A Movie (Inside Out) and Sheffield Place Families

Have you seen the recent Pixar movie- Inside Out?

We have! Over the month of July, I had the pleasure of taking 9 of our families to see this excellent new movie. Inside Out tells the story of 11 year old Riley who experiences a housing transition with her family.

While Riley experiences moving to a new house, missing a parent who is busy with new job, starting a new school, etc. the story is focused on the journey of Riley's inner emotions (joy, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust) as they struggle to cope with such change.

This was a fantastic film for our families who have experienced significant and ongoing transitions! Many of our children and mothers have made big moves with far less supportive caregivers than Riley did and were able to relate to the reactions of Riley's inner emotions. This movie helped our children to assign words and images to the very abstract concepts of emotions, loss and personality. It provided a great visual understanding for our mothers of emotion development and how parenting can help or hinder healthy emotional development.

For the mothers of Sheffield Place, this movie was empowering because it showed the positive influence their support can have on their children's adjustment during transition- the power they have to help their children even when life's circumstances are out of their control. For our children, the movie

validated and normalized the chaotic emotions they may have experienced as a part of their homelessness.

Finally, perhaps the most important lesson this movie had for our families is that all emotions have a purpose, even sadness, and that it is healthy to let our emotions do their job rather than stuff them down and try to be “happy” all time.

After going to the theater to see the movie- a first time experience for many of our kids, the families processed the movie with their family therapist over pizza and ice cream. Later in the month the families made collages of feeling faces and things that make them feel specific emotions using a book of Inside Out characters. Currently, in Project Hope, we have started using images from the movie to help kids talk about which feelings are “driving” their bodies in times of distress or if maybe their control panel is frozen (as in a scene from the movie) so that

they feel like they are not in control.  

I have to admit, there is little that makes a professional counselor happier than when mainstream media supports mental health and development with psychologically accurate information presented in style that is relevant and accessible to our clients. We have and will continue to use this movie as a tool for healing with the families of Sheffield Place. I hope you’ll see it too!

Stephanie O'Neal, LPC

Sheffield Place Children's and Family Therapist

JMU Students Spend Spring Break at Sheffield Place

For the 16^th year, students from JMU made the 21 hour trek to Kansas City to work at Sheffield Place.  These engaged, hard-working students could have been in warm, sunny places like many other students on spring break, but they chose to come to Kansas City and learn about the crisis of family homelessness.

Here are comments on the week provided by the students about what they learned:

• I have learned so much about how to talk to children through the examples of the teachers in Project HOPE.
• Not only was I impressed with the treatment of the children, but also with the efforts towards building parenting skills with the moms.
  
  
• Playing and interacting was my favorite part of the week.  The children have so much joy and happiness and a whole lot of energy!
• At Sheffield Place, you see these individuals who have such beautiful souls and realize that they are no different from any other person.
• These mothers have come so far and are working on a better life. 
• In the afternoon, I spent time with the most fun-loving kids I have ever met.  Knowing what they have gone through and what they may have seen amazes me how they can still get up every morning and be happy . . . . everyone who works here is truly passionate about making a difference for these families.
• Everyone at Sheffield Place displayed joy through the entire week and it took me by surprise.  They always looked for the positive side of things and showed me that I needed to be more thankful.
• I now want to learn more about the substance abuse prevention side of social work.
• This facility is an inspiring and beautiful example of how to create a community of support with and environment of hope and empowerment . . .  Each family here has a touching story of resilience and strength and I learned so much from them.
• A lot of us have really learned about the intentionality that Sheffield Place has in everything they do.  From a specific lingo of treating everyone with respect and dignity with each word to to the specificity of treatment plans for each family. 

A big thank you to these students and JMU for their longstanding partnership!

Why I Volunteer at Sheffield Place

Why I Volunteer at Sheffield Place

by Sherri Becker

Why do I volunteer at the Sheffield Place? Well, I tell my friends one thing and feel something a little different.  I tell my friends that I am happy to spend a couple of hours helping the Sheffield Place and that it is my civic duty to volunteer and help where and when I can.  I tell them that I don’t have children or grandchildren like most of my friends.  I need a baby fix.

But my feelings about it go much, much deeper.  These are kids who need and deserve some total unconditional love from a complete stranger.  They have struggled in their very short lives or are struggling now and this just isn’t fair.  I know life isn’t fair, but for 2 short hours, while their mothers are in group therapy, why shouldn’t I be there to hold, coddle, coo, play with or read to these kids.  It’s very satisfying and the teachers prob

ably like the extra help too. 

As an example, during one of my visits I was placed in the older infant’s room.  There were 5 babies and 4 out of the 5 spent almost the whole 2 hours crying.  I took two and rocked them until one fell asleep in my arms.  That took a burden off of the paid staff.  I also enjoyed watching the staff try to comfort the other children.  It was a hectic day, however I went home feeling warm inside. I get my baby fix and for 2 short hours per month it’s fun and rewarding.

