Two LG Staff Honored At Serenity Lane Awards Event
Looking Glass Partners with Boys & Girls Club to Provide Therapy and Skill Building
In the Spring of 2021 and amidst the throws of the Covid-19 pandemic, Matt Sorensen, the CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Emerald Valley in Eugene, noticed an uptick in the behavioral issues of the youth in program there and realized his club needed help.
“We were seeing the stress and trauma these kids were going through manifesting itself in a way that we were clearly not equipped to deal with,” Sorensen explained. “Not just a few kids having bad days, but like real meltdowns, bad language and tantrum throwing. We recognized that we needed to find a partner with expertise in mental health and youth so we sought out a connection with Looking Glass.”
Starting back in August has had Looking Glass therapists, skill builders and a youth peer support specialist embedded at the Boys & Girls Club two to three days per week.
Representative Nancy Nathanson Presented With Looking Glass Community Leadership Award
Looking Glass President & CEO Craig Opperman presented the 2021 Community Leadership Award to Representative Nancy Nathanson at a recent Looking Glass board meeting for her stellar and steadfast support for our community’s youth and families in need. Nathanson has pushed for increased financial support for Looking Glass and other social service organizations including helping Looking Glass to receive new funds to help make needed capitol improvements to Looking Glass homeless youth programs.
Girl Scout Troop #24761 Donation Drive
This past May and June, Girl Scout Troop #24761 hosted a donation drive to collect toiletry items for Homeless Youth.
Their leader, Amy Mahady reached out to Looking Glass to learn more about the services offered so that the girls’ could learn more about how homelessness impacts youth in our community.
Looking Glass Development Coordinator, Amanda Zacharda, joined on a Zoom call during one of their meetings and was able to educate the Troop about all of the services provided at Looking Glass, especially the Homeless Youth Services.
The girls were able to come up with over 30 bags of toiletry items to donate, along with $350+ donations from multiple businesses in our community.
Crochet Donations: Success for Pathways Girls
This past month, we asked our community to help accrue more yarn for the Pathways Girl Program, who have been crocheting as a form of therapy. We are so thrilled that many of our donors and local community members came together to help us obtain over 10+ boxes and bags full of yarn. This will allow the girls to continue to master their crochet techniques as well as helping them with their recovery during their stay at the Pathways Program.
2020 Looking Glass Volunteers of the Year - Pam Gutierrez & Doris Hicks, Unity of the Valley Church
Unity of the Valley began an outreach to Looking Glass Residential Services in November 2019. They provide a weekly celebration service based on the outline of Youth of Unity (Y.O.U.) meetings. Prayer shawls are provided to all participants and some of their family members. Since the end of June, Unity of the Valley has also provided an evening Zoom Prayer time when the teens are able to connect one-on-one with a chaplain.
Celebrating Pride
On Saturday, June 27th, the day before the 51st anniversary of the Stonewall riots, Looking Glass Station 7 hosted a Pride celebration with Trans*Ponder and HIV Alliance. Youth and staff enjoyed a barbecue in the backyard while getting the chance to learn about these valuable LGBTQ+ resources in our community.
Thank You For a Successful #GivingTuesday!
Residential Programs Get Fit at the YMCA
Every day, Looking Glass residential treatment clients are taken to the Eugene YMCA to play basketball and use the exercise equipment as part of their healing and education on living a full, healthy life.
“The YMCA is a safe way to get the clients' energy out - in our residential facilities, clients got to where they are by making some bad choices usually when they do not have healthy alternatives to those lifestyles,” Explained Aaron Hinkley, a Program Supervisor for Pathways Boys and PRD programs.
Child and Adolescent Network Provides Crisis Line and In-Person Intervention
Looking Glass is a proud founding member of the Child and Adolescent Network (CAN). Over decades of experience hosting a 24-hour crisis line for parents and children in Lane County, starting in 2005 the need for non-police crisis intervention became apparent. Working with Jasper Mountain and The Child Center, we expanded the 24/7 Crisis Line (541-689-3111) to become the Crisis Response Program (CRP) that combines the crisis line with in-person interventions when necessary.
