"The Navigator" is a free newsletter published by the Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis (CHEPA) focusing on directions and trends in higher education policy. The theme of this issue is: "Education and Homeless Youth: Policy Implementations." The lead article, authored by CHEPA director William G. Tierney, describes CHEPA's study of the…

This paper describes the challenges and benefits of an action-research project with a Nashville-based nonprofit human service organization. In our view, outmoded human service organizations are in serious need of innovation to promote psychological and physical wellness, prevention of social problems, empowerment, and social justice. This project…

Difficulties in finding, keeping, and ensuring the competence of the direct support workforce in community developmental disability services has long been a challenge for individuals, families, providers, and policy makers. Direct support staff recruitment, retention, and competence are widely reported as one of the most significant barriers to…

A case study evaluated the effectiveness of the Even Start family literacy project, which integrates within a single continuum of service three formerly separate curricular components: adult education, early childhood education, and parent education. A series of case study interviews were conducted over a 4-year period with 11 adult participants…

A review of the literature identified social, cultural, and work-related issues that may affect the retention and selection of qualified human services staff in rural areas. A survey of 60 rural professionals and follow-up interviews examined attitudes toward living in rural areas, skills required by rural human services organizations, and gaps in…

The Family Independence Project (FIP) Interim Review Project in Washington was mounted in order to give preliminary information on the progress of the FIP program compared to Assistance for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) site activity, for management planning, and to document short-term outcomes and trends for policy considerations. A…

Therapy can easily and unwittingly be dominated by the way that the larger society thinks and talks about gender issues. The best way to insure that society's dominant discourses do not implicitly shape therapy is to make gender issues explicit in the therapy dialogue when relevant to the discussion. Explicit treatment can lead to reconstructions…

This report presents patterns and trends in services provided to persons with developmental disabilities through the Washington State Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) and related agencies from 1989 through 1994. Following an executive summary, individual chapters provide extensive detail on: (1) the Division and this project; (2) types…

Providing information needed to make choices about different occupations in counseling and human services, this book enables examination of personal strengths and weaknesses within the fields. The opening chapters examine professional and personal issues to be considered in making career choices. Next are presented examples of counseling and human…

Without a suicide policy and programs in place, school boards may be held legally accountable. This brief describes the three major components of a suicide education program--prevention, intervention, and postvention. Elements of the primary prevention phase include a board-approved suicide-prevention policy, inservice programs for all staff,…

A research project in Australia investigated the support and service needs of 47 parents (40 mothers and 7 fathers) with intellectual disability. The study involved interviews and questionnaires with parents, significant others, and service workers; focus groups; and a survey of generic service providers. Findings indicated that 63 percent of…

Brief therapy is an effective, time-limited approach that invokes clients values, appreciates their strengths, and is based on mutual respect. Counseling nonvoluntary clients can be extremely difficult because of the intense degree of denial, minimization, or rationalization of problems such clients typically bring to therapy. Therapists must…

This article outlines three different counseling approaches which counselors typically use to promote clients' career development. These include the trait-factor, client-centered, and the developmental approaches to career counseling. The trait-factor approach is described as having the overall goal to help clients accurately assess their own…

This paper is a case study about the role of evaluation and its effect on a foster care program's adoption services. It presents examples of the dilemmas often faced by the evaluator who must identify problems and design action plans to correct program deficiencies. HeartShare Human Services of New York is an 80-year-old nonprofit agency that…

This handbook offers a set of practical ideas and their philosophical underpinnings, designed to assist community groups which desire to form interagency coordinating councils. A Local Interagency Coordinating Council (LICC) works to develop, coordinate, and provide a community-based, comprehensive system of services for young children with…