Wraparound Initiative Northwest (WIN) Georgia is a six year, $9 million cooperative agreement with Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
WIN Georgia is a regional effort to help “Build a System of Care” that works better for families and their loved ones. WIN provides Wraparound to children between the ages of birth to age 21 with a diagnosed mental illness.
WIN Georgia is part of the Northwest Georgia System of Care Advisory Council. This group oversees the regional System of Care (SOC) collaboration in the 15 counties of Northwest Georgia. This collaboration consist of: Family, Youth, Juvenile Court Judges, Treatment Providers, Family Connection Partnership, Education, DFCS, DJJ, DBHDD, Public Health, GA State representatives, Law Enforcement and other Community Leaders.
What is Wraparound
Wraparound is a process that helps your family handle your child’s behavior. If you decide to participate in Wraparound, you will receive help finding the services your child needs. Some families are already receiving services, often from multiple agencies. Wraparound will make sure the different resources are communicating with each other.
WIN Georgia helps your family build a Wraparound team. A Care Coordinator will work with you to develop goals and develop a plan to meet those goals based on your family’s strengths and culture. Your ideas and concerns are very important to this process. No plan can work unless it truly meets your family’s specific needs.
WIN Georgia can even help match you with a “Family Navigator.” Family Navigators are parents who have successfully graduated from the Wraparound process. These “parent peers” have been where you are and can be very helpful in guiding you to reaching your goals.
Wraparound is provided in both English and Spanish.
Wrap Supervisors are local level administrators that supervise CCs & FSPs. They provide support to county teams by meeting weekly and by helping to identify strengths, needs & strategies to achieve goals. WSs also meet with community partners to ensure lines of communication are open & flowing.
The Care Coordinator is the person who will facilitate the Wraparound process and work with you tosupport every aspect of your Wraparound experience. CCs do the following:
- Coordinate meetings
- Help you identify your strengths, goals, and needs
- Help you develop an initial safety and crisis plan
- Help you build your Wraparound team
- Help you create your Wraparound plan
- Manage meetings
- Participate in your plan
- Follow up on your plan
- Ensure key documents are where they should be
- Get plans and funding approved
Sometimes the CC just runs the meetings and other staff do the rest. Other times, CCs work with you to support every aspect of your Wraparound experience. CCs usually are college graduates and many have advanced degrees.
Family Support Partners are flexible and always prepared to do whatever the Wraparound plan requires. They will work with you and your family on anything—from helping meet your most basic life needs to making friends, getting jobs and supporting positive life changes. FSPs provide support by connecting families to resources and helping address needs.
Family Navigators are family members or care givers who have successfully completed or transitioned from the System of Care. FNs will model strength based approaches in parenting and will assist current WIN Georgia families in successfully navigating the Wraparound process.
At any time WIN Georgia families have the opportunity to be “matched” with a Family Navigator. Speak to your Care Coordinator to learn more.
The Lead Family Contacts main goal in Wraparound is to
help support the idea of “Family Voice- Family Choice.” This means that the LFC works with families to be sure that the teams hear what they need, helps them gain the information to be stronger advocates for themselves and their families. The LFC also supports families by organizing activities, developing leadership opportunities and ensuring that families have a voice in planning and carrying out services.
The Youth Engagement Specialist works with CCs, FSPs and FNs to make sure that youth are heard in Wraparound team meetings and that they are able to participate fully in developing their plans. YESs also organize group activities, develop training and encourage participation in leadership opportunities.
Evaluators do not participate in Wraparound but instead measure how well the process is working. Talking to family members is one of the most important ways to evaluate its effectiveness. Some evaluators are parents, while others are students or university professors. Whatever their background, evaluators are trained to help you express your opinions honestly about things that matter, to observe Wraparound meetings and to measure how well your Wraparound plan is working. WIN Georgia evaluators will be getting in touch with you shortly after you enroll to describe the evaluation in more detail. Please participate in the study to make services better for you and for other families like yours.
