Principles of Practice
Maple Star carries out it's mission emphasizing the following principles of practice:
1. The use of Service Teams
Individual service teams are responsible for developing and monitoring treatment plans for each youth. Each service team consists of the youth, family care providers, Maple Star social worker, relatives and family members of the youth, a worker from the agency with legal responsibility for the youth and, as appropriate, representatives of other community service organizations providing services to the youth.
The service teams meet at least quarterly; each meeting results in a written plan outlining the service arrangements for the next three months and clearly specifies responsibilities of all members of the service team for carrying out the service plan.
2. Normalization
Treatment plans are directed towards creating environments in which youths may live as normally as possible, develop new skills, and meet developmental tasks appropriate to age and ability. This includes providing training and support to treatment parents so they may react to inappropriate behaviors in ways designed to decrease these behaviors.
3. Community Support Networks
Youths are involved in activities designed to develop and strengthen networks of community support. These will include recreational and community activities as well as activities by which youths contribute to the good of the community.
4. Reducing Stigma
Activities that label or stigmatize youths are avoided; efforts are made to reduce the harmful effects of past labeling and stigmatization practices.
5. Inclusive Care
Inclusive care refers to practices to bring about the inclusion of family members of youths, including birth parents, as active participants in the process of providing care. Regular communication and participation will occurs among youths, birth parents, and treatment parents.
6. Continuity of Care and Relationships
Changes in placement are disruptive and harmful for human development. Efforts are made to prevent changes in placement and to assure continuity of care and relationships. When disruptions do occur, the preference is to maintain communications between the youth and treatment parents and to return the youth to the care provider's home whenever possible.
7. Commitment and Responsibility
All participants are expected to engage in open communications with each other, to commit themselves to the service plan, to take responsibility for following through on their commitments, and to develop skills to confront participants who do not follow through on their commitments. Confronting is non-assaultive and without rejection.
Maple Star's Therapeutic Approach
Maple Star utilizes milieu therapy and social network therapy, emphasizing:
- Building on client strengths an identifying client interests and skills;
- Increasing the number of opportunities for the client to develop social relationships by helping the client make connections through families, neighbors, fellow students and workers, and by participating in recreational, interest, and cultural groups;
- Increasing the variety of the client's social connections, so that the client has opportunities to interact in a variety of different types of groups, including peers, family members, neighbors, interest group participants, and so on;
- Increasing the continuity of the client's relationships by bringing necessary resources to bear on placements to avoid disruptions and by emphasizing the importance of becoming more socially integrated with families, neighbors, and other members of their communities;
- Increasing the closeness of the client's relationships by assisting the client with feelings of being close to others, of warmth, and of intimacy; and
- Increasing the client's opportunities for positive contributions to the community and expecting the client to contribute to community betterment.