Text Box:   NEW STAFF    The Counseling Center is pleased to welcome several new staff members including: Lori Perkins, Family Resource Specialist Debbie O’Brien, L.S.W., Community Psychiatric Support Services for Adults Bobbi Rickett, L.S.W., Community Psychiatric Support Services for Adults Carla Dyer, Residential Assistant Carrie Baker, L.P.C.C., Therapist    

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CENTER UPDATE

Monthly Newsletter for The Counseling Center of Wayne and Holmes Counties

Edition: January 2008

 

 

Text Box: SMOKING CESSATION With assistance from the staff of  The SourceOne Group, Inc., the Center recently offered Stop Smoking classes to interested clients in the partial hospitalization and adult community psychiatric support programs.  Seventy-eight percent of the participants who completed the course stopped smoking and have remained smoke free.    Additional sessions for Center clients will begin on Jan. 23rd.  In addition, SourceOne is offering a course for the general public that will begin on Jan. 22nd at the SourceOne Group, Inc. offices on Milltown Road in Wooster.  The course is taught by Marty Laska, L.P.C.C., Director of Employee Assistance Programs at SourceOne. For more information contact The Counseling Center at (330) 264-9029 or SourceOne at  (330) 345-0955.

Text Box: WAITING LIST  

Text Box: The demand for mental health services at the Counseling Center has been growing exponentially. As of this month, there are 234 persons waiting for some type of mental health service. These include: counseling, 39; adult community psychiatric support, 8; children’s psychiatric community support, 42; home-based intervention for children and youth, 22; employment services, 8; residential services, 2; and psychiatric services, 113. All of those waiting are persons who have been generally assessed and determined to have a medically necessary need for the Center’s services.  The crisis team at the Center is always available to see clients who present in an emergency; but specialized on-going care can be delayed.  For those that are not in crisis,  the average wait time for an assessment appointment is 17 days.  Some of the increased demand may be seasonal. Nonetheless, the Center is working to reduce both the wait time and the waiting list; however, most programs are already operating at full capacity and, without additional staff, the ability to absorb additional clients is limited.  

Text Box: NEW PARENT TRAINING SESSION UNDERWAY A winter session of the Center’s highly acclaimed parent training program, The Parent Project, is scheduled to get underway in February. The Parent Project focuses on helping parents change destructive adolescent behavior. During the program, which runs for 10 weeks, parents learn how to reduce family conflict, improve school attendance and performance, prevent or intervene in alcohol or other drug use, and stop violence.  Families who completed the course in 2007 reported a decline in arguing, a decline in their adolescent’s refusal to do things, less anger, and lower ratings on measures of problem severity. The next session will begin on Thursday, February 14 from 6 to 9 p.m. Sessions are held at the Wooster United Methodist Church. Phone the Center at (330) 264-9029 to register. Classes are funded by participant fees, United Wayne of Wayne and Holmes Counties, the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Wayne and Holmes Counties, and community donations.

Text Box: STAFF TRAINING: All Counseling Center staff members recently completed a training program on cultural sensitivity and informed consent.  Annual training is part of the requirements for the organization’s state certification and national accreditation.