Programs | Maine Immigration Refugee Services

Our Programs

MEIRS programming and informed outreach provides tools that help Maine immigrants and refugees by delivering services that positively integrate individuals and families into Maine culture. Through a variety of programs, MEIRS has the resources and experience to help new Maine families become familiar with, comfortable in, and contributory to their new environment.

Behavioral Health Services

Many immigrants and refugees have experienced deeply traumatic events that continue to affect them. Our Behavioral Health Services, which are designed to specifically assist this population, include the services below.

Case Management
Services

Case management services are provided by competent and qualified staff from the immigrant and refugee community who serve as cultural brokers. They help clients connect with available services and assist them as they transition into life in the United States.

Rehabilitative Community Support Service (Section 28)

Rehabilitative Community Support (RCS) is home and community based behavioral health service. The program focuses on behavioral management, social skills development, daily living goals and community integration. By building on family strength and available community resources, the service empowers families and clients to work toward self-sufficiency.

Home & Community
Treatment Service (HCT)

This state-initiated program is available for at-risk children who are struggling at home, in school or in the community. It requires family involvement. Services are provided by a two-person team that includes a cultural broker/Behavioral Health Professional and a Master’s level clinician who create a treatment plan and work directly with the parents and the child.

Outpatient
Counseling

Behavioral Health Services also include individual and group counseling for both adults and children. MEIRS counselors are licensed clinical professionals who are trained to work with people from diverse backgrounds.

MEIRS Outpatient Substance Use Counseling Services

Our multicultural and multilingual staff will conduct an assessment with clients and we tailor treatment recommendations to the needs of each clients. Some of our staff speak the language of most immigrant and refugees and will be bale to provide these services to clients in a language they understand.

MEIRS provides culturally appropriate substance use counseling for individuals struggling with addictions. We provide

¨ Substance use assessment by bilingual and multicultural staff

¨ Creating a personalized treatment plan with you

¨ We will work with you and your family in your journey for recovery

¨ We will also work with you if you are also struggling with mental health issues (co-occurring disorders

¨ We will also work with those affected by the drug and alcohol use

¨ Multilingual/multicultural trained recovery coach is also available for individuals.

If you or your loved ones is struggling with substance use/drugs, call us or contact us. You can easily make referral button on upper right hand corner .

Our services are available to everyone, if you don’t have insurance, we have sliding fee schedule

Youth Programs

MEIRS youth programs are designed to help young people live more meaningful lives on a social, educational, and cultural level. Young people, particularly immigrant and refugee youth who are still learning how to survive in a new country, need guidance and positive reinforcement. YouthBridges, currently available in our Lewiston location, is here to provide that and much more. The goal is to replicate these programs in Portland. They include:

Youth Leadership Program: YouthBridges leadership program provides culturally competent community integration programs and services to both boys and girls. Its goal is to create a new generation of leaders for Maine’s future.
Girls Empowerment Program: Girls are promising leaders in politics, the arts and sciences, civil society, and all walks of life. Immigrant and refugee girls suffer from many of the same problems as the boys, but they also need specialized support and confidence-building. The Girls Empowerment Program is meant to raise girls’ self-confidence, help them establish achievable and meaningful life goals, and prepare them for a successful future.

Sports & Athletic Program: From 36 youth participating in its soccer program in 2008 to more than 250 in 2016, MEIRS is making a real difference in the lives of youth. These athletic programs serve boys and girls. Sports helps keep young peoples’ “Eyes on the Prize,” and helps keep them out of trouble and involved in the larger community. The program also teaches leadership and teamwork and gives great pride to the City of Lewiston. MEIRS collaborates with the City of Lewiston Recreation Department in these endeavors.
Afterschool Program: This program, which runs throughout the school year, provides academic assistance, social and cultural skill development, and recreation.
Summer Enrichment Camp: This summer opportunity offers youth morning sessions that focus on academics, social and cultural skills, and integration activities. Afternoon sessions are dedicated to recreation and team sports.
Juvenile Justice Program: MEIRS programs are intended to raise aspirations, improve outlook on life, generate energy and vision for a successful future. However, the organization also focuses on educating youth and their parents about the juvenile justice system and how they can improve judicial system outcomes by understanding the process. MEIRS does this through yearly seminars and other events in which we partner with local police forces. MEIRS also provides direct services to assist with the reintegration of youth transitioning back into the community from detention centers and group homes. While this is a small portion of the people we serve, for these families, it is an important educational process because our laws and law enforcement system are typically foreign to them.

Adult and Family Programs

MEIRS Adult and Family Programs provide direct assistance to immigrant and refugee families, which includes:

Basic needs management (food, housing, healthcare).
Helping immigrants and refugees with their naturalization applications.
Assisting with social and cultural adjustment.
Providing literacy and citizenship classes for parents and youth with limited English.
Providing financial literacy classes for parents and youth to help them gain financial independence and competency.
Providing parenting classes.
Senior citizen services.
Providing interpretation services.
Training and supporting immigrant and refugee youth and parents so that they can achieve employment.

Whole Family Services

In partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services’ office of family independence MEIRS’s Whole Family Services program works with families by using the Whole Family Approach, that provides adults and children with the tools they need to set goals together, create plans and achieve those goals. Family members work together to support each other’s goals and achieve a long-term term change and stability with the help of a bridging case manager/coach.

MEIRS believes that strong families are essential to the well-being of children, adults and the community. Our bridging case managers who are trained in the Whole Family Services approach will work with the family to have access to a range of organizations to equip themselves with the social support and tools to accomplish their goals.

The Whole Family Services program breaks down silos in existing social services and puts equal priority on the needs of adults and children and enables seamless collaboration among multiple organizations to support a family’s plans.

Our Whole Family Services is prevention rather than crisis-driven. Empowering families with the tools to reach their goals and avoid poverty has far better long-term benefits than helping them once they have already reached poverty.

To be eligible for whole family services, a family must have:

Children under the age of 18 years
Have income at 200% or less of the federal poverty level or receive food stamp/TANF
Asylum seekers who met the above two criteria also qualifies to receive Whole Family Services.
This service does not require mental health diagnosis or does not affect any other services or programs families are receiving. These are
additional services to help families.

Our Bridging Case manager can help families connect with: