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Star Homes |
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The Bridge Youth Shelter
West Hartford, CT
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Winifred House
Manchester, CT
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Miller House
Southington, CT
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The Bridge Family Center operates three Short-Term Assessment &
Respite (STAR) homes in West Hartford, Southington, and
Manchester.
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STAR homes have a licensed bed capacity of six (nine in West
Hartford)
girls ages 11-17 who receive assessment and clinical services in
a small, structured home-like setting. The goal of the homes is
to provide a high quality of care for every youth served. This
means providing for, or advocating for, every need that a child
has when she enters the program. Those needs include shelter,
food, clothing, medical and dental care, counseling and family
reconciliation support, primary education, life skills training,
drug and sex education, and recreational and social activities.
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Community Outreach and Education |
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Bridge STAR homes assist residents in getting to know about the
communities they are living in and the services offered there.
Girls are taught basic community life skills, such as how
to use the library and the post office, how to grocery shop, how
to schedule appointments, how to fill out job applications, and
how to interview for a job. Health education is provided
formally and informally, and individually as well as in a group
format. All residents attend health-related educational groups
provided by the staff nurse, including subjects such as
reproductive health issues, use of medication, etc.
 Staff
members encourage and help with resident participation in school
functions; e.g., sporting events, cheerleading, and dances.
Whenever possible, the shelter assists with financial payments
associated with the events, such as the purchase of a prom
dress. |
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Referrals |
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Twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week, Bridge STAR homes
are accessible to girls from throughout Connecticut. The
majority are from Hartford, West Hartford, New Britain,
Manchester, Southington, or Meriden and attend school in their
hometown or in the shelter community. Referrals come from the
State Department of Children and Families, juvenile courts,
friends, schools, social workers, police, parents, and young
people themselves. Anyone who knows an adolescent girl in
crisis may refer her to the shelter.
In order to stay at the shelter, all young people must have
permission from a legal guardian and must agree to follow house
rules.
The target length of stay for girls is 30-45 days. A primary
responsibility of the STAR home is to prepare girls for their
next placement, whether it is reunification with their family,
placement with a foster family, or placement at a group home.
Some of the girls could transition to other Bridge residential
programs. |
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Staffing |
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 STAR
homes are staffed 24 hours a day; at least two staff are on duty
at all times. Each home has a Program Director and a Clinical
Coordinator, as well as a part-time nurse and limited
psychiatric  hours.
All staff members are trained in applying the Relational Model
and are certified to administer medications and CPR. All staff
must obtain certification in Therapeutic Crisis Intervention
(TCI), a 30-hour course focused on basic counseling skills and
verbal de-escalation.
Mike Rulnick, MPA, the director of shelter and transitional
programming, oversees the STAR homes. |
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The Bridge Youth Shelter |
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The program director at the West Hartford STAR Home is Carrie Wetherell. Carrie
has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of
Connecticut and is currently working on a master’s degree in
clinical psychology. Carrie loves working with young people and
prior to coming to The Bridge worked in group homes for both
adolescent boys and girls.
The Bridge
Youth Shelter (originally called Junction 1019) opened in West
Hartford in 1978. It has been one of The Bridge’s flagship
programs and has been consistently full. To change now to the
STAR model is a natural progression. “Our shelter has never
been a cot and three squares,” said executive director, Margaret
Hann. “It has always taken a clinically-oriented holistic
approach to short-term care.” |
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Miller House |
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The program
director at the Manchester STAR home, Tracy Miller, has a
masters in social work with a concentration in case work and
group work. Tracy has worked for the past ten years in
adolescent residential programs.
Miller House is named for Ki Miller, a
longtime Bridge friend, volunteer, and Board member. If it’s
for children, Ki’s there. She served as a mentor to children in
a Bridge leadership program for middle school students. She has
been on countless committees to provide community services and
raise awareness and money for the children and families we
serve. Ki has many gifts, but The Bridge especially cherishes
her wise counsel around issues that arise. |
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Winifred
House |
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The program director at the
Southington STAR home, Winifred House, is Janet Kelley, a
marriage and family therapist (MFT) and a licensed drug and
alcohol counselor (LADC). She has worked with young people
professionally for 25 years. Janet moved here from
California 13 years ago, where she worked with youth in an
inner-city program.
Winifred
House is named for Winifred Rohrbaugh, a clinician in our
Bridge Youth Shelter and Youth and Family Services department
for many years, who worked magic with young people and families.
Winnie modeled the notion that it is far better to look for good
in people than to focus on their flaws. She shared her
gifts of wisdom, unconditional love, honesty, compassion, humor,
and a passion for social justice. |
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E-Mail Us
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© 2004 - 2007 The Bridge Family Center, Inc.
1022 Farmington Avenue, West Hartford,
CT 06107
Telephone: 860.521.8035
¿ Fax:
860.521.8036
E-Mail:
info@bridgefamilycenter.org
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