Community Health, Peer and Family Support

Family Advocate Program

Family Advocates have knowledge, experience, have been trained and are dedicated to helping families navigate the often-complex systems parents must learn to navigate to have their needs met. Families with special needs children, children entering the juvenile justice system, and those entering the child welfare system are often fearful and angry. Many feel they are not truly included in decision-making processes and that their most urgent needs for help are not addressed. Family Advocates work to engage parents through evidence based and innovative approaches. Family Advocates are uniquely positioned to engage families by offering parents strong advocates who deliver encouragement, education, and assistance locating and obtaining necessary resources to strengthen the family.

• Reaching out to, advocating for and supporting families.

• Linking families to needed services and resources.

• Providing emotional support and reducing families’ feelings of isolation.

• Lessening families fears and securing resources for the family.

Support and Recovery

Community Health, Peer and Family  Support Specialists are people who have lived experiences with chronic illness, mental illness and/or substance, who are now in recovery. Peer Support Specialists have been specially trained to use their experiences to help other increase resilience and recovery. Peer Support Specialists partner with individuals and families to help increase their knowledge and ability for self-care, resilience and stronger recovery. Peer Support Specialists support others in their recovery journey while assisting the people they work with to gain knowledge, resources and services. Peer Support Specialist also work with family members to help educate them about what their family is going through and how to help their recovery.

Educational Programs

Bayou Lotus offers numerous educational programs to individuals, families, service providers and community members to help them learn to utilize the strengths based, individual and family centered practices. We also provide educational programs help empower and strength individuals and families. We offer numerous individual, child and family educational programs to help mitigate the effects of trauma and create strong, stable and healthier children, families and communities. The foundation of our community educational programs includes root causes and cures; Social Determinates of Health, Adverse Childhood Experiences, Systemic Racism and Ethnic Disparities, Equity and Inclusion, HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences), Positive Childhood Experiences, and the Strengthening Families Framework.