Peoria Standard

The Peoria Public Schools board of education heard about the district’s Wraparound Center. At their January 23rd board meeting, members of the Peoria public school district heard from Dr. Derrick Booth, the director of social emotional learning in the district, on what services and programs they have in the Wraparound center. 

The Wraparound Center is located in the Trewyn School and has everything that a student and their family would need for therapeutic support and services. The goal of creating this center and providing all the services they do is to support the community, removing barriers and struggles to getting needed help, including cost. All services at the Wraparound Center are free to the customers. 

"To truly help our students, we also have to help our staff and we also have to help our families and the community," Director of Social and Emotional Learning Derrick Booth said. "I know from those conversations we discussed coming up with a motto at the time that we were calling a trauma recovery center. One of the things that we realized is that individuals that are dealing with trauma need more than just one thing. And so this concept of the wraparound center came about. In October of 2017, I met with a host of community partners, elected officials, really anybody with a title. And I shared with them: if we could give you space and access to our neediest individuals in the community, would you provide services within that space? There were a host of individuals that raised their hand, and I just followed up with those individuals in our community: agencies, social service agencies for that entire year. In October of 2018, literally a year to the date that I met with them, we were opening the doors to the wraparound center and many of those community partners that were there on that first day to open the doors are still with us today."

There are a multitude of agencies and organizations that serve in the center and work with the school district. These include Family Core, OSF Strive, ROE S.W., Hand Up, therapists, attornies, and justice advocates. They all came to the meeting to speak to the board about what they do in the Wraparound Center, talking about the impact they have seen on the community through the work that they do. 

Some of the highlights for the district include 183 students getting anger management services to prevent them from getting into trouble and 244 students being served by the day respite program which provides a safe place for students who have been suspended or expelled. Many of the therapy organizations have grown in the four years that they have been there, going from 100 appointments a year to almost 400. Many have placed a therapist in one or more of the schools to help students daily and provide even easier access to help. 

They have seen great relationships develop with “problem” students because of these services and many families in the community have gotten the help that they needed. Each organization reported a growing interest and use of their services since they opened, reaching more students and families each year. The board was very grateful for the presentation and the work of the Wraparound Center and promised to continue supporting the endeavor.