State officials visit Strengthening Families program in Monessen

The simple act of untangling a human chain can teach a lot about trust and teamwork.

On Tuesday, participants in the Westmoreland Drug and Alcohol Commission’s Strengthening Families program mashed together, crossed their arms and grabbed hands. Next, they worked together to undo the knot they had formed.

Jessica Anderson, program coordinator of Strengthening Families, homed in on one teen familiar with the exercise, who was showing several members of the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP) which way to twist and turn.

“What I see is a young woman leading state officials because of her experience,” Anderson said.

DDAP Secretary Latika Davis-Jones and members of her staff were at the Monessen Family Center observing the Strengthening Families program, listening and engaging with the families who take part and the community organizations that administer it.

Tuesday’s event was one of several stops on the second phase of the tour. The first phase ran from September to December 2023.

Davis-Jones and her team have held events in multiple counties, including Cambria, Blair, Allegheny, Lehigh and now Westmoreland, starting in March of this year. They have reached more than 500 people through their roundtable discussions.

“This has been our life’s work,” Davis-Jones said. “I don’t ever want anyone to lose their life to drug addiction.”

Davis-Jones said DDAP uses an acronym to define their mission: RISE, which stands for Reducing stigma, Increasing primary prevention, Strengthening treatment and Empowering sustained recovery.

As she worked on one of the program’s projects — building a family tree that emphasized the best qualities in her own team “family” — Davis-Jones said the tour has helped her see not just the real-life impact the program is having on communities but also ways to improve programs at DDAP.

“Being able to be a part of our engagement tour helps us develop our state plan,” Davis-Jones said. “We can evaluate the effectiveness of programs.”

Kim Egidi, program director of the Monessen Family Center, said the center typically recruits five to seven families at a time from the Mon Valley region to take part in the program, which meets for seven weekly sessions. Families are recruited through word of mouth and sometimes through referrals from school guidance counselors, Egidi said.

“We have a trained facilitator work with parents for an hour and with the kids for an hour, and then we bring everyone together for a group session,” said Egidi, who has been with the family center for more than three decades. “Anyone can learn from this program. I really like working with families and the feedback we get from them.”

Tanesha Irwin, 32, of Monessen was attending Tuesday’s session with her daughter Jadynn, 11.

“It’s amazing,” Irwin said of the program. “Jadynn’s been in the program since she was a baby, and they provide things like diapers for babies and handouts to show what resources are available in the region.”

Anderson said she loves watching families develop a bond through the program.

“We’ve had families come in where the kid’s got their arms crossed and a bad attitude, and, by the end, it’s all smiles and they’re having fun,” she said.

Davis-Jones said the program’s effectiveness lies in the family-oriented nature of the meetings.

She said, while most education about substance-use disorder is doled out in schools, her goal is to reach a wider audience that includes adults.

“It’s important to have community-based programs where people live and reside,” Davis-Jones said. “You never know who you may have the opportunity to make an impact on.”

Patrick Varine and Haley Moreland are TribLive staff writers. They can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com and hmoreland@triblive.com.