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A lively conversation about youth homelessness in Snohomish County transpired Thursday evening at the Lynnwood Neighborhood Center.
Cocoon House hosted its first quarterly forum Feb. 5 about early intervention and prevention strategies that can help keep youth housed, supported and connected to local resources.
The next forum is scheduled for Thursday, June 4. The location and topic have yet to be determined. Cocoon House will post updated information about it on social media.
Cocoon House is an Everett-based organization that offers a continuum of programs dedicated to preventing and ending youth homelessness. The organization serves more than 1,500 young people per year.
At the Feb. 5 forum, the following staffers took turns speaking: CEO Joe Alonzo; Vice President/Chief Program Officer Rachel Mathison; Sabrina Johnson, social worker for community-based family reunification services; and Alex Torres, family engagement senior program manager.
Mathison said Cocoon House’s prevention department involves a family advocate or someone who works alongside the parents, caretakers or guardians. A youth advocate or someone who works with the young person in the family is also involved.
“What we do is we bring both of them together to do family meetings,” Mathison said. “They’re each represented in that room and can really feel like they’re a part of the case management that’s happening.”
The prevention department also involves referrals to other local resources Cocoon House may not be equipped with, such as mental health therapists.
Johnson said conflict in the home is one of the main reasons why youth call on Cocoon House for help. Mathison added that every single youth has a unique story about their family.
Alonzo said there is a lot of stigma surrounding young people leaving home – implying that they are just not following house rules or something along those lines.
“What we see in our work is oftentimes there’s a lot of complexity in that household dynamic, some of which might be dysfunction amongst the adults and some with the youth, and then it’s intertwined,” Alonzo said.
Mathison said feeling overwhelmed as parents should be normalized, and that it is OK to ask for help. Torres added that Cocoon House spends a lot of time doing outreach at school, especially at the beginning of a school year.
Cocoon House has seen a growing trend among homeless youth who identify as LGBTQ and also youth of color. Torres said those particular demographics are already disproportionately affected by homelessness whether they are young or an adult.
“Having someone, both in the youth position and the family advocate position, who is from a similar community or seems to be able to understand what parents are going through when there’s that cultural difference is really, really vital,” Mathison said.
An attendee asked about the most common thing families are struggling with when calling Cocoon House. Johnson said it was money – the cost of rent, groceries and other necessities have been rising.
“That’s the number-one ask,” Johnson said. “Parents and caregivers can’t focus on relational things because they’re so concerned about electricity or being out on the street or not having food.”
Torres said mental health is also a common issue families face. Some parents have trouble understanding what depression and anxiety looks like – for youth and themselves – and how to deal with it.
An attendee also asked if Cocoon House could identify a need they would like to meet but cannot at the moment.
Alonzo said cash assistance to youth and families is a model Cocoon House is eager to try to bring to Snohomish County. He would also like more youth housing and shelter, as well as immediate access to behavioral health support.
Another attendee asked about federal funding cuts, and if there is light at the end of the tunnel or if some serious restructuring is needed.
Alonzo said Cocoon House tries to blend the funding models for most of its programs so that the impact on families and youth are somewhat insulated from the “wild shifts” the public has been hearing about.
“We’re trying to … wrestle what we can control through all the chaos and not get lost in the fear,” Alonzo said. “That’s an ongoing conversation we have and will continue to.”
Angelica Relente is a Murrow News Fellow covering housing and related issues in South Snohomish County for the My Neighborhood News Network. Contact her at angelica@myedmondsnews.com.
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