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Bringing the “Thresholds” program to homeless shelters

Under the guidance of Sai Brother Murthy Cheruvu, past president of the USA Sathya Sai Organization Northeast Region, the Sathya Sai Centers of the Greater Boston Area collaborated to conduct “Thresholds” training in two local area homeless shelters. The “Thresholds” program primarily entails trained mentors meeting with prisoners over the course of six to ten weeks, to teach them decision making and problem-solving skills.

This program was originally set up by Mickey Burglass, who himself spent several years in jail and discovered that inmates needed tools to help guide their decision-making. The teachings are not spiritual per se but center on practical life skills that help people learn discrimination and identify helpful or harmful outcomes that can result from their decisions. It teaches them critical thinking skills, to make proactive decisions and improve their life situation. The training incorporates an easy-to-remember, six-step approach to goal-setting, decision-making, and problem solving. It is taught in six to ten one-on-one class sessions, mentor to client. These “micro-sessions” are augmented by group “macro-sessions.”

Subsequent to an initial training in 2004, a number of individuals from area Sai centers successfully implemented the Thresholds training with inmates of local prisons in the region. However, the Thresholds program did not take widespread hold as a core service activity.

In 2009, another Thresholds training session was arranged, and we explored whether we could incorporate the Thresholds program into the existing selfless service activities that the Sai Centers perform with homeless shelters. For many years our Centers had been providing various services to homeless shelters – serving food, renovating buildings, collecting clothes, and so on. Our members had built trusted relationships with the shelter administrators, who in turn had become very comfortable with the Sai Organization.

The incorporation of the Thresholds program seemed a logical next step of the Sai Centers’ close association with homeless shelters. Due to our previous successes, the Thresholds organization authorized our endeavor and provided updated materials specifically oriented to non-correctional-facility clients.

People-in-Peril (PIP) Shelter

The Sathya Sai Center of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, began to implement the Thresholds Decision-Making and Problem Solving Program in the People in Peril (PIP) Shelter of Worcester, Massachusetts, run by the Southern Middlesex Opportunity Council, serving the clients from the Aurora House, who are in transitional, semi-permanent housing.

Besides being homeless, many of the clients have battled alcoholism or other forms of addictions, as well as chronic unemployment. Initially, there were many challenges in terms of no-shows and lack of response from the clients. But these hurdles taught us the humbling lessons of perseverance, patience, and purity of intention. Over time, as the program progressed, it was truly humbling for many of the volunteers to become aware of and be touched by the resilience, courage and perseverance of the clients as they overcome insurmountable obstacles that none of volunteers could even begin to imagine having to deal with on a daily basis. Indeed, in terms of growth and understanding, it is hard to tell who benefitted more from the program – the clients, or the mentors. The clients often taught us significant lessons about courage, endurance, and coping with life’s slings and arrows!

Under the guidance of Brother Murthy, approximately eight volunteers from the Sathya Sai Center of Shrewsbury have implemented, conducted, and sustained the Thresholds program at the PIP shelter. The weekly mentoring we received from Brother Murthy via phone conferences, with all the Sai volunteers involved in the project, has been a key ingredient contributing to the success of this service project.

Reflections of volunteers (video)

The experience has been truly impactful on both clients and volunteers. We have learned many spiritual lessons and are so grateful for the opportunities to practice, in a profound and personal way, Sai Baba’s universal message of loving service and truly seeing the Divine in all beings. In the following video, we share some of our experiences as mentors:

Please click here for the video of team reflections

Reflections of clients (video)

Perhaps, even more meaningful and gratifying are the words of our clients at graduation as they share the lessons they have imbibed and how they have been transformed by the program:

Please click here for the video of client reflections/graduation

                                   Graduation
                                    Thresholds graduation, People in Peril Shelter

Clearly, this project has been an inspiring and deeply meaningful journey for all of us, mentors and clients alike, and has touched and transformed us in ways we never would have imagined when we first embarked on this service.  These opportunities are not easy to come by, and setting them up initially can be daunting. But seeking guidance and mentoring from those devotees who have done it for years, such as Sai Brother Murthy, is the key to making it work.

If we earnestly, and with pure intention, surrender and practice the teaching of seeing God in all (even in the homeless), the journey becomes ever more joyous and sweet, and with His loving grace, all obstacles melt away!

Additional Info

For more on the Thresholds program, see:

Prison Service: Thresholds program 1

Prison Service: Thresholds program 2

Thresholds Program with Women Prisoners – Norwalk CT

Thresholds Program in a Transition Shelter - Bostan MA

 

Keywords

Transitional Facility | Homeless shelter | “Thresholds” decision-making and problem-solving skills program | Aurora House of Worcester, MA | People in Peril (PIP) Shelter, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts | Sathya Sai Center of Shrewsbury, MA | USA Region 1 | Sathya Sai Service projects USA |

Project Details

Project start: 01/01/09

Project completion: 01/01/11

Stage of development:

Zone name: US. Canada, West Indies, Israel

Lat/Longitude: 42° 17' N -71° 42' W

Affiliation: Sathya Sai Center of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts USA

Service category: Transition shelter

Author: Sai Center of Shrewsbury, MA, USA

Project leader: Glenn Rothbart

Thresholds group or “macro-session”

Slide from Thresholds presentation

Macro-session in progress