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YOU AND THECRISIS YOUTH SUPPORT

There is a serious conflict situation at home. Or your mo-ther cannot look after you anymore because she suddenly has to go into hospital. Or … There are numerous situati-ons when immediate help is required. Often, families find their own solutions, for instance the grandparents help out temporarily. Sometimes, however, this is not possible.

If you and your family already receive help, for instance through a CLB (Centre for Pupil Guidance), it is important to let your support worker know that things aren’t going so well. He can then help to look for a solution. If no solution is found, you can, together, turn to the crisis contact point. This is called ‘registering’.

1. When to use the crisis contact point?

Support workers will register you with the crisis network. If you do not yet have or know a support worker, the crisis network will, together with you, look for a support worker who can register you, for instance your school’s CLB, your family doctor, …

My contact person in a crisis situation is:

Name:

E-mail:

Telephone number:

USE THIS SPACE TO WRITE DOWN THE DETAILS OF YOUR SUPPORT WORKER.

2: What is the crisis contact point?

The crisis contact point is a service within the centre for general welfare work (CAW). It consists of a team of support workers. They will look for a solution together with you, your parents, your support worker and all those involved in the crisis.

You can get in touch with the contact point at all times: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is one contact point per province and in Brussels.

Help through the crisis network is always short-term, but very intensive. Sometimes, other people, who know you and your family well, will be involved, for instance grand-parents, friends, … This will always happen in consultati-on with you and your family.

3: Three types of help

Together, you, your family, the support worker and the crisis contact point will look for a solution to the crisis situ-ation. Sometimes this is unsuccessful, in which case the situation will remain urgent and difficult. The crisis contact point can then bring in help from the crisis support programme, so you will receive help within 24 hours.

There are three types of crisis support within the crisis support programme.

Crisis intervention: you will stay in a safe place, but someone must investigate the crisis

The crisis contact point offers crisis intervention. Mean-while you will stay at home or with someone you know. A counsellor will visit and try to find out what is happe-ning and how to move forward. The support worker who registered you will possibly be involved in this process too. The counsellor will have numerous discussions with everybody involved to listen to their story:

> What is going well? > What is going wrong? > What needs changing? > What is needed for these changes to happen?

A crisis intervention will last between one and three days and leads to the core of the problem. The counsellor will help determine targets and agreements. Together, you will figure out how to move forward as a family.

Crisis counselling: You are still safe at home, but you are in need of counselling

The crisis contact point offers crisis counselling. A coun-sellor will visit several times a week for four weeks. He will talk to you and your parents. Sometimes separately, sometimes together.

Together with you, the counsellor will look for a different way to deal with each other and the problems.

If help is still needed after four weeks, the counsellor will look, together with you and the support workers involved, at who can provide this help.

Crisis stay: your parent is unable to care for you or you are no longer safe at home, and you have no-where to go

The crisis contact point can also arrange a crisis stay. This is a place where you can stay for a maximum of seven days, for instance a residential group in a youth facility or a foster family. It will preferably be close to where you live. This way, you can keep going to school or continue your hobbies. This is however not always possible.

Your support worker will agree with you and your parents how you will stay in touch. Only via telephone? Or can you go and visit?

You and your family will receive counselling in the mean-time. Together with you and your parents, the counsellor will look how to move forward once you get back home.

5. When does information get passed on?Sometimes support workers are obliged to report a crisis situation to others. If you or someone else are in danger, the support worker must inform the police. He will how-ever always tell you which steps he wants to or will take.

If the support worker is concerned about your situation, but you and your family are not keen on getting help, he can contact a mandated service, such as the Ondersteu-ningscentrum Jeugdzorg (Youth Care Support Service) or the Vertrouwenscentrum Kindermishandeling (Child Abuse Centre of Trust). In this case, he will also inform you of the steps he wants to or will take.

If you want to know more about mandated services, read the brochure

‘You and the Ondersteuningscentrum Jeugdzorg’

6. Judicial crisis help: the juvenile court judge decidesSometimes support workers are obliged to report a crisis Your contact person at the crisis contact point will always ask you whether you agree with the crisis help.

Maybe you disagree with the help proposed by the crisis contact point.

Or maybe your parents feel help is not needed.

If someone else still is very concerned about the situation, the juvenile court judge may decide that you must receive crisis help, even if you or your parents disagree.

4. Support workers are bound by professional secrecyAll support workers who will talk to you, are bound by professional secrecy. They are therefore not allowed to pass on any information about you and your family.

The crisis contact point will keep the information about your family in a file. Three services will know what’s in this file:

- the crisis contact point;

- the service that provides the crisis help;

- the support worker who has registered you with the crisis contact point.

Only with your agreement can other people receive infor-mation from the file as well.

If you have an on-going application with the intersectoral gateway for youth support that is not directly accessible, the person who registered you will be informed of your crisis situation. After all, he is the one who will follow up your situation and this way he will be in a better position to help you.

8. Questions or complaintsIf you have a question or complaint, discuss it with a friend, your teacher, a support worker, a youth worker… Together with you, they will look for a solution.

If that doesn’t work, you can contact the JO-line, the Jongerenwelzijn (Youth Welfare) helpline.

Call 0800 900 33 free of charge

> Monday from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.

> Tuesday from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.

> Wednesday from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m.

> Thursday from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.

> Friday from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m.

E-mail

jo-lijn@jongerenwelzijn.be

Write

JO-lijn

Ellipsgebouw

Koning Albert II-laan 35 – bus 32

1030 Brussels

7. After the crisisDuring the crisis help, the crisis contact point will stay in touch with the service providing the help. The counsellor will discuss with you – and with any other support worker involved – which help you need afterwards.

Crisis help is only short term and often cannot solve all the problems in a family. The help does provide more calm and safety. Together you will then look for further support and help to also solve the other problems and questions within the family.

You are not obliged to accept help after the crisis.