From County to Community: Lassen Family Solutions Makes Wraparound a Local Effort

In sprawling Lassen County, helping a family can mean driving two hours, coordinating with law enforcement or meeting in—of all places—a local deli.

But as Lassen Family Solutions’ Wraparound program manager Daisy Murdock shared, no matter where or how those connections happen, they’re what’s key to reaching the kids and families her team serves.

Collaboration Equals Connection

With 4,720 square miles of rural land, backcountry roads and far-flung townships, how does the county's Family Solutions team reach those in need?

“We’re doing a lot of collaboration,” Murdock answered. “We work hand in hand.”

That collaboration extends across agencies that might traditionally enter a family’s life post-crisis. Murdock said youth and school resource officers from the Lassen County Sheriff’s Office and local police have helped support Wraparound families, while the program also works closely with dispatchers, medical staff, first responders, behavioral health professionals, child welfare and probation.

“The goal,” she said, “is prevention.”

Family Solutions’ team members try to assess families’ needs and connect them with support before circumstances require intervention from an on-call social worker, probation officer or after-hours behavioral health provider.

That preventive approach presents particular difficulties in Lassen County, where some neighborhoods are hours away from the program’s primary operations. In response, Family Solutions has developed informal hubs and localized partnerships—such as a neighborhood library and a church building, both in outlying areas—that allow families to connect with their Wraparound teams closer to home.

Murdock said a local deli even provides space for Child and Family Team meetings, where families without reliable phones or cell service can also use the business to contact their Wraparound teams. 

Those intentional, family-focused relationships did not develop overnight, but now families are reaping the benefits.

“We really have a good thing going in Lassen County—we had to create that,” she said.

Recruiting the Community

Murdock shared that housing insecurity is a significant challenge for the families they serve, but some residents have expressed concern that expanding assistance could attract more people experiencing homelessness to Lassen.

As familiar faces around the county, Murdock said her team members seek to reframe those conversations around the long-term countywide benefits of helping families achieve stability.

“’These people do have real needs, so let’s work together to meet them,’” she encourages everyone.

The team’s community-outreach efforts have helped change minds and hearts.

“Community members do care and recognize that poverty is an issue,” she said. “Many of them have been willing to step up and to really support these families.”

The UC Davis Connection

Murdock credits UC Davis training in developing her county’s connection-based approach.

She said UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education’s Human Services programs have worked with Lassen County for about a decade, beginning with a UC Davis in-person Wraparound training. That initial training wasn’t just for Family Solutions: Laying the groundwork for current and future interagency collaboration, representatives from behavioral health, child welfare, probation and education also participated.

“Our county agency felt like it was such a big deal to have UC Davis come that we invited all agencies,” said Murdock. “It really helped get everybody on board with Wraparound from the get-go.”

Lassen Family Solutions has since made UC Davis training the foundation of its internal training requirements for facilitators and peer-support staff, she said. Employees complete required courses and are encouraged to engage in additional offerings as they become available.

Murdock said her program has also aligned its policies, procedures and service plans with standards contained in UC Davis Human Services’ Wraparound Standards Toolkit.

“UC Davis is our primary trainer and our primary source of information—they’re the standard,” she said. “At any given time, if we need something, we will reach out to UC Davis and partner with them.”

'Ingrained in the Whole Community'

While Lassen County has built a decade of Wraparound success with help from UC Davis, all you have to do to see the real-life impact is to look around: Throughout the county, Wraparound team members can be found alongside the families they serve—literally meeting people where they are.

“I’m proudest of the fact that, on any given day and at any time of day, you can drive around and see, say, a staff member supervising a family visit at a park or holding a Child and Family Team meeting at a pickleball court,” Murdock said. “On Sundays, one peer-support employee meets participants at a meditation studio for sound baths and meditation.”

These seemingly minor interactions reflect a major commitment to community connections: a testament to Lassen County’s dedicated, decade-long effort to weave vital Wraparound services and supports into all locals’ everyday lives. 

“My staff are so ingrained in the whole community,” Murdock said. “It’s that visibility that makes me the most proud.”

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