Rufus
A connection to the community fosters hope.
Rufus is a 16 year old white male from a single parent family. Rufus had not attended school for 190 consecutive days. His mother and siblings had become increasingly frustrated with Rufus and realized their need for counseling and eventually respite from the escalating conflict in the home.
Rufus accessed TCCM’s Pathfinders non-residential counseling. Rufus clearly had minimal social interaction skills and would not make eye contact when conversing with family, peers and other adults. In addition, Rufus had very poor personal hygiene. Following a month of nonresident therapy, Rufus became a resident in the shelter for 2-weeks. This gave his mother and siblings a break from the conflict in the home and an opportunity to begin more intensive family therapy.
Several months passed since Rufus first accessed the services of Pathfinders. Rufus had only missed 1 day of classes in the first 2 ½ months of the school year. Rufus greatly improved his social interaction skills and personal hygiene. He is currently a volunteer peer providing program assistance to shelter staff and peer support for youth staying at Pathfinders. Rufus engages well with the youth residents and his mother reports that the dynamics and communication within the family home environment have greatly improved.