Wraparound: A Care Paradigm

At Ashland Parenting Plus (APP), all of the available programs work together to help surround clients with care.

The entire ethos of the agency is to help foster growth that leads toward whole, healthy lives. However, there is one program in particular that seeks to help families find healing and support within their own communities: Wraparound.

This care paradigm was introduced to APP in 2014 and has been making a difference ever since. 

At the inception of APP’s Wraparound program, Larry Meherg stepped on board. Meherg is among the warmest people that one could hope to encounter and his passion lies in stepping into the lives of his Wraparound families. 

“It’s all about finding the unmet need,” Meherg states, “Unmet needs are the holes in the heart, the things that tug at the heartstrings…feeling lonely, worthless, unloved, incompetent—all those things we need as human beings to feel whole.”

“It’s all about finding the unmet need, unmet needs are the holes in the heart, the things that tug at the heartstrings…feeling lonely, worthless, unloved, incompetent—all those things we need as human beings to feel whole.”

Larry Meherg

When Meherg approaches one of his Wraparound cases, he begins with hearing the family’s story and identifying 40-60 unmet needs. This can be anything from “Mom deserves to feel respected” to “Jack or Jill deserves to have friends they can trust.” From there, Meherg would collaborate with the family to identify the top two or three needs that merit the most attention. 

As the journey progresses, the group brainstorms together to come up with goals related to the unmet needs, as well as action plans to help achieve those goals. Meherg was careful to highlight the fact that Wraparound is all about “family voice, family choice” in that the whole process builds on the family’s strengths. For example, if a client feels unloved and abandoned, an action point might be to build on some present culinary strengths by cooking and eating a meal as a family. The desired result is a strong unit that operates on its own merits. 

In order to achieve that desired result, the facilitator helps the family involved in Wraparound services to identify their “natural and community supports.” These supports are anyone that knows the family well and has their best interests in mind. Meherg said that this can include everything from probation officers to extended family members to coaches. These natural supports make up the client’s team and that team varies from person to person. In the end, the facilitator should be able to step out of the equation and leave continued thriving up to the strengths of the family and the power of those around them.

Meherg is now in the process of retiring from his APP journey. After working in the human services field for thirty years, he simply needs a break. However, Meherg reflects on his journey in Wraparound with fondness. 

“I just like working with people,” he shares, “I feel called to do that. It’s a calling, it’s not just a job.”

Larry Meherg

When asked what difference he believes Wraparound is making in the community as a whole, Meherg believes that it is saving county resources by working on difficulties at their roots. He says, “Wraparound is usually meant for the most difficult cases…and when you’re talking about putting a child in placement somewhere, if we can keep that child in the community, we can save a lot of money very quickly…money is important because we need that as a tool for everything else that a county needs to do.”

More important than finances, however, is the person to person difference Wraparound has made in the community. When Meherg works with an individual, he is confident that “it really does matter to that one. I really do believe we’ve made a difference in their family life, their personal life.”

In addition to Meherg desiring for the community know the difference that Wraparound is making, he also wants to make it known that APP is a special place. 

“I just think that we’re healers,” Meherg states, “This agency cares…it’s just a really positive place to work. This is a caring, positive community of healers with diverse talents, doing diverse things.”

Check back over the summer weeks as we continue to explore the diverse things that Ashland Parenting Plus has to offer.