a permanent home for this type of community outreach work within AGPA, including expanding it to a national delivery system. Not only would this model serve as a response template should other disasters occur (natural or terrorist-related), but there is an opportunity here to utilize such a model in proactive ways to work to develop mentally healthy communities, e.g., assisting with conflict resolution, parenting skills, etc.

A key next step will be for all those involved in post-9/11 services to collaboratively work together to identify and record what worked and what did not work in their structures and services. Such documentation of "protocols" could be provided to other locales and could be of significant assistance in the event of other disastrous occurrences. AGPA is presently organizing a meeting to explore the possibilities for such an effort as well as seeking funding to support this activity.

Of course, we would be remiss to not offer thanks to those members who were such an important part of AGPA's success. These include:

• Harold Bernard, PhD, ABPP, CGP, FAGPA, President of AGPA and founding chair of the Disaster Outreach Task Force;
• Robert Klein, PhD, CGP, FAGPA, and Nina Thomas, PhD, ABPP, CGP, current chairs of the Disaster Outreach Task Force;
• Founding and current members of the Disaster Outreach Task Force (see list on page 2);
• The leadership of the Affiliate Group Psychotherapy Societies in the impacted area, particularly the Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society;
• Randy Lehrer, MSW, CGP, AGPA member and Task Force member who played an integral role in connecting AGPA with the New York Times funding and who has established numerous community contacts;
• Toby Feinson, MSW, PhD, CGP, an AGPA member who has established much of the ongoing school groups;
• Felicia Einhorn, MSW, CGP, who originated the position of Clinical Services Coordinator, and Randi Cohen, ACSW, MSW, MA, CGP, who is currently in this position, both of whom have done a yeoman's job of outreach and establishment of groups; and
• All of the agencies, community groups, organizations-the "frontline" people-with whom we have worked in the past year. We also thank the almost 150 Certified Group Psychotherapists (see page 2) who delivered above and beyond the promises we made in our outreach efforts to provide services to those in need in New York and Washington, DC. In the end, it was their skill and professionalism that created the success of this outreach program, assisting in the de-stigmatization of psychological responses to trauma and increasing the knowledge of the benefits of group and the visibility of AGPA as a valuable resource in the community.

This article was published in the February/March 2003 issue of The Group Circle.