Laube Provides Creative Options

“When we work with a family they know that someone is listening, they feel empowered, and they see that they can do it,” said Stephanie Laube to the Cambridge Lions Club at their Thursday evening meeting. Laube is the Multi-system Youth Coordinator for Creative Options. She was accompanied by Chad Hibbs, director of the Guernsey County Family and Children First Council.

“Sometimes families go through difficult times and need help to get through the tough times,” said Laube. “Every family is different and has its own needs and strengths. Sometimes they work with different agencies and get conflicting advice because the agencies may not see the whole picture.”

“We try to set goals in a team based approach where we get all of the agencies, schools, and any other support groups at the same table so we can all work together. We try to identify what support the family has including other family members or the family’s church.”

“We are persistent in spite of setbacks,” Laube said. “We are outcome based, seeing what is working and what is not. If something is not working the goals may change. We want to do everything we can so that the family can stay together.”

“We recently had a bowling event at King Pin Lanes where we got parents and children together,” Laube said. “We had some parents there who had never really interacted with their children. When they saw how other parents were having a good time with their children, they started to interact with their own children.”

“We work with all the local agencies that work with children and families,” Hibbs said. “We work with the Department of Job and Family Services, Children’s Services, local law enforcement, the juvenile court, the Help Me Grow program for ages 0-3, MRDD, the teen pregnancy prevention group, the three local mental health counseling agencies, and the area schools.”

“The goal of the Family and Children First Council is to coordinate services, reduce duplication of services, fill in the gaps in service and see how best to use the funds available,” Hibbs said. Both Hibbs and Laube emphasized that they were there to help people to help themselves by identifying what services were available and how to increase family communication. For more information about Creative Options contact Laube at 740.432.9271.