HONESDALE, PA — The Wayne County Commissioner’s May 12 proclamation of Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day provided a platform to introduce a new integrated program to assist children and their families.

Funded through a four-year federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant, Wayne County over the past year has developed a local Children’s System of Care Leadership Team or “SoC.”

According to a Wayne County Office of Human Services (WCHS) statement, team members include family and youth, school staff, representatives from local agencies that assist families and an elected official.

SoC Coordinator Ernie Laskosky told the commissioners that SoC is a coordinator more than a program. He said SoC group’s scope of work is growing as they interact with the schools. “It’s bigger and bigger as we meet with counselors. The system has been stagnant for so long. We’d like to make it more user friendly,” he said.

The team’s mission is described as threefold: to listen to families and youth as to what strategies would work most successfully for their individual family situations, to act as an advocate for children and their families in our local communities and to improve access of families and youth to support services.

County Human Services Director Andrea Whyte and County Drug and Alcohol Commission Executive Director Jeff Zerechak were also on hand to support the SoC kickoff.

“Child rearing is much more challenging today,” said attorney and commissioner Wendell Kay. “The needs are so far beyond what we did 30 years ago. We must have change. We can’t lose sight of the fact that those are individuals, not just abstract problems.”

To familiarize the community with some of SoC’s work, the team has sponsored several kick-off events this month to emphasize the celebration of Children’s Mental Health Awareness Month held annually in May. They culminate on May 22, with a Disc Golf Tournament at Prompton State Park to promote the importance of physical wellness in Mental Health Recovery. The event runs from 10 a.m to 2 p.m.

“More events and information will be available throughout the year, and our young people will help plan and carry out our mission, and its activities, and its advocacy of system change and development in our community,” the WCHS stated. Visit their SoC Facebook page for more details, search for “Wayne County System of Care” on Facebook.