Sexual assault can happen to anyone of any age and any gender at any time, and when it does, the experience is traumatic. Avalon Healing Center, a Detroit-based nonprofit focused on healing and empowerment for those affected by sexual violence, provides free, confidential services and is staffed 24/7. Avalon is the only program in southeast Michigan that provides comprehensive support focused solely on sexual violence.
“We often refer to ourselves as a one-stop shop here at Avalon, and we really find that it’s important to be able to provide as many resources as we can so our clients don’t have to tell their story again and again,” explains Katie Smith, director of communications at Avalon. Since opening in 2006, Avalon has helped more than 23,000 survivors of sexual violence.
“This comprehensive intake is intentional to not retraumatize a victim, and it’s integral to a trauma-informed approach to care”, adds Trinea Gonczar, Avalon’s director of engagement.
Avalon provides support to clients regardless of when they experienced sexual assault. If the assault was very recent, Avalon provides no-cost medical-forensic exams by a sexual assault forensic examiner to look for injury and gather evidence — performing about 700 exams in 2023 alone.
The client also meets with an advocate who continues to provide support throughout the healing process, including individual or group counseling and holistic therapies like art therapy, yoga, sound bath therapy and massage — even accompanying the client to court, if the client’s case goes to trial.
“We are a comprehensive service. Once you’ve seen us, we stay with you through the whole process,” says Smith, adding that each client’s path is individualized to their needs and wants. “Some people just want to have the evidence collected and they don’t want to go any further than that.”
With a focus on empowerment, Avalon supports the mental health of clients, which is critical at a time when it’s not always easy to find mental health support.
Clients who are experiencing trauma might be self-medicating or just trying to survive each day and having access to a mental health professional and a variety of healing therapies — yoga, gardening therapy, art therapy, even poetry — can be healing and empowering.
“We have clients who need services for years on end and we never turn them away. You can come and get support from us as long as you need it, and you can step away for a little bit and if you need to come back, that’s OK, too,” says Smith. “We always want to empower the survivor to make the choice for themselves of how they heal or how they take their healing path. We give them all the tools they need, all the resources they could utilize from us, and they make the choice of how they want to proceed, because that’s also trauma-informed care.”
To put the need in context, Gonczar refers to society’s heightened awareness of breast cancer and breast cancer survivors. Many of us know someone who has experienced breast cancer, but many more of us know someone who has experienced sexual assault.
“(Breast cancer is) 1 in 8. Sexual assault is 1 in 6. So, statistically speaking, the harsh reality is that someone in your circle has been sexually assaulted. Typically, they just have not disclosed this information. Naturally, based on privacy and concerns of victim blaming or shaming, coming forward about being assaulted is much less likely than someone that faces breast cancer,” she says.
Awareness of the prevalence of sexual assault, whether it happened yesterday or decades ago, gives the crime itself a face, says Gonczar. She speaks from her own search for support and her personal connection to Avalon Healing Center as a gymnast and survivor of sexual assault involving Larry Nassar.
“For us as an organization, if an assault happened to you 30 years ago and you were triggered by a case, or a song, or a visual or whatever, and all of a sudden you’re having reenactments or memories that are haunting you and you don’t know what to do, we’ll see you,” she says.
“The whole goal about a one-stop shop is to take away barriers for survivors,” Gonzcar says. Clients at Avalon can receive free mental health support from the behavioral/psychiatric health team, child care while receiving services, transportation to and from services, support in court, follow-up medical care and help with all the other needs that can become so overwhelming to the survivor that they often just give up.
“There’s no better way to protect our own community than to support the survivors and the victims to be able to get the people off the street that are causing harm to our community members,” she says. “Because, in fact, research shows that perpetrators are typically serial.”
Staff members at Avalon coordinate the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) for the Wayne County Sexual Assault Collaborative (WC SAC). WC SAC is a multi-disciplinary collaborative that works to improve overall response and continuum of care. WC SAC is victim-centered and offender-focused and is the best-practice standard for a multidisciplinary approach to sexual assault.
