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When you and your family enter the Cuyahoga Tapestry System of Care, you are an equal voice with everyone else on your team. Maybe you’ve got some conflicts that make it hard to pay attention in school, make you lash out at your brothers and sisters, make you angry, make you unhappy—and you might think that means that nobody will listen to you. But your experiences and your struggles are what make you an authority.
You are the only person who can say what it is like to be you.
Your team in the system of care will listen to you.
Our services are “youth guided,” which means that the youth getting mental health or other services through the system of care:
- sit at the table at the same time the adults do
- help develop their family’s goals and plans
- and get their voices heard!
| A Gallery of Artwork |
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What is a system of care?
A “system of care” is a big group of people, and they are all focused on working together to give you the services you need to have a great and safe life. In a system of care, it’s not just the “professionals” (meaning the people who went to school to learn how to help youth and families, and now do it as their job every day) making the decisions. It’s all about you, your family, your school, your neighborhood, and the people you love—and people from all those areas of your life might be sitting at the same table when you are planning how to make your life better.
| Five Values of Youth Involvement |
These five ideas are important in a system of care.
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Youth MOVE
On a national level, youth are creating change. Youth just like you are recovering and using their experiences to change the way people think. If you want to meet some amazing youth, visit Youth MOVE.
Youth MOVE (Youth Motivating Others through Voices of Experience) is a national group empowering young people with mental health issues to change their lives through systems transformation.
| Youth MOVE’s Vision Statement |
| We the members of Youth MOVE envision a system of care in which every young person that enters any youth-serving system is successfully prepared for life. We help guide the redevelopment of the system so that no youth falls through the cracks. We advocate for youth to utilize their power to foster change in their communities and in their own lives. Youth MOVE works toward the day when all people will recognize and accept the culture of youth, their families, and the communities that serve them in order to be truly culturally competent. Youth MOVE looks forward to the day when youth are no longer treated as numbers, problems, or caseloads, but as individuals and humans. We will all stand as partners: youth, youth advocates, supporters, parents, and professionals, to see our youth become successful. Visit the Youth MOVE web site at http://www.tapartnership.org/youth/YouthMOVE.asp. |
More Resources
Youth: If you want to get along better in life and need a team to help support you, print the free booklet, Overview of a Child & Family Team Process Called Wraparound.
Professionals who work with youth: For information to help you bring youth into your care community, print and read the Youth Involvement in Systems of Care: A Guide to Empowerment. Also, if you want information to help families, print, read and distribute A Family’s Guide to the Child Welfare System.
Resources Just for Youth:
Calendar – Glossary of Terms – Links
