Project Kealahou helps girls overcome trauma

Crystal Brown, 21, wishes that she had something like Project Kealahou when she was growing up.

She was born while her mother was in prison and raised by her grandmother, who died when she was 9. She later wound up in a foster family and was sexually abused repeatedly as a teenager in that home.

Her life’s trajectory changed, Brown said, when she was taken in by a hanai mother who believed in her.

Today she is a peer support specialist with Project Kealahou, a federally funded program that helps adolescent girls overcome abuse, neglect or other life-shaking trauma.

"I want to build them up and let them know that they don’t have to live the life of a statistic," Brown said. "People didn’t think I was going to amount to anything.

"I want to give back and help these girls in our community and break these cycles in everyone’s family. I already broke the cycle in my family," added Brown, who graduates today from Chaminade University and is headed to the University of Hawaii for a master’s in social work. "I’m going to continue to push forward."

Kealahou is funded by a six-year, $9 million grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, with matching state support. One of its key features is the use of peer mentors like Brown who have risen above traumatic experiences.

"We are the first gender-specific grant that the state has ever received," said Tia Roberts, director of Project Kealahou, a program of the state Department of Health’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division.

"There is such a need for effective and engaging programming for adolescent girls," she said. "The peer specialist seems to be a really good element because girls are so relational in the way they process things and the way they heal."

Project Kealahou is one of 500 programs included in the new Hawaii Youth Services Directory, which was launched to link young people with the programs they need. Kealahou began enrolling teens with emotional and behavioral challenges in September 2011. It has provided services to roughly 100 girls so far and is seeking more, according to lead evaluator Edward Suarez.

Along with peer mentoring, the program offers social and cultural activities that help girls connect to their communities and build mother-daughter bonds and other healthy relationships. One technique used in the project is Girls Circle, a structured peer support group with weekly meetings and a curriculum that includes issues such as body image and relationships.

"A lot of these girls feel disconnected," Brown said. "They don’t feel they have anything to attach to."

Participants also take part in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, an evidence-based treatment.

Another unusual aspect of Project Kealahou is that it is voluntary. "People who have been through trauma, one of the things they value most is choice," said Erica Yama­uchi, social marketing director for the project. "It allows us to build a trusting relationship."

About two-thirds of the girls who join Project Kealahou have witnessed domestic violence, and the same proportion have run away from home. Nearly half have mood disorders, and more than a third have substance abuse disorders.

Most participants were referred to the program through mental health providers, Family Court or the Youth Correctional Facility, and the Department of Education. Some girls hear about it by word of mouth.

It is open to girls age 11 to 18 in Windward Oahu, Central Oahu and certain parts of Hono­lulu under the restrictions of its grant.

Although evaluation is just starting, the early signs are positive.

On average the girls in the Hawaii program started out with more mental health diagnoses than their counterparts in the Community Mental Health Initiative nationally. But they are making more progress, showing reduced anxiety, depression and behavioral problems, even after just six months in the program, Suarez said. Caregiver strain was reduced significantly.

"We are dealing with a lot more challenges and complex needs," Suarez said. "We start off worse, but we end up with more kids improving. That’s a very good thing."