Avalon is currently in the process of fulfilling the goal of creating and providing a trauma-informed space that feels good to be in and is healing, and having flexible funding is important to meeting that goal. “Those dollars are so important to us because we are looking to make it better, to offer more for our survivors, to help them more, and then to make this model of care something that can be taken anywhere and implemented, because it’s necessary,” Gonczar says.
The organization has provided services to individuals as young as two weeks old to 101 yrs old, victims of sex trafficking, undocumented immigrants — anyone who has experienced any form of sexual violence — and, in addition, has been instrumental in supporting the over 11,000 individuals in Detroit whose rape kits went untested for years. Avalon is helping to develop solutions to these and other challenges, improving the standard of care for survivors of sexual violence. Avalon also actively participates in a strong network of partner organizations that provide specialized support for clients.
Knowing that Avalon exists is important because of the simple truth that any one of us will need Avalon’s support at some point in our lives, says Gonczar.
“I don’t mean to scare anybody, but it’s not a matter of if, It’s a matter of when you’re going to need our services in some capacity,” she says. “Whether it’s a friend, a neighbor, a daughter, a cousin or a brother. There are so many people that struggle and suffer in silence and don’t know where to go, don’t know what to do, don’t even know where to start or where to look.”
Knowing that Avalon exists and understanding the breadth of services available even before they are needed is empowering to every member of the community.
There’s a lot more to know about the many services and support provided by Avalon Healing Center. Visit avalonhealing.org.
Zaman International is an organization of empowerment. This is evident in the work the Inkster, Michigan-based nonprofit does as a whole — and it’s also reflected in the stories of employees and volunteers.
Monica Boomer, Zaman International’s Chief Impact Officer, is an example of empowerment. She spent just a brief moment doing administration work in Zaman’s office before moving on to coordinating volunteers and partnerships. She saw a need through this work and created a role, joining Zaman as the organization’s third employee, and is now one of more than 70 ‘Zamanitarians’ working at the Hope for Humanity Center.
To “realize a world where women and their children can break the cycle of poverty, and self-direct their futures,” Zaman International supports a variety of programs designed to empower the women they serve through wrap-around support and skills development that position clients to pursue sustainable employment that pays livable wages.
“Our only stipulation for the women and children we serve is that they are at or below the level of poverty for their family. Our average client is a single mother with two to three children living at or below $12,000 a year,” explains Boomer. For reference, the 2023 federal poverty level for a family of four is $30,000.
Zaman recognizes the women they serve benefit from extra support to bring stability to their lives so they can eventually pursue sustainable careers or income. This might be food and clothing, plus backpacks for the children, and it might be learning a new and marketable skill. “They see for themselves a desire to engage in educational programs and workforce development to break the cycle of poverty,” Boomer says.
Currently, Zaman serves 300 families in southeast Michigan each month — triple the pre-COVID number — and the majority are single women as the head of household. As special assistance programs provided during the pandemic are phasing out, Boomer says Zaman sees families experiencing increasing challenges, including unanticipated poverty.
At Hope for Humanity, Zaman’s headquarters in Inkster, families can receive food, clothing, shelter and other emergency relief through the organization’s flagship Bayt Al-Zahra program that includes a food pantry where families can choose nutritious, culturally appropriate foods.
To help women achieve sustainable futures, Zaman provides training programs to clients at no cost. The Building Opportunities Through Skills Training (BOOST) program provides direct instruction to build culinary, sewing and literacy skills — including financial and digital literacy.
“We offer strength-based programming, which means we help women discover the strengths they come in with and help them build on and maximize those skills in a trajectory that makes sense for them,” Boomer says.
For many individual reasons, not every learner will go on to work in a 9-to-5 role, and Zaman offers an entrepreneurial track to help learn business basics and the best platforms to market their goods. Learning the cottage food laws here in Michigan can help some entrepreneurs plot their course, for instance.
“At the end of the day, this is a group of women doing everything from going into business for themselves to working at the airport preparing food for passengers to working at Zaman because they feel comfortable here and they’re being paid a living wage,” says Boomer.
Direct mental health support for women has an effect on their families and children, too. That’s why it’s a significant part of the work at Zaman, says Boomer.
