JRI’s day schools continued to thrive during the second year of the Covid pandemic, reaching more students in need of the integrated services our schools provide, engaging more families, and adding new facilities and programs.

And they accomplished it despite changing Covid guidelines that required staff and students at various times to adapt to on-site, remote and hybrid learning environments. Both overall student attendance and achievement saw increases during the year thanks to the dedication of our professional staff, students and families.

Anchor Academy expands, increases enrollment

Anchor Academy in Middleboro increased its enrollment from 35 to 50 students by building a new gymnasium and adding three classrooms.

Anchor students were able to choose from nine off-campus vocational opportunities, including Battleship Cove in Fall River, Buttonwood Park Zoo in New Bedford, and the Soule Homestead Education Center in Middleboro. Students participated in these opportunities on a rotating basis, learning new skills in each setting. In addition, thirty-seven on-campus vocational jobs were offered and maintained by students.

Ten Anchor Academy students graduated with high school diplomas, and four enrolled in college. One student was in a dual enrollment program at Massasoit Community College, one decided on trade school, and four students enrolled in the gap year program.

The Victor School students were awarded scholarships

The transitions department at The Victor School in Acton ensured students still had access to internships, career fairs and college fairs even if held virtually due to Covid. College tours continued, moving from virtual in semester one to on-campus in semester two.

Five of The Victor School’s students were in dual enrollment programs where they earned college credits.

Nineteen students graduated from The Victor School in 2021. One hundred percent had post-graduation plans: four-year or community college, full-time work or a gap year program. Five students were awarded scholarships, ranging from the Presidential Scholarship, which is a full ride to UMass Lowell, to $7,500 per year and admissions to the honors program at Keene State College to $29,500 per year at Curry College.

JRI is committed to ensuring that the young people in its care can depend on at least one permanent relationship with an adult, someone who cares how their day went, if they’re struggling at school or made a new friend.

Each young person who enters a JRI residential program has a permanency plan “before crossing the threshold,” said Meredith Rapoza, division director of permanency and latency services. That can mean everything from adoption, or legal permanency, to relational permanency, meaning regular engagement with an adult who could be a coach, an aunt or even a JRI staff member.

As a pioneer in the issue of permanency, JRI has developed training not only for clinicians, but for all direct care staff. A cook in a congregate care setting knows to keep an ear out for clues to adults who have been important in a child’s life. Whether it’s an uncle who played ball or a school nurse who bandaged a knee, almost any responsible adult has the potential to become someone a child can count on to remember a birthday or visit now and again.

JRI clinicians also work with clients’ identified families to strengthen relationships with parents, siblings and other family members, so that children who return home can find a more supportive environment.

“The emphasis on permanency is ever-evolving and growing,” said Shannon Siracusa, clinical director at Littleton Academy. “Over the past year, a new program, Big Heroes-Little Heroes, was established to encourage relationships between older clients and their younger counterparts.”

“We’re on the cutting edge and pushing the envelope all the time and getting better and better,” said Rapoza.

“We use data throughout JRI, but we really rely on data in our residential programs since our time together is so limited and the presentation of acuity is so high,” said Kari Beserra, JRI executive vice president.

Data derived from JRI’s Client Assessment Tracking System (CATS) guide a clinician’s assessment of a client and the efficacy of a given therapy. The CATS system uses a battery of assessments that are nationally validated and look for and track small indicators of change across a multitude of symptoms, including trauma, depression, anxiety, and executive functioning.

For instance, an 8-year-old client of Little Heroes Group Home, in Dracut, MA, has been working so hard to make strides in his treatment to overcome his complicated and significant symptoms of trauma. His treatment course includes several intense treatment modalities and interventions. Often times, progress can be hard to see in someone so young, because the presentation of symptoms can be so complicated, overwhelming, and confusing. Also, trauma symptoms do not heal in a linear path, and often move in a series of ups and downs. Additionally, brain change to healing is not often seen first on the outside or in behaviors, but it is still happening. Compounding treatment even further, the outside events of life continue to happen, testing paths of treatment each day.

For example, when this little boy came to JRI, he was really struggling to manage overwhelming symptoms of trauma. His symptoms were acute and scary. JRI quickly began a treatment plan that included several clinical interventions designed to help him manage these symptoms. But symptoms like this are large and complicated, and treatment change happens slowly and in nonlinear ways. So watching for change can be hard, especially with 8 year olds who struggle to notice changes in their body.

Thanks to the JRI CATS data, the team was able to track and analyze his change in symptoms, even in small increments. The CATS data showed steadily that this little boy was making progress, that his clinical symptoms were decreasing, and his ability to manage overwhelming emotions were slowly but steadily increasing.

As for so many youth trying to manage trauma, external events that are hard to predict or prevent continue to happen over the course of treatment. For this little boy, unexpected changes in the schedule to the visits with his family happened, and really tested his ability to manage his trauma symptoms in a way that were overwhelming to him. During this time, he began to show some extreme behaviors to try to manage changes that were unexpectedly overwhelming to him.

On the surface and in general observation, these behavior changes were large, and resembled behaviors from when he first came to JRI. The change in symptoms did not clearly link to change in plans with his parents. Additionally, the increased symptoms of aggression looked at through observation appeared to be overwhelming and in other circumstances would have led an outside observer to think this little boy was getting worse, not better. Because of the CATS data to assess treatment progress, the team was able to determine quickly that despite the aggressive behaviors, overall, this little boy was getting better and his trauma symptoms were dissipating. The timelines could also link the aggressive behaviors to changes in his plans with his parents. Therefore, the team knew progress was happening and could continue on with therapies that were clearly helping him to heal.

“Trauma is so complex and we have a lot of treatment modalities,” Beserra said. “Data helps us understand the brain changes that might be going on behind the scenes, so we don’t switch gears too early. It helps us make sure we are working as quickly and effectively as possible.”