Pictures of Hope - SWAT Officer

Major Richard Smith of KCPD East Patrol (far right in photo) participated as a mentor at Pictures of Hope.  He shares his experience here.  

Walking into Sheffield Place, my mind was wondering what the day would hold.  This was my first experience with “mentoring” and I have no artistic ability whatsoever, and wondered if the young person assigned would quickly figure out both in no time.  I was lucky enough to meet several other mentors prior to meeting with the kids.  It was a great atmosphere, as everyone looked happy and ready to tackle the day.  A quick meeting with Linda Solomon helped to give us mentors a picture of the goal, helping kids articulate their hopes and dreams through a camera.  Linda read some inspirational cards that had been derived from this project, man the pressure was on now.  Marty Dahmer made a nice presentation, he let us all know that Chevrolet and Cable Dahmer Chevrolet was sponsoring the event with sincerity and conviction, traits that are rare in many charity events. 

The children were all given T-Shirts, only one kid said he would not put the shirt on.  Soon the mentors were called and the directed to the child they were going to mentor.  I approached Ken [not his real name] wondering if he was going to allow me to talk to him.  His head was down, he was the kid who would not put on the T- shirt and said to someone that he didn’t want to, and he seemed less than enthusiastic to have a cop in uniform next to him for the next couple of hours.  I talked with Ken and we worked through his hopes and dreams. I quickly realized he was much like me and stuck to typical boys’ hopes and dreams.  After some “getting to know each other time” I asked Ken if he would put on his T-shirt.  Since he has a particular hairstyle I demonstrated on how to roll the shirt up to the opening so he could just stick his head through without messing up his hair.   Trust was built! 

Our picture experience was as expected.  Ken learned how to use the camera as a video recorder and soon he was without any power in the camera.  Since the camera was dead our time at the park was spent playing rather than photographing.  Ken didn’t seem to mind.  Upon our return to Sheffield, I introduced Ken to a bullet proof vest and a gas mask.  I had no idea that anyone could be so cool by possessing these items.  Ken’s first words were, can you take my picture.  This was particularly important because Ken’s number one hope or dream was to be SWAT guy.   For Ken the best picture of hope was not across town but right in front of Sheffield, where Ken was the proudest Tactical Officer I had ever seen.   It was an awesome moment.

Becky [not her real name], Ken’s mom told me that he had recently been to a surplus store and Ken had wanted a gas mask that was displayed on a manikin.  Wow, sometimes cops are at the right place at the right time!  Ken and I ate lunch together and I promised him that he could use the mask for Halloween if he would  like.  Ken said that would be great. 

Ken taught me on how to be a mentor and we accomplished the goal.  We both had a rewarding experience, one that will last lifetime.

Pictures of Hope - Bug Doctor

Thank you for an amazing experience with Pictures of Hope. My 18-year-old niece Jessica and I were mentors to Ben, who hopes to be a bug doctor. I told him the word for that is really big: entomologist. He said he wants to help bugs. 

So with Jeannette driving, we went to the Discovery Center on Troost near the Kauffman Foundation and Stowers Research Institute. Ben was in bug heaven. He was thrilled with his camera, and while only 6 years old, he figured it out really fast. He captured pictures of roly-polys and butterflies, bees and a baby bunny. 

The Discovery Center walking trail leads to a pond where he saw “cute little water bugs” that were captured quickly by the camera lens. Inside he took pictures of turtles and snakes, and even a tarantula. We met several conservation department teachers and workers who told him about their jobs. 

Then we went across the street to the Stowers Research Institute, where I told him the bug doctors look at little tiny bugs under microscopes. We met a researcher from India who studies muscle fiber. Then at the entrance to Stowers, we saw a sign carved into stone that seemed to sum it all up perfectly. “Hope is Life.”

Jessica, Jeannette and I were truly inspired by Ben’s passion for bugs, and life!

Corporate Colleagues Host a Dinner at Sheffield Place

If any part of you is skeptical that a program can help homeless mothers turn their lives around, then you really need to check out Sheffield Place. A few of my girlfriends and I had our husbands and children go with us to fund and cook a Saturday evening meal for the residents at Sheffield Place. Nothing big - just burgers, hotdogs and a couple of sides for about 10 women and 20 kids.

This turned out to be the best charitable event we have experienced. It was good to see that the Sheffield Place demands a lot from these women - no alcohol, no drugs, no staying out late. The mothers must care for and prepare meals for their children. Both the women and children attend daily in-house programs designed to improve their scholastic, developmental, behavioral, and social skills.

Sheffield Place is really a place of hope. Even my junior high school children realized that this was not just a government-hand-out-program for the poor. Sheffield Place is a place for healing and improvement. These women are very fortunate to get to live at Sheffield Place with their children, and we could sense they didn’t take it for granted. That is so refreshing.