“We know that the stressors that poverty places on the women we serve and the trauma that so many of them have experienced can have a direct impact on their mental health and that of their entire family. When a mother falls, all too often, her children and household fall, as well,” she explains. “By alleviating the effects of poverty through basic needs provision and case management, by providing health and mental wellness services, and by helping women find pathways to sustainability, our programs have a multi-generational impact.”
In the summer of 2023, at the request of the State of Michigan, Zaman assumed responsibility for working with Welcome Corps, a U.S. Department of State program launched in 2023 to support groups of everyday citizens to sponsor incoming refugees. In this partnership, Zaman oversees the citizens’ work of helping newcomers sign up for assistance programs they are eligible for, helping them find and register in ESL classes and assisting them in enrolling their children in school, along with other activities that help settle refugees in their new communities.
“Welcome Corps provides everyday citizens with the opportunity to welcome newcomers to Michigan. We are proud to support these citizens and newcomers in our role as Lead Private Sponsorship Organizing in Michigan,” Boomer says, adding that this particular program holds a special place in her heart because it allows her to reconnect with the work Zaman does on the ground.
“It’s all external facing, and that aspect I really love,” she says. “I love knowing that Zaman’s specific approach to helping others is spread to these groups so that newcomers have an experience that comes with dignity, compassion and stewardship.”
While many people believe that charitable giving is about making a financial contribution with the hope that the money helps, Boomer wants people to know that there’s humanity behind philanthropy. “It’s not just putting a meal on the table and calling it a day,” she says. “Our funders are investing in the future of humanity.”
The individuals Zaman serves are the “heroes” in the equation. “They’re living on $1,000 a month with three children and they still find a way to support their families, and still come to class and attend workforce development,” she says. “Many are survivors of domestic violence, widows, refugees or new immigrants, and are willing to do whatever is needed for their family. What they may not realize is that they are inspiring others.”
This year, Zaman International is working to expand the workforce development programming and is looking for organizations to use industrial sewing services or purchase fresh-baked cookies from their Rising Hope Bakery or hire Zaman’s graduates.
“Zaman” means “time” in several world languages, and the organization itself was a vision that grew from one person’s belief in humanity, says Boomer. “Thirty years later, we’re helping 3.5 million people worldwide and 300,000 in southeast Michigan through little acts that come together for huge empowerment. We remember that we have limited time on Earth, but our actions can make a big difference.”
Learn more about Zaman. Visit zamaninternational.org.
For her entire career, Sue Perlin guided not-for-profit organizations to be fiscally strong. As a CPA Audit Partner with Plante Moran, Perlin worked with the Flinn Foundation, a client she served under the firm’s Not-for-Profit Services Group. After Perlin retired from Plante Moran in 2019, she was invited to join the Flinn Foundation Board of Trustees and stepped into the role in December, 2020.
The move from serving Flinn as a client to joining Flinn’s Board furthered a longstanding and trusted relationship.
“I really enjoyed serving Flinn as a client,” Perlin says. “They are doing such important work. I knew each Board member and the staff and was happy to work with all of them to try to expand on the work they are doing.”
As Perlin took her seat on the Flinn Board of Trustees, she brought with her a valuable skill set. She understands the financial structure of nonprofit organizations and, because she knows the majority of the organizations seeking grants, she recognizes how Flinn’s grantmaking activities can be of specific benefit.
Flinn’s work is important, says Perlin, because funding is needed, particularly for the evidence-based mental health support and practices that Flinn grantees prioritize.
“There is a mental health crisis and not enough money; there probably never will be,” Perlin says. “There has to be evidence-based programming and that’s what Flinn Foundation funds. I believe, that to truly make a difference, this should be expanded. One program that works in a small situation is great, but we have to be able to replicate it and expand it if we are going to get services to those who need them. There are many barriers to access and philanthropy can help remove barriers.”
While Flinn’s grantmaking model is straightforward, the organizations selected to receive grants help advance programming and access to care that can make a true difference. “What is key, I think, is doing the right grantmaking to the right organizations,” Perlin says. “That’s where the Board does the work to figure out where we think the grants can be made to have the most impact. Some programs we’re funding are unique and have the potential to become national models.”
