Two staff members travel to a family's home, which serves troubled families throughout Southern Illinois. Ashley works with families in the Harrisburg area, and typically spends time with a client once or twice a week. Once a client identifies goals, Project 12-Ways offers training to steer family members toward a more orderly lifestyle. Staff members then report back to the courts in instances where the court is involved in the family's welfare. Ultimately, Ashley's objective is to teach people how to be better parents so that families can remain intact.
Most cases span several months, and some last more than a year.
Collecting the massive amount of data needed for the program can be arduous, since nearly every aspect of a family's life is scrutinized. It's through crunching data that Ashley can tell how much headway is being made. They can tell me all they want that they want to change, but the way I see that is through behavior. One of the crucial challenges for Ashley is to build trust with her clients. Sitting in a family's kitchen as they eat dinner can be an awkward situation for a stranger to step into, but that must be overcome.