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With concerns regarding suicidal thoughts or attempts Reliant typically will 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.

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 may ask that they 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. 

The local leadership would set up a meeting with the participant and explain the following:

• Share with them that we are excited for him/her to have this opportunity.
• Discuss that we want to make this summer a success for them.
• Explain that there are a couple of conditions that he/she needs to meet in order to be accepted.
• Explain to him/her the needed recommendation from her counselor and how to get that (instructions below).
• Explain that we would wait for the program director to review the counselor's recommendation before we move forward.
• Explain to her that if he/she is conditionally accepted, one of the conditions is to meet with a staff member for # of weekly meetings to check in and care for him/her.
• After the meeting, respond back to the program director with how the meeting went and if he/she accepts those conditions.

Letter from Counselor

If the counselor does not say this may not be forwarded, then Reliant would like to have a copy of the recommendation to keep for their records. If the counselor notes that this may only be shared with the program director, then Reliant will put the decision in the program director's hands to make the call as to whether or not they recommend based on the counselor's recommendation as not to break the confidentiality agreement. If the director sees any reason based on this recommendation not to accept the participant then the program director would need to make the decision to not accept the participant. 

Counseling during the program

Many counselors can not continue meeting with their 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.  

Reliant's usual condition for emotional concerns is to ask the participant to meet with a summer program leadership for a certain number of weeks over the summer to check in and see how they are doing.   Typically the summer program leadership meeting with the participants are not licensed counselors. Because of this, Reliant recommends the local summer program leadership review the information below to become familiar with what constitutes an involuntary commitment/mandatory treatment for a person to receive emergency psychiatric care (often resulting in hospitalization) if necessary. This is only if the person themselves does not voluntarily admit themselves and is deemed a danger to themselves (typically in the case of thoughts of suicide.) We want to make sure the program leadership is aware of when they would need to contact law enforcement if ever such an occasion should arise.