Perlin, who currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Board, says she’s especially proud of the Flinn Foundation’s reach, thanks to the work of Flinn’s president and CEO, Andrea Cole, who she says is “well-known and respected in Michigan and nationally in this arena.” Because of this, Cole can leverage Flinn’s work and funding in collaboration with aligned foundations, government entities and universities for an even bigger impact. “We are a small foundation, but the impact is large because Andrea is able to bring large entities along with us and increase that impact, largely because of the work she has been doing for years. That appeals to me,” she says.
Perlin acknowledges the recent strides made in the mental health space and says that popular culture and media have helped to reduce the stigma of speaking openly about having and seeking treatment for mental health conditions. Schools, she says, are moving forward in helping students and individuals recognize how very common mental health challenges are.
“Among health care professionals, too, we have done some work with granting to help in the health care industry to build connections. It should be part of regular, basic health care services that mental health is on that continuum,” Perlin says.
Still, there’s more work to be done, and Perlin stands with the Flinn Foundation, ready to prioritize resources to further reduce the stigma surrounding mental health and increase access to care.
When she’s not advancing the work of the Flinn Foundation or the other nonprofit boards she serves, Perlin spends time at her home in Florida.
“I just returned from a beautiful bike ride. We have a place here and spend most of the winter here. We golf and really love the outdoors,” she says. She also helps care for her four grandchildren and has her sights set on returning to personal travel, which she opted out of during the thick of the COVID pandemic.
Mindful Philanthropy, a nonprofit committed to advancing high-impact funding for mental health, has issued a call to action to multiply investments in mental health, addiction and well-being by five times — setting a goal of $35 billion of collective annual philanthropic giving to these issues by 2035.
This call to action follows the Activate 2023 conference, where more than 80 diverse funders and mental health experts collaborated to explore innovative approaches for making a meaningful impact on our country’s mental health landscape.
Flinn Foundation President and CEO Andrea Cole attended Activate 2023 as a member of the Mindful Philanthropy Board of Directors. “Philanthropy has the power to transform the experience and care of mental health, ensuring everyone can find meaning and purpose to thrive in their communities,” Cole says. “I encourage you to spread the word and encourage increased private investment in mental health.”
In October, Mindful Philanthropy released Mental Health at the Center, a snapshot of our country’s current mental health landscape, which makes the case for additional private investment. In November, Mindful Philanthropy released A Roadmap for Strategic Investment, which sets forth five priority areas and goal statements to support transformational change in how individuals access the care they need for mental health challenges. The power of philanthropy as a catalyst for change is essential for this transformation.
In the five priority areas of community, youth and their support systems, the mental health workforce, comprehensive crisis response and implementing what works, the roadmap offers key goal statements:
There’s so much more to know. You can download Mental Health at the Center: A Roadmap to Strategic Investment to learn more about the investment priorities and watch the Nov. 14 webinar hosted by Mindful Philanthropy to unpack how philanthropists can be “disruptive in their funding” and make an even stronger impact in the years to come.
When Sean de Four was in college, he volunteered for a service-learning program to support creative writing workshops and debate clubs at a few Michigan prisons. At the time, he was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in political science — and his experiences inspired him to go on to achieve a Master of Social Work degree.
“At that point, I wasn’t sure where my career would go. I could feel myself moving toward a social impact career,” recalls de Four. “I was a young Black man in college and the reality was that the majority of the men I was working with in the prisons looked just like me. They were just as smart and talented, but because they didn’t have the same opportunities, or maybe just a small difference in circumstances there was that divergence between my life and theirs. At that moment, I committed myself to a career in helping people. Of making it so that people do not have their potential stifled by their circumstances.”
As the new president and CEO of MiSide — the community impact network formed when Southwest Solutions and Development Centers merged — de Four puts his MSW background to good use to help MiSide fulfill its mission to provide Wayne County communities with equitable access to health, education and self-sufficiency opportunities. Previously, de Four served in C-suite positions at several nonprofit human services organizations, and most recently served as CEO of Southwest Solutions.
