News from Wisconsin Family Ties
Return to School: Strategies for Supporting Students. By Hugh Davis, Executive Director, Wisconsin Family Ties
Return to School: Strategies for Supporting Students By Hugh Davis, Executive Director, Wisconsin Family Ties With the rapidly-changing COVID situation, school districts are making decisions about mask requirements, as parents are weighing the possible risks...
Enough Already! Stop Raising Awareness and Do Something
Enough Already! Stop Raising Awareness and Do Something by Hugh Davis, executive director of Wisconsin FamilyTies This past week was designated Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week, as have all first full weeks in May for more than two decades. Across the...
Wisconsin Family Ties: Renewed Hope Through Parent Peer Support
By the time a Wisconsin Family Ties Parent Peer™ Specialist (PPS) first connected with Ann, the feelings she’d developed for her son’s elementary school ranged from “hopeless” to “disgusted.” She knew her 8-year old was a sweet and wonderful child, but his ADHD...
WFT Testimony in Favor of SB 527
Testimony in support of SB-527, Improvements to the Restraint & Seclusion Law Hugh Davis, Executive Director Wisconsin Family Ties Senate Bill 527 is the culmination of dozens of hours of constructive meetings between education stakeholders, including families,...
We Need to Do Better on Seclusion and Restraint in Our Schools: Why I Support SB 527
Everyone in Wisconsin wants our children to be happy, healthy, and successful. To get there, we need to do better when it comes to seclusion and restraint in our schools. SB 527, a new bill introduced at the Capitol in Madison on October 25, will help us reach that...
26 Years Later, Behavior-Chart Memories Still Sting
Submitted by a follower of the WFT Facebook page who prefers to remain anonymous. I was scrolling through social media one day when I came across a Facebook post by Wisconsin Family Ties about the effects of behavioral charts on students. I’ve subscribed...
“You Can See How She Glows”
A Wisconsin Family Ties parent peer specialist received the following email and photo from a parent, out of the blue. Thank you, Vicki, for letting us know how well Katelyn is doing! It has been almost 2 years since I was a desperate Mom reaching out to you to...
Press Release: “Extraordinary Session” Attacks Democratic Norms, Threatens Wellbeing of Children and Families
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date: December 3, 2018 Contact: Hugh Davis, Executive Director – (608) 267-6866; [email protected] “Extraordinary Session” Attacks Democratic Norms, Threatens Wellbeing of Children and Families Madison, WI – The peaceful transfer of power is...
How WFT Helped a Family Succeed
Kathy and her son are back together in their own home. When we first met Kathy (not her real name) two years ago, that outcome didn’t seem likely. She was living in a women’s shelter and receiving treatment for heroin addiction. During her time at the...
We All Need Support at Times
We all need support at times. Children like Nia may need a bit extra. Nia had trouble concentrating and keeping her emotions under control. Her sweet nature was often overshadowed by her mental health symptoms. She needed help to reach her potential....
Borsuk: Strict discipline or building social skills? Two approaches for safer schools
Joanne Juhnke, policy director of Wisconsin Family Ties, a nonprofit organization, said at a news conference before the hearing, “If Wisconsin could arrest and suspend its way to school safety, we’d have been there a long time ago.”...
Proposed Bill Would Open Juvenile Criminal Records To Wisconsin School Officials
Joanne Juhnke is the policy director of Wisconsin Family Ties. The organization held a news conference before the hearing to criticize the bill. "Make no mistake. [This] is a stunning example of proposing to more of the same thing and expecting a different result....
Wisconsin schools will get more therapists, social workers, aid for kids in crisis
Through the final budget, lawmakers approved $39 million to eliminate a waiting list that Walker's administration said in May included nearly 2,500 children. Mental health advocates have said the measure should help many families. “Up to a quarter of the kids on the...
The elderly and the disabled wait desperately, helplessly for care that isn’t coming
Debra Ramacher and her husband have been unable to find paid caregivers since June 2015 for their daughter Maya, 20, and their son Michael, 19, both of whom have cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other significant disabilities. The family lives in New Richmond, about 45...
Mental health trauma didn’t set Reyna’s destiny
"That list, while it's based on important research ... ends up with an unfortunate emphasis because there's already such a tendency to point the finger at the parents and say this must be something you did, and parents feel so isolated and overwhelmed and such...
What role did trauma-informed care play in alleged juvenile prison abuse?
“I think it’s not fair to blame the trauma-informed care approach,” responded Joanne Juhnke, policy director at Wisconsin Family Ties, a Madison-based mental health advocacy group that helped train staff at the two facilities in Irma. “The trauma-informed care...
Parents need help for Kids in Crisis, experts say
The mental health system across the state is a daunting bureaucracy and parents often feel overwhelmed and alone when seeking care for their children, said Hugh Davis, father of four children with mental health needs and director of Wisconsin Family Ties, a nonprofit...
Suicide prevention group creates action plan
Other ways people can help are to learn more about mental health issues, which will help eliminate preconceptions about those who struggle with them, said Hugh Davis, executive director of Wisconsin Family Ties, a statewide, family-run nonprofit organization for...
Pace of mental health reform slows to crawl
With a new budget cycle ahead, there is hope for renewed progress. "I'm hoping that again we'll be able to move forward and I hope that we didn't lose momentum," said Joanne Juhnke, policy director for Wisconsin Family Ties, which offers peer support for families with...
School districts use restraint and seclusion too often, advocacy groups say
Anna Moffit, a parent peer specialist for Wisconsin Family Ties and the parent of a son with autism, said she thinks “Madison, like other districts, overuses restraint and seclusion, which has a disproportionate impact on students with disabilities and...
Wisconsin Family Ties
16 N. Carroll St., Ste. 230
Madison, WI 53703
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +1 608.267.6800
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