::Message from our Founder ::
Argus is a people development Agency .
Elizabeth L. Sturz, CASAC
Founder/President
The teens and adults who enter our doors often are alienated, hard to reach, and ready to give up. Argus offers them hope and lots more - a haven free of disorder, crime, violence, and drugs, a second family of counselors and positive peers who are responsible and tough and who show them how to pick up the pieces, go with their strengths, acknowledge their responsibilities, and work toward realistic goals. Argus offers the tools to help in all areas of their lives - personal and social development, effective education, job readiness, skills training, internships and descent jobs with benefits - that's what Argus Offers.
The work we do with people does not produce results overnight. It can be a long, sometimes baffling process, which could perhaps be described as a kind of solution-focused therapy wherein the participants come to see that they are important and that they themselves need to search for and find new paths to follow to enrich their lives. Adults as well as teens at first balk at the structure, but in time most report that they feel safe and valued at Argus. In our family-like setting alienated persons begin to trust, share their stories, their feelings and thoughts, express their doubts, misgivings, their hurts, their rage. They bond with staff and with one another. Often they have been abused but realize that they are safe at Argus and are listened to and value.
Such an environment can only be created by people who care - administrators, counselors, and teachers - who offer resources, support, and affection and in return ask that participants make demands of themselves. On-going staff development and training focus on the need for professional growth and ways to interact effectively with participants. Experiential exercises help staff learn to listen, feel, and "see" themselves and their fellow staff members, as well as the people they work with. Staff is helped to deal with the stresses and frustrations inherent in our work.
Finally, Argus offers free programs tailored to teenage and adult population and their needs for STD, HIV and AIDS, and pregnancy prevention; safer sex; parenting skills; help with court cases; work experience; housing; education; job readiness; skills training and placement. Information about Argus programs can be found in the following pages, along with the outcome data which show that our programs work and are serving as models for replication.
Evaluations of Argus programs - on a continuous basis by the Argus Executive Staff and by outside groups - lead to further development on the one hand or curtailment and modification on the other. As a result, Argus graduates are leading fuller, more productive and satisfying lives. That, in essence, is what Argus is about.
Argus Community, Inc. is a HIPAA Covered Entity.
