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Our Client
Services Program includes the wide variety of assistance available
to our clients including:
Client Services functions as the gateway to all other Samaritan House
programs. Each month case workers provide 1
to 1 counseling to 400 clients in person and to another 50 by telephone.
Program Process
Clients have their initial meeting with a
case worker who provides counseling, crisis intervention, and referrals
based on an evaluation of their needs and qualifications for assistance.
Case workers function as client advocates helping to wade through
governmental assistance paperwork and information. The Client Services
Program is located at 4031 Pacific Boulevard in San Mateo and serves
residents of San Mateo County.
Case Management
Case Management, the process of evaluating the
financial, health, educational and job needs of our clients, is the main
activity of our Client Services Program. Case workers assess the needs
of each family through a comprehensive Family Evaluation Model developed
by social researchers at California State University-Monterey Bay. This
model quantitatively evaluates the level of family functioning across
a number of relevant indicators such as: Finances, Transportation, Health
and Safety, Housing, Education, and many others. This evaluation technique
helps the case worker understand both the needs of the family and the
circumstances that have led the family to need assistance in the first
place.
The case
worker can then provide assistance through one of Samaritan House’s
programs or create a referral to another agency in the community. Case
workers also act as client advocates helping them translate, understand,
and complete government paperwork with support throughout the assistance
process.
Using
the family evaluation model, case workers can reassess client families
at a later time to gauge progress. By comparing scores from one evaluation
to the next, progress can be tracked over time. This is important because
it allows Samaritan House to evaluate its own services and determine if
the explicit goal of helping clients increase their level of self-sufficiency
is achieved.
Samaritan House also provides access to an on-site mental health specialist. This licensed counselor is funded by the San Mateo County Human Service Agency and provides individual family and group counseling sessions to Samaritan House clients. This position also oversees the women's support groups which primarily address issues of low self-esteem.
Emergency
Assistance
There are many families in our community
who struggle to make ends meet each month. What may be considered
an inconvenience for some -- an unexpected car repair or an illness
that leads to an unpaid absence from work -- can be a crisis for
these families. Samaritan House helps families experiencing a one-time
crisis by providing financial grants and loans that help pay for rent or other
critical bills. Samaritan House provides over $100,000 for emergency
client assistance needs each year.
Samaritan
House asks that these loans be paid back at a rate of $20 per month.
These repayments are recycled back into emergency client assistance grants
for other families in crisis. Assistance checks from Samaritan House are
written directly to landlords, PG&E, or other vendors. Clients do
not have access to the money. Case workers perform diligent fact-checking
to ensure that clients truly need the assistance and that it is a special
one-time emergency need. Samaritan House does not financially assist people
with chronic financial problems; instead these clients are counseled on
methods to stabilize their finances and are encouraged to attend one of
our Budgeting
Classes.
Adult
Education Classes
Education is a vital step towards increasing
self-sufficiency. Samaritan House provides a variety of classes
to help our clients achieve this goal.
Budgeting
Classes
Budgeting Classes are taught in English and Spanish to help families
meet their financial obligations and teach savings techniques. Complex
issues such as debt consolidation and reduction are also tackled
in the class.
Spanish
Literacy Classes
Through experience,
we have found that many clients struggled because they were not literate
in their native language of Spanish. To address this, Samaritan
House developed a Spanish Literacy Class to help Spanish speaking
clients become literate in their own native tongue. Clients take
pride in their Spanish literacy and build the confidence necessary
to learn the English language.
Parenting
Classes
Samaritan House offers a series of Parenting
Classes during the school year. These classes discuss such topics
as Proper Child Discipline, Health and Safety, Socialization, Stages
of Child Development, and many others. The goal of these classes
is to create the best possible environment for children in our community
to grow and develop into healthy, happy, educated, and productive
adults.
Lending Library
The Samaritan House Lending library was made possible through a generous grant from the Bring Me A Book Foundation™ and lends books to clients to take home and read to their children.
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