With the combined strength, MiSide is better positioned to support individuals in Wayne County, de Four says, adding that MiSide serves 22,000-25,000 individuals annually.
De Four shares that all the things that made the two individual organizations that formed MiSide great are still there. “Those aren’t changing,” he says. “The names of these long legacy organizations may have changed, but the DNA is still the same. We look forward to having an even greater impact, and hopefully having the same support we enjoyed separately.”
As a community impact network, MiSide offers four distinct resources: MiHousing, MiEarly Years, MiWealth and MiHealth — providing access to all of the things individuals, families and communities need across the lifespan. Within each of these divisions lie adult education, homebuying services, workforce development, early childhood programs, homeless services, behavioral health services, youth and family services — and so much more.
Prior to merging, Southwest Solutions and Development Centers had a longstanding partnership, says de Four. “For close to 20 years, there were a variety of joint ventures and collaborations in the community, and there was always a good relationship and close partnership,” he says.
Several factors prompted the move, de Four says. Catherine Liesman, longtime CEO of Development Centers, was considering retirement and wanted to explore what was best for the organization’s mission to sustain the work it had started.
Advocacy work surrounding a 2021 bill introduced to the Michigan legislature brought the two organizations closer together. “The bill would have changed how the public mental health system was funded and administered,” explains de Four. “We thought about what the organizations needed to look like for their missions to continue for 50 years and not just five years. It was then that we started talking seriously about whether it made sense to combine and become one,” de Four says.
What followed was an 18-month review process to investigate the merger. “We brought the boards together to explore, and the more we talked and learned, the more we felt that it made sense,” he says.
De Four says he has four distinct goals for MiSide. First, to provide a comprehensive set of services to offer clients, making MiSide unique in that it focuses on the whole person. “Not a lot of organizations do all of these things in key areas,” he says. Second, he leans on an improved infrastructure, with better HR, IT and finance entities as a bigger, combined organization. A third goal is influence. “When we looked at our size, our geographic footprint of where our offices are located, we know we have a bigger voice and are better positioned to support the community,” says de Four.
Finally, he says, MiSide’s services address all the social determinants of health, which is unique within nonprofits. “The communities of Brightmoore, Southwest Detroit,and Cody Rouge are areas where we can have a measurable impact precisely because we cover all of the social determinants of health.”
De Four is confident that MiSide can help individuals reach opportunities to build generational wealth — the area of the biggest potential for Wayne County residents.
“When we can bring a housing program forward, we have seen the effects of housing as a catalyst for redevelopment in an entire community. We have seen this in Southwest Detroit. When there are great, affordable housing products in disinvested areas, that brings a spark in private development and resurgence,” he says. “MiSide’s homeownership programs work with residents to transition from renters to owners within their own communities, and that is an asset to build generational wealth.”
This component, combined with MiSide’s health and social supports, brings individuals living on the edge of poverty the skills and tools they need, says de Four. “Wrap all of that together, and we are helping people have the ability to really transform their communities so residents can own a piece of their communities when they couldn’t before. That’s their biggest potential.”
Learn more about MiSide. Visit miside.org.
Research suggests that when we express gratitude — in different ways, both privately or publicly — we’re taking part in an activity that supports our mental health. By and large, gratitude helps us recognize the “bigger picture” and remind us, even in small ways, why we do the work we do. Gratitude sustains and supports us, even when we are faced with barriers and challenges.
Here at the Flinn Foundation, we are so grateful for the work of our partners to increase and sustain the scope, quality and delivery of mental health services in Michigan. To learn a little more about what our partners feel grateful for, we reached out and asked them. We included a few Flinn board members, too.
Read what they have shared and take a moment to consider what you feel grateful for in 2023. Reach out to your networks and share! It’s a practice that is good for everyone.
Autism Alliance of Michigan (AAoM) has expanded our statewide outreach to connect with more families living with autism. We have provided almost 50% more trainings, educational forums and connections to our navigator service. Our challenge is always limited resources and funding to reach every person and family living with autism in Michigan.
