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With concerns regarding suicidal thoughts or attempts we may require (depending on the situation) an additional condition of counselor recommendation before acceptance if the event director and Reliant are still in favor of moving forward.
The potential condition for acceptance is that we would like the participant to sign a waiver with their counselor that allows the program director (or program director and local pastor) to be able to call the counselor and get their recommendation on whether they think the participant should attend the program or not. We want the program director to be on the waiver because we want to have the ability to contact the counselor to keep the lines of communication open over the summer if a follow up conversation becomes necessary. However, we would be open to allowing a local pastor to be that person as well if the local pastor is also attending the program with them to continue following up. The participant’s acceptance is conditional on them signing the waiver and the director/local pastor being able to talk with the counselor. If they do not want to sign the waiver then that shows (an unwillingness to co-operate instead of that they are potentially hiding something) and Reliant may decided that it is not willing to accept them due to liability. If the counselor does not recommend them attending the program then in general Reliant will not accept them. If after talking to the counselor, the program director is now not convinced that they should be accepted, even if the counselor says it’s fine then we will not accept them.
For more serious concerns, we may ask for a counselor's recommendation as a condition for acceptance. In most cases, the participant is already seeing a counselor. This is standard procedure for the counselor to talk to someone (we recommend the program director or if need be the local pastor) about their client. Once the participant signs the release the counselor is able to communicate with that person as to whether or not they recommend their client attend the program over the summer.
If the participant is not seeing a counselor, then we recommend may ask that they begin, but we go see a licensed counselor in order to move forward with our conditions for acceptance. But, we also understand that a counselor may not want to make a recommendation after just one session and we will need to take that into consideration on how to move forward from there.
These types of scenarios will be discussed on a case by case basis. Reliant is potentially ok moving forward with accepting a participant prior to the conditional acceptance being completed with the caveat that we could still potentially withdraw the participant after initial acceptance if after this condition is met we still feel like they should not move forward with actually attending. We suggest that the director at least have the participant say they are willing to move forward, with understanding this condition, before we accept them. The final decision is left in the directors hands to say if they would prefer we wait until the conditions have been fully met and discussed before moving forward or if they feel comfortable, we can move forward knowing we could potentially retract our acceptance.
Asking for Counselor's Recommendation
Here an example of how to ask the participant for a counselor's recommendation for a Reliant summer program: This would typically be sent to a representative from the local church leadership that the program participant is from that would then meet with the participant and give them this information to give to the counselor.
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Reliant needs a recommendation by the counselor stating whether or not they recommend that their client attend our program over the summer. (Then, write a quick explanation of the program they will be attending. For example: LT is an 11-week program that focuses on building godly habits, take steps of openly sharing life in community through 11 experiential project days focused on equipping and character growth, work 40 hours/week at the YMCA and where participants learn and are active in sharing their faith,) The participant, as the counseleeclient, would need to sign a release with her counselor for the program director. Once the he/she signs the release the counselor is able to communicate with the program director via email with their recommendation. Email would be best in order for the director to have the recommendation in writing. If we can get this ASAP that would be great! We do not need to know any information about what he/she is discussing in counseling. Just whether or not the counselor would recommend the counselee client attending the program. Let them know that they can also contact the program director with questions. Program Director Email: In addition: if he/she is conditionally accepted, he/she needs to agree to meet with a staff member for (5) weekly, 1/2 hour - 45 minutes meetings, so that we can offer any help or guidance for the participant while he/she is with us. The motivation is to care for the participant and establish someone who he/she might be able to go to if he/ she feels it’s necessary. This person will also report to program director about how the meetings have gone. |
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Many counselors can not continue meeting with their counselee client during the program if they are attending a summer program out of state because when they cross state lines they do not have a license to practice counseling in that state. However, there are some counselors do allow for FaceTime meetings or phone calls. If the participant can continue meetings with their counselor over the summer we highly recommend that they continue meeting.
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