Lighthouse School, Inc.

March 5, 2021

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."

--John Quincy Adams (American statesman and sixth president of the United States)

"Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance."

--Samuel Johnson (English writer)

"Perseverance is stubbornness with a purpose."

--Josh Shipp (American youth motivational speaker, best selling author)


News & Announcements

Announcements:

Administrators' Corner

By James Dalton, Senior Coordinator for FUSION Services

Hope is on the way!


This Spring will be a very busy time at Lighthouse School, as we continue to expand onsite services. Now more than ever, our students, your children, need and deserve the highest level of care as they work through the trauma of the pandemic and its individual and collective impact. We are confident that our dedicated team is ready to work with you to meet this challenge.

This month in my role as Senior Coordinator for Family and Fusion Services, I would like to highlight the ways we help staff to be as present, objective, and caring as possible, in best assisting your son or daughter at Lighthouse School. The following is an excerpt from our Mission Statement, that we take very seriously: "We believe that the highly skilled and extremely dedicated team members, who constitute Lighthouse School's staff, comprise its most valuable resource, and that FUSION Bio-Management Technology provides members of the team with the best possible opportunities for achieving both personal and professional growth and enrichment."

The pandemic has affected all of us in deep and powerful ways. There is a need for much healing. We believe that by starting with our team we will be best able to accomplish this goal. Just as before the shutdown, we spend a great deal of both formal and informal time working with every member of our team on topics such as health and well-being, growth, and development.

To this menu, we have added the effect of being physically separated from the students and each other along with all of the other ways in which the pandemic has impacted us.

All staff members have weekly FUSION meetings to work on the aims outlined above. This also translates to day-to-day informal efforts to support and recognize staff members in carrying out their commitment to treatment and education for your children.

We know that time dedicated to staff growth and development allows us to do our best for your children! We have seen that a healthy culture leads to better outcomes for kids and teens. For us, it is all connected and we hope that you see how this strengthens our dedication and commitment to your sons and daughters at Lighthouse School.

We look forward to the time when we can see all students and their parents in person. It is coming!

Bioeducational Theme of the Month: Perseverance


Bioeducation

You can find the February Cluster Notes by clicking the image of the folder!

March Bioeducational Theme of the Month:

Perseverance

Our Bioeducational theme for March is Perseverance, which can be defined as "staying determined to continue with an action or belief, usually over a long period of time". Demonstrating perseverance means that you will keep trying until you accomplish your goal or get something right, in spite of any difficulties or setbacks. Typically, our students have encountered a multitude of complications or obstacles in their lives by the time they are enrolled at Lighthouse School. However, it is a shining example of perseverance that they and their families make the often difficult decision to enroll them at Lighthouse so that they have access to the clinical treatment, as well as academic support, that they need to be successful. Instead of seeing challenges as insurmountable, our staff work with students to explore how we can look at these challenges as opportunities instead of roadblocks. Throughout the month of March, staff will highlight the theme of perseverance across all lesson areas, prompting our students to examine questions such as, "What does it take to persevere?" "What do you know about and what can you learn from people who have persevered to obtain a goal?" "How can perseverance create opportunity in your own life?". We are constantly impressed by our students' and families' resilience and how they have persevered through many difficulties to get to the point where they are now. We look forward to continuing to partner with you to do the work that still needs to be done to help our students achieve their maximum potential, despite the challenges and struggles they may experience.

If you want to work on goal setting and perseverance at home, we've included a worksheet below that is an example of an activity our staff may use with students and that we hope will be helpful to you as well!

Spotlight on:

Student Engagement

Student Engagement-Don't miss out by missing school!

Student engagement is a central focus at Lighthouse and we are always looking for ways to enhance motivation or provide additional support to students who are struggling to participate in their learning opportunities. There are many things we do, external to the school day, to help motivate our students and provide additional incentives for attendance and participation, but there are already many rewards and incentives that students receive every day just by being present! Some of the fun ways our staff provide reinforcement to students just for attending and staying engaged throughout the school day include:


  • Double/Triple Token Days: These surprise days occur throughout each month and any tokens the students earn for that day will be multiplied. Students won't know when these days will come up, so being present at school every day is the only way to be sure they will be able to take advantage and earn extra tokens to purchase items of their choosing.

  • Surprise visits from preferred staff: Our students often have relationships with staff that they no longer work directly with and they miss those staff (and the staff miss them!) Our staff make an effort to join different lessons to visit with students they don't normally have a chance to see, but if students are not present they may miss a visit, the only way not to miss out is to be in school each day.

  • Fun Activities: We work hard, but also know how important it is to play hard! Staff plan activities throughout the week for students and staff to have a break and enjoy some fun time together, amidst the hard work that is being done. Some examples have included everything from watching a movie the students requested to dance parties during lessons to bringing breakfast to their morning meeting to share a meal together. Our staff are always thinking of different ways to bring fun activities into their lessons and we hope all students have the chance to join in by being present at school.

Recent Communications

This section of the Lighthouse School Update is designed to provide important communication topics that have been emailed or mailed to parents and guardians. If you have not received these documents, please reach out to your Family Therapist to make sure we have your updated information.

Please click on the letter you wish to view.

To our LEA's

Thank you for your continued partnership as we work to support our students and their families. We are here for you.

If you need anything, please contact us:

Dorothy Pepin

Director of Program Administration
Pepind@lighthouseschool.org

Jennifer Kamin

Associate Director of Program Administration Kaminj@lighthouseschool.org

Amy Bassett

Supervisor for Team Meetings
Bassetta@lighthouseschool.org

Sandra Muldowney

Supervisor for Enrollment Services
MuldowneyS@lighthouseschool.org

To our Families

Our therapists are available to offer clinical support to families and students 24 hours a day.

If you are in need of assistance, please call our support line, starting with Line 1.

Line #1: (978) 821-1351

If you are not able to connect with a therapist or do not get a response within 10 minutes, please try Line 2.

Line #2: (978) 821-0316

Resources

Click the icon for up-to-date information regarding COVID-19 from the Mass General Hospital website