Colleen Allen, President and CEO, Autism Alliance of Michigan
Mariners Inn broke ground on an 84-unit development for permanent supportive housing and recovery housing. The project is called The Anchor. More than anything else, I would like anyone who has the opportunity to view these responses, that without the support of the Flinn Foundation and their belief in us to deliver the type of mental health services necessary to help people recover, Mariners Inn would not be as successful in the delivery of those services.
David Sampson, CEO, Mariners Inn
We are grateful that we have grown in our community. We believe that our contribution is bigger than what or how we are viewed. We are blessed to have had volunteers and families see the value of our work. We are grateful for the opportunity to build a vision that helps. Team Growth — Let’s Goooo! Thank you to our partners and especially our families for assisting us in our work.
Calvin Mann, Emiy (Encourage Me, I’m Young), Inc.
Besides the gratitude I feel for the stability and warmth in my personal life — relative good health, marriage for 53-plus years, grandchildren who bring joy every time we are together — I am thankful for the work of many advocates, including at the Ethel and James Flinn Foundation, to raise public awareness about mental health issues and solutions. Thanks to the efforts of friends at the Foundation and in the mental health community in Michigan I have a new sense of hope that the future for our children and families dealing with trauma and other disorders of the mind will be brighter.
Jack Kresnak, Flinn Foundation Board Trustee
I’m grateful for people who see the value of partnership. And my partners, including Cathy Liesman at Development Centers. Together, we saw the value of partnering and coming together to form MiSide. I’m grateful for donors and stakeholders who also saw the value and supported it. I’m grateful for our staff seeing the value of partnerships and working with their peers to do more. In partnership, the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts, and we lived that in 2023.
Sean de Four, President and CEO, MiSide (former President and CEO of Southwest Solutions)
I am grateful that I have this program, and grateful for having the support of the Boys and Girls Clubs to help build this program, especially for kids in Detroit. I’m an advocate for social justice and know how very important being able to have the program is for the kids we support. I’m incredibly grateful for my passionate team and for the wonderful supportive people in my life, including my kids, coworkers and friends.
Tiffany Abrego, Ph.D., LP, Executive Director of Mental Health and Licensed Psychologist, Boys and Girls Club of Southeast Michigan, Associate Professor of Psychology, Wayne State University
The Yunion is grateful to help bring more awareness of the need for more quality mental health services in our local communities. We are especially grateful for the established partnerships to assist in this process. Our partners include, but not limited to, Hope Village Revitalization, health professionals, schools and other faith-based organizations. We have been making strides in utilizing various ways to better communicate the need for mental health services, to help recognize when there’s a need for assistance and providing tools to improve overall self-care.
Sheriese Johnson, Executive Administrator, The Yunion
As Chairman of the Flinn Board and Chief Judge of the Wayne County Probate Court, I have witnessed many people who are committed to addressing the needs of those who suffer with behavioral health issues. I am pleased to note that more people are willing to provide their time for the benefit of others. In fact, as we enter the holiday season, may we continue to work together through collaboration as a dedicated principal to benefit those in need.
The Honorable Freddie G. Burton, Jr., Chairman of the Board, Ethel and James Flinn Foundation. Chief Judge, Wayne County Probate Court
We are extremely grateful to have received support needed not only to provide equitable wages for high-quality clinicians to provide quality care but also to meet families in the underserved populations where they are! It is so vital for us to be able to break that cycle of pain and do the work we are doing! We are so grateful to the organizations and partners alike that support the work we do!
Sakija Rushing, Chief Operating Officer, Journey to Healing, Inc.
In 2023, Dr. Thomas Zelnik brings his tenure as a Flinn Foundation Board Trustee to a close. During the five years he served on the Board, Dr. Zelnik called upon the significant experience gained in his career as a psychiatrist to help guide the Flinn Foundation to emerge as a significant grantmaker dedicated to improving the quality of life for people with mental health conditions.
