BYS & Raising Resilience Join Forces!
We are thrilled to announce that Bainbridge Youth Services (BYS) is acquiring Raising Resilience, with the CONNECTIONS CAFÉ program intact, as their parenting arm.
Raising Resilience is now a program of Bainbridge Youth Services and will remain focused on parenting support. Many key stakeholders have wanted to see this happen for a long time, so this is a cause for celebration.
This is an opportunity to meet the needs of our community in a deeper way. Please know that your support will have an even more significant impact now that Raising Resilience’s programs will be operating under the umbrella of BYS.
Any sponsorships, donations, and grants that have supported Raising Resilience’s work will continue to be used expressly to deliver parent support programs. A new program manager, Shannon Amelang, will replace April Avey Trabucco, the out-going Raising Resilience Executive Director, and will work under the vision and direction of Bainbridge Youth Services Executive Director, Courtney Oliver.
A message from Outgoing Executive Director, April Avey Trabucco: "I'm so excited to see Raising Resilience and Bainbridge Youth Services come together. It was clear to me that these two organizations could serve families in our region in a more comprehensive way by joining forces and it's wonderful to see it come to fruition under Courtney Oliver's guidance."
We are excited about this new path for the following reasons:
Raising Resilience and Bainbridge Youth Services have had a longstanding relationship. In fact, there has been a crossover in leadership between the two organizations in past years.
Together we are stronger. BYS has been serving youth for 60 years. Raising Resilience has been serving parents for 20 years. Together, that’s 80 years of combined service, experience, research, and knowledge that we are building on.
This merger emphasizes prevention in addition to intervention and gets us closer to offering more comprehensive family support services.
Offering parent support programs under the BYS umbrella strengthens the work that BYS counselors are doing with youth.
In addition to CONNECTIONS CAFÉ, individual and group services for parents will eventually be available.
A separate space will be designated for parents in order to preserve and prioritize autonomy for youth seeking services at BYS.
We hope we can count on your on-going support as we continue to work towards even greater benefits for youth, parents, and families in our community. Please show your support of the merger and stronger, healthier families by making a donation today.
Introducing: Shannon Amelang,
Raising Resilience Program Manager
Shannon Amelang is taking over as the manager of the Raising Resilience program and will be coordinating this new parent support program with educational offerings as well as resources.
Shannon, who raised four children on Bainbridge Island, had this to say about the significance of parent support:
"In any stage of life, it is comforting and validating to experience that stage with others. Parents are no different! When we allow ourselves to share and give support or receive support, we find that we are surrounded by wonderful people giving their best shot at parenting, just like ourselves. We find validation, new ideas of how we can navigate our specific challenges, and a feeling of camaraderie and inclusiveness.
Welcome, Shannon!