Creating a sense of community for Seagoville families

Several weeks ago, the mental health clinicians at the Seagoville Youth and Family Center decided to fill a need in their area, and the response they have received has been more than they expected—creating a sense of community and support that was sorely needed.

“At the beginning of the year, we had a professional development for the department, and we noticed that there was a need for a support group for parents of students who have been diagnosed with autism,” said Robert Martinez, the center’s manager. “We noticed there were also a lot of Spanish speakers. That spun three different groups—an evening support group, a day support group and one for Spanish speakers.”

The clinician leading the group for Spanish-speaking parents, Pablo Estrada, planned for an hour the first time they met but the time quickly expanded to an hour and a half and then two hours because there was a real need for parents to have a space to share and support each other, he said.

When the groups were announced, parents came in very excited the day before to check things out. The first couple of weeks, they leaned on each other and found common bonds.

“I thought they were going to be reluctant to speak at first, but they were not,” said Estrada, a mental health clinician. “They spoke about self-care, their struggles, the need for healthy communication and relationships. We are going to meet with a special education teacher to speak about their struggles and the talents that the kids have because some of these kids are amazing.”

One way that Estrada knows the group has been successful is because he has learned a lot from the parents. Another is from a  mother who suspected her preschool-aged child had autism and  came to the group discouraged and looking for guidance. After meeting all the other parents, she left confident with a referral to a clinic in Plano that could do an evaluation within weeks,  an offer of a ride to the clinic and help with interpreting. She also left with the knowledge that she was part of a community that supported her and shared her struggles. Her whole perspective changed, Estrada said.

“She found a safe place,” Estrada said. “Yes, there’s crying in these sessions, but there is also joy.”

One of the reasons these support groups and other mental health services that the center offers make such a difference in the community is that there are few providers of these services in Seagoville, and the area is relatively isolated because of lack of public transportation that allows residents to access mental health services somewhere else, Martinez said.

Normally, the center is open to see students throughout the day, mostly they are pulled from middle and high school as needed to receive services, Martinez said. There’s a large population of Hispanic and Spanish-speaking families that use the Friday-only drop-in clinic because they need referrals or have trouble getting children seen by a clinician. 

The support groups are an important resource for parents because when they hear the word autism, they only hear disability, said Pauline Agulefo, a mental health clinician at the center.  

“These children are not disabled,” Agulefo said. “We stress the ability, we build upon what’s good, the positive. Once the child feels good and supported, they give more of that. Sharing goes on and on. The groups give the parents an opportunity to talk and share, to exchange ideas. They empower them and give them a sense that someone is hearing them.”