In the fall of 1980,
Wediko children's Services began providing comprehensive consultation and treatment
services to special needs Boston Public School students at the
McKinley Schools.
Through its collaboration
with McKinley and BPS, Wediko now reaches
500 children and families annually in
10 different sites.
Thirty Wediko clinicians
serve preschool through high school
students who struggle with multiple academic
behavioral problems.
Wediko has special
expertise with children who have
experienced psychological trauma, such as
family violence,
pervasive neglect, street violence, sexual assault, and
significant losses.
Vital to Wediko-McKinley
collaboration is active case management to
assist children and families in
coping with volatile living situations,
including eviction, homelessness, and
placement of children outside the home.
Wediko therapists and
consultants, working in the schools,
make clinical services more accessible to
children and families,
many of whom would not otherwise seek treatment.
Structural individual
psychotherapy sessions help students
recognize and explore recurrent patterns of
feelings and behavior,
review life-changing events, and develop more effective
problem-solving skills.
Long-term treatment goals
for students include: understanding
needs in relation to other people, enhancing
academic achievement,
and emphasizing work experience with long-range
vocational planning.
Alliances built in family
therapy assist parents in
prioritizing personal and family needs while
mobilizing community resources.
Consultation with academic,
guidance, and administrative
staff focuses on designing programs which promote
students' sense of self-esteem, responsibility, and mastery.
School-based psychiatric
consultation, medication evaluation,
and comprehensive psychological assessment
are also provided.
Wediko-McKinley liaisons
with child welfare agencies,
the courts, and health care providers to facilitate
family use of community resources.