“We can’t thank Dr. Zelnik enough for his service and for his early involvement in informing Flinn grantmaking even before joining the Flinn Foundation Board. His thoughtful attention to our grantmaking strategies and support of our mission played a critical role in our growth, and we are fortunate to have had his expertise,” says Andrea Cole, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Ethel and James Flinn Foundation. “We thank him for his dedication and wish him the very best.”
As he transitions to retirement, the Trustees and staff of the Ethel and James Flinn Foundation express their deepest appreciation to Dr. Zelnik for his integrity, generosity and commitment to enacting positive change for mental health care access across Michigan. The impact of his service will have a lasting impact on countless lives.
“Dr. Zelnik has been a wonderful resource for our efforts to address the goals of the Flinn Foundation. He brought to the Flinn Board his medical expertise along with a great deal of compassion and kindness. We were very lucky to have him serve on the Board. As he takes on a new phase of life, I am confident that wherever his travels take him, he will continue his commitment to assist others through sharing his boundless energy and optimism to encourage others,” says the Honorable Freddie G. Burton, Jr., Chief Judge, Wayne County Probate Court and Chairman of the Board, Ethel and James Flinn Foundation.
Knowledgeable support and professional guidance are what families need most when they receive a diagnosis of autism — and many don’t know exactly where to turn. That’s why the Autism Alliance of Michigan developed MiNavigator. It’s a starting point for families that contact AAoM, says President and CEO Colleen Allen.
“We connect families to supports and services, resources and provide professional guidance to address many issues across the lifespan,” Allen says. That means whether a family is looking for help overcoming challenges accessing quality, inclusive education or an adult support need, such as finding appropriate housing or employment opportunities. Families or individuals can reach out to MiNavigator and work with a professional at no cost.
“Having an organization that any person can contact, without cost, to connect with professionals, services and supports, and critical resources brings great comfort and confidence in navigating the complex systems of care that will be needed over the lifespan as a person ages,” Allen explains.
She adds that up to 55% of adults with autism will experience a co-occurring mental health condition. When individuals can access the support of “evidence-based interventions and adequate support, families function more successfully.”
Inevitably, families encounter barriers to services, care and education for their loved ones. As an independent, third-party advocate for families living with autism, AAoM follows a data-driven approach.
“The challenges we learn about from families across the state become our advocacy priorities,” Allen says. “We will continue to help one family at a time while addressing the root causes of what brings them to us in the first place.”
By engaging with multiple stakeholders that span health, behavioral health, educational, vocational rehabilitation, business and political communities, AAoM effectively addresses challenges in the most complex cases and builds relationships through this network of support.
Because AAoM’s professional resources are most effective when there are services and supports for families to access, the organization also works hard to raise awareness of the need for better systems, according to Allen.
“Navigation is only successful if services and support exist in our systems of care,” she says. “When they don’t it’s not only families that are frustrated, but our navigators are as well. It’s why advocacy and system reform efforts are so critical and must exist alongside our transactional, case-by-case efforts.”
As a Flinn grantee, AAoM’s strong partnership with the Flinn Foundation aligns seamlessly with AAoM’s mission.
“We are named an ‘Alliance’ for a reason,” says Allen, adding that AAoM was created to work in collaboration with partners of many different kinds. “Flinn is a long-time partner of ours, recognizing the importance of advocacy, collective impact efforts and community organizing to create real systems change. Flinn’s funding priorities around behavioral health make them a perfectly aligned partner in our work with families struggling emotionally, physically and mentally when individuals and/or their family member is challenged with autism.”
As with many nonprofits, AAoM places funding at the top of the list of what they need more of. Specifically, Allen says, AAoM could do even more with support for advocacy efforts to address families’ significant behavioral health crisis situations, education reform and the direct care worker shortage, affecting much-needed services like day programming, respite and community activities for individuals with autism and their families.
“We are here for hope, help, answers. Today,” says Allen.
Learn more about the Autism Alliance of Michigan. Visit autismallianceofmichigan.org.
Autism Alliance of Michigan has joined with Upbound Staffing and Orlans PC to share a look into the future of employment for people with autism at this year’s virtual Living With Autism Workshop, presented by Flinn partners Henry Ford Health and Metro Parent magazine. Click for $10 off the $25 three-day ticket price.