BYFS Youth Outreach and Latino Services
In addition to providing therapy services, BYFS has a history of providing youth outreach. Currently, BYFS offers three (3) mentoring groups: Pathways, Reflejos and Passages. Both Pathways and Reflejos have middle school students and high school students working together around topics such as: how to promote self-esteem, how to establish and set personal goals, how to manage stress, how to make healthy lifestyle choices, and how to manage the transition into high school. Reflejos has the added component of exploring cultural identity and what it’s like to be Latino in Barrington schools. Passages is for high school students to meet with college students to explore the transition to college and all that comes with life after high school graduation.
BYFS provides therapy in English, Polish and Spanish. Additionally a parent psych-education group is provided for Latino families; child care and snacks are provided. “Parent Care + Share” is offered in partnership with the Jerri Hoffman Child and Family Center in Carpentersville.
Our clinical team takes pride in its clinical standard. We maintain clinical competence, professionalism, creativity, multi-cultural competence, compassion, empathy, and responsiveness in all areas of practice. Multi-cultural competence is a high value at BYFS. As a professional team we challenge one another to have honest conversations about possible overt or covert attitudes within ourselves or as observed in our community. We encourage caring community members to join us in our quest to motivate and encourage one another to see past our differences and to appreciate the uniqueness of the value our shared humanity.