In 2001 the MHBFSA honored two dedicated individuals and a family, all of whom have demonstrated great success. The President’ Award was given to Jim Wotring, Carla Waite and the Annette Shumay family.

Jim Wotring was a past board member of the Association. Jim was instrumental in the implementation of home-based service provision in Michigan. He was a founding member of the Association and acted as Vice President. Jim help develop the Standards used by the Association. Because of his work and dedication home based services are now a mandatory service for all CMHSPs statewide. The Association extends gratitude and congratulations to Jim.

Carla Waite, from Family Outreach Center’s Family Skills Program, was another winner of the President’s Award. She was nominated for her commitment to families, her position, and her staff.
In the fall of 1998, Family Outreach Center began providing home-based services through a Kent County Community Mental Health contract. This program began with two part-time staff. Carla Waite hired in 1999, as a clinician, built the program from two part-time staff to eight full-time therapists. Currently, Carla holds the title of Family Skills Program Supervisor.

Carla has continued since the inception of this program to go above and beyond the expectations for someone in her position. She serves her clients, as well as works with her staff in a way that demonstrates integrity and professionalism.

Annette Shumay and her children, John, Heidi and Monica, were awarded the Family Award for 2001 for their work over the past two years with Arbor Circle. Annette has made commendable effort in learning to cope with her son, John’s extremely active behaviors.

Annette has made great effort to understand John’s behavior and parent accordingly. She attended several parenting classes and continually, with increasing patience and success, implemented the strategies she learned. She worked diligently with John’s schools to find educational and medication routines which helped John function productively . She also worked consistently to build an extended support system to provide respite.

Annette also provided opportunities for John, her daughters, and herself to develop their creative talents and interests and found this was key to stimulating positive energy, family dynamics, and self-esteem. Annette set a personal goal for herself to finish her BA and progressed well toward this.
The Association would like to commend Annette and her children for working together in a successful and positive manner.

Congratulations to all the 2001 Awardees!

In 2001 the various committees of the Michigan Home-Based Family Services Association (MHBFSA) have made a number of strides. We have expanded our mailing list, improved our website to make it more user-friendly, provided members with three issues of Practice and organized the annual conference at the Sheraton Inn, Ann Arbor, with excellent reviews.

This year’s conference introduced three new speakers. The feedback was very positive. The Sheraton Inn was an friendly venue and made every effort to accommodate the Association. Again, your comments have been helpful in providing focus for next year’s conference.

The year 2002 is upon us and we have a number of services we are maintaining and other services we’d like to introduce or improve. Our goal is to publish four Practice newsletters. To succeed in this effort, any input our readers have as to their interests and needs would be helpful. We are also interested in adding links to other agencies and resources through our website. If your agency is interested in being linked to our organization, please contact our membership committee at www.mihomebased.com.

The Training Committee has two major tasks ahead of them this year. The first is to offer a one-day training in Spring. Potentially, Susan Tohn, one of the speakers from the October Conference, may be the speaker and address solution focused issues for home-based workers. The second task the Training Committee has is to move up all target dates to get an earlier start in planning. This effort is geared to providing the conference brochure even earlier.

When we put together our annual conference and the various committee tasks throughout the year, it is due to the combined energy of all board members. Therefore, I would like to take this time to commend all the board members who volunteered their time, creativity and resources to make the goals and mission of this organization thrive. We have strong participation and diverse experiences and are striving to improve. The Michigan Home-Based Family Services Association has grown and developed over the years and we look forward to other successful seasons in assisting you in your efforts to better the lives of children and families.

Best wishes in all of your efforts!

From the Training Committee

The 14th Annual Conference of the Michigan Home-Based Family Services Association (MHBFSA) entitled "Strengthening and Affirming Families through Home-Based Interventions" was a great success. Each of the three keynote presenters received rave reviews. Susan Tohn, MSW, LICSW, one of two keynotes on the first day, presented "Three Innovative Solution Focus Tools for Home-Based Work", while Lydia Walker, MA, the other keynote speaker on Day One presented "Getting a Firm Foundation: Understanding and Intervening in Domestic Violence". The last day offered participants an enjoyable presentation by the third keynote, Naomi Haines-Griffith, MA, MSW, as she presented "Celebrating the Uniqueness of Each Family".

Day Two offered the opportunity for many local presenters to pass on their knowledge and lessons learned from working with children and families. Presentation highlights from Day Two were numerous. Some of them were: "Experiential Learning as Assessment and Treatment in Home-Based Settings" by Bill Carew, BA and Sandra Tropp, MA; "Reality Therapy/Choice Therapy" by Stephen Eckert, MA, CSW; and "Effective Problem Solving Skills" by Thomas DuRussel Weston, ACSW. We thank them and all of the presenters for their time and effort.

As with past conferences the Awards dinner was held Wednesday night. At this event the 2001 President’s Awards were presented. Friday morning the Annual Board meeting was held with many participants enjoying a hearty breakfast before listening to the speaker.

Ann Arbor also offered great shopping opportunities right across the street. Always a plus for attendees. Overall, the conference was a success and participants had a great time relaxing and learning.