Real Story: Kevin P.
He has made steady progress through Vinfen-Connecticut
The road to recovery hasn’t always been easy for Kevin P., 21, who came to Vinfen in December 2004 with a history of anger, aggression and significant property destruction. He has, however, made steady and significant progress, thanks to the Forest Road Community Living Arrangement (CLA), a Vinfen-Connecticut program.
Today, he holds down a job, volunteers at a local school and coaches youth baseball. “The kids just love him,” said Ronnell Monts, an assistant program director at the Forest Road CLA.
At the time of Kevin’s initial referral to Vinfen, he lived in a locked facility, and was on Accelerated Rehabilitation, meaning that any further police involvement would automatically result in incarceration. The first step was a move to the Forest Road CLA, where he began to learn coping skills, life skills, and positive ways of relating with others.
For the first year, Kevin continued to attend a highly structured segregated school. In September 2005, he enrolled in a public high school that offered one-to-one tutoring. Kevin responded well to this teaching style and curriculum, an approach that was not offered in his previous school. He tried out for the varsity football team, made the squad and went on to graduate from Windsor High School.
His confidence at an all-time high, Kevin furthered his education at Capitol Community College in Hartford. Vinfen’s Forest Road staff continued to monitor Kevin’s progress and helped him find a summer job with the Boys and Girls Club, where he worked as a group counselor for children ages 8–10. Kevin realized he enjoyed working with children – and the feeling was mutual.
In February 2007, Kevin moved out of the Forest Road CLA and began living in his own apartment, with support provided by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. Although the staff at Forest Road believed that Kevin needed more time to enhance his life skills before moving out on his own, Kevin insisted he was ready. Vinfen provided 10 hours per week of support during the transition, but within a short period of time, Kevin became involved with unhealthy, illegal activities that led to numerous run-ins with the law and his eventual eviction from the apartment.
Eight months after leaving Forest Road, Kevin was admitted to Cedarcrest Hospital, a psychiatric facility where he was placed under 24-hour supervision and intense clinical watch. He received extensive counseling over the next seven months and made sufficient progress to once again enter the community – with proper supervision. Kevin was highly regarded at Forest Road and the staff made a commitment to provide whatever help was necessary when he was ready to leave the hospital.
Kevin moved back to Forest Road in March 2008 and is now on track to turn his life around. With Vinfen support, Kevin currently has a job and volunteer position at Milner School in Hartford. Working with 6- to 10-year-olds, he helps out with the lunch program and after-school program. He is also the head coach of a Little League baseball team.
Kevin has shown that just because you fall down, it doesn’t mean you can’t rise back up. And that’s what Kevin will continue to do every day through self motivation and the caring, nurturing, supportive staff that come to work at Forest Road.