Catholic Charities Rise Above program brings positivity and support to Wayne County teens and their parents

Posted November 01, 2025

Catholic Charities Wayne County has just completed the fourth cohort of its 2025 Rise Above group program, designed to strengthen parent-teen relationships and address behaviors that put a teen or family at greater risk of danger, dysfunction or other negative consequences.

Catholic Charities received $14,000 in total from Wayne County Community Foundation, which includes $4,000 from the Children’s Fund and $10,000 through its competitive grants. Through this funding, the program expanded this year to offer two parallel learning experiences for teens and their parents.

State data suggests that many challenging teen behaviors are responses to substance use or untreated mental illness in the family, which leads to family breakdown. Parents and teens attend each meeting together then break into separate sessions, following parallel curricula that teach appropriate strategies to each group.

“We are so grateful to our partners at the Wayne County Community Foundation for the means to extend the focus of the program,” said Sheryl Villegas, director, Catholic Charities Ashland & Wayne Counties. “By splitting the program into separate teen and parent groups, each group can focus first on their own autonomy and responsibility before coming together to build toward positive outcomes.”

Program participants may be referred through the Wayne County Juvenile Court as an alternative to court involvement, as well as through the school system and other health agencies that serve young people.

Rise Above is a supportive first step in learning skills in self-awareness and control to create a path toward resilience and positive choices. Parent participants use the Triple P Teen evidence-based curriculum, focused on positive parenting, managing and encouraging behavior and establishing effective routines. Young people focus on emotional regulation, resisting negative influences, social media, substance use and building hope for the future.

Since the program began, parents have expressed appreciation to the team at Catholic Charities Wayne County for their ability to help reframe their perspective as parents. Connecting with other parents, learning communication skills and understanding how to avoid common pitfalls and traps have been especially helpful takeaways, based on survey responses.

Following the end of the cohort, parents and teens can continue to access counseling and other support services through Catholic Charities Wayne County. The team also supports them in making referrals and connections to other agencies.

Thanks to the contributions of Wayne County Community Foundation, as well as partnerships with the Wayne County Juvenile Court and Mental Health and Recovery Board of Wayne & Holmes Counties, the program will continue in 2026 with a new series of cohorts. Anyone interested in learning more or participating in the program should contact the Catholic Charities Wayne County office at 330-262-7836.