Welcome House of Northern Kentucky

Teresa Whitaker, Summer 2015

I worked with two sites this summer. One was the Breast and Cervical Cancer Project. The other was the Welcome House of Northern Kentucky. The Welcome House of Northern Kentucky is a temporary shelter for women and children. The staff work with the residents to provide a continuum of services beyond just providing a place to stay. They also provide service coordination and case planning to help each individual or family address the barriers to independent living they are experiencing. This includes financial education/budgeting, housing, counseling, community referrals, income management, and employment assistance.

In the spirit of comprehensive care modeled by the Welcome House, I took a multifaceted approach to healthcare education based off of the biopsychosocial model for health and wellness. This model describes how all aspects of the human person are interconnected, and difficulties in one area can spill over into difficulties in other areas. In order to make maximal impact on health, you have to address all aspects of the person. I took an interest survey and based my class schedule off of that. I did classes on a variety of topics, including breast and cervical health, nutrition and healthy cooking on a budget, hydration, stress management techniques, meditation, recreational exercise, and parenting resources. I also did craft nights with the residents, and served as their health advisor for anything that came up during their stay. I held classes several times a week, assisted the advocate on duty, and bonded with the women and children.