Clients are in need. That's why we have the Sunshine Store and showers and food. But these things don't change the trajectory of lives. Even housing may not do that; the source of the poverty is more than just having no house. Half our ongoing clients already have housing--this situation is far better today than it was 5, 10 or 20 years ago. Our main product, however, is guidance. 

You won't find a pre-defined program at SYMin (that may disappoint you but read on). Instead we focus one by one on what the person in front of us wants to accomplish. We hone in on the items that will help clients find more stability, sobriety and well-being in their lives -- including social, emotional and faith well-being. But they are the experts in what they want, in what they want to do next, and in how rapidly they want to go.

Clients share their own goals with us as individuals. There is no form or survey that generates them. They occur organically in many settings: while shopping in the Sunshine Store, while eating in the Event Center, while playing games, while resting, while in group, and while on the street. We pray for clients. We ask others to pray with us. We provide guidance to achieve goals. We search for resources our clients don't seem to be able to find. Even more importantly, we listen closeyl to what is working and work hard to spread the word from client to client so more can quickly use resources that are proven to be working right now by our own clients in similar situations. No one size fits all when it comes to guidance. We provide follow-up and encouragement. And it works!

Clients who engage more deeply with us are 240% (2.5 times) more likely to achieve the goals! You can watch the live tally online every two weeks. What does it mean to engage? In the two weeks ending May 29, we had 41 young clients. Of those, many are new and not yet engaged. Or perhaps they aren't able to particpate often or deeply. But 22 clients have compelted 40 hours of interaction with our team and who have had at least 10 deep conversations about stuff that matters to them. And of those, 64% are already acheiving goals. Of the 19 relatively new or less engaged clients, 26% are making change. That's how we know it works and is worth the time and effort to engage and talk things through with our team!

Our active clients collectively set a total of 3 goals per day in May (counting a distince goal for a unique person only once), and they achieved or maintained 2.7 goals per day (also not counting duplciates)! That’s no small task -- and well worth praise!

The most frequent are stability goals and hgahly desired by many clienbts. The third most-frequent goal is improving self-care. This means forming new habits, new boundaries, new sel-congtrol and thinking in new ways. It's proven to pay big dividends in terms of growth, healing and recovery. And we're very proud that improved self-care is in our clients' top three goals along with hosuing and employment.

The middle-frequency goals are deeper forms of self-care like sobriety, mental health care, medical care, and family reconciliation. Not everyone has the same challenges.

And the least frequent goals on the list often represent the best ones. Things that take time, stability and months to aceheve, such as legal issues, education, development of faith, and building famliies in healthier environments (experiencing healthy pregnancy, learning good parenting, and obtaining child care to improve education and employment opportunity).

The biggest item in goals set but not achieved as frequently is family reconciliation. Family is complicated. It isn't always safe to reconcile. Forgiving (not the same as saying it was OK), talking from a distance (by text, letter), talking by phone, and visiting briefly in public can be good first steps.

It's very hard to avoid old habits, however, for clients and their families. It often takes a lot of time. Be patient and celebrate the little steps! We'll be praying for your process at each step!