The Cornerstone For The Future Of Children's Services In Lincoln County.

For those families and people that are not aware of the Wellness Center and the invaluable service they provide to the Lincoln County community, one might think that they are a center for chiropractic services or a clinic where you can get a flu shot. Although one cannot receive these services at the center, there are special people as consumers and staff at the Lincoln County Wellness Center. Through a collaborative effort on the part of Catholic Family Services, Preferred Family Healthcare and the Crider Center for Mental Health, the Wellness Center provides mental health services for children 19 years old and under AND their families. The center offers outpatient, low intensity substance abuse treatment, general individual counseling, general family counseling, psychiatry and group counseling. All of the services, with the exception of psychiatry, are offered in the evening hours to accommodate working families and school children. As of May 31, 2005 the Wellness Center has served 322 Lincoln County children and their families.

After all of the explanations of how the center is funded by a grant by the Missouri Foundation for Health and how there is an eligibility process to utilizing the Center’s psychiatry resources, the bottom line for the community and the Wellness Center is this…as of December 2005, the Missouri Foundation for Health grant will end and there is NOT another long term program sustaining source of funds.

For those readers that like it laid out in the simplest terms, this means that the Lincoln County Wellness Center may close.

Pictured above are the very recognisable community pillars who not only make up the oversight committee, but also steer the children in need to The Wellness Center. Through their views, you will come to understand just what The Wellness Center means to Lincoln County.
From left to right: Jan Lewien, Crider Center for Mental Health; Jim Wallis, Program Director/ Wellness Center; Kathy Boessen, Member, Board of Trustees; Melba Houston, Member, Board of Trustees-Circuit Clerk; Carol Suchland, Catholic Family Services, Program Director; Kristin Gentry, Member, Board of Trustees-Supervisor, Family Support Division; Mandy Rose, Wellness Center Manager; Laurie Richterkessing, Troy Middle School Counselor; Adam Burkemper, President Board of Trustees-local attorney.

Some people will not concern themselves with this fact, some will state that counseling and mental health is a lot of hogwash and that parents need to be responsible for taking care of their children’s emotional needs. There is no argument to that statement here. Parents are responsible for their children’s emotional needs. But what that statement does not take into account are the families and children that live in and among us that have special needs and are going through times of hardship and trial. The families that break apart due to death, divorce, substance abuse, incarceration and the children that struggle in school, feel suffocated by peer pressure and cannot cope with some type of stress in their lives.

Making The Case To Save The Lincoln County Wellness Center The next closest facility will be an out of couty drive for families.

The stigma surrounding mental health would have all conjure up the images from such movies as “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” or “Girl Interrupted”.In reality, the needs of families are often less severe or long term and thus less served by programs that are state funded. The majority of children that are served at the Lincoln County Wellness Center have what is known as adjustment disorder. This disorder is exactly how its name makes it sound, a problem with some type of adjustment. Simple, not scary. Common, not freakish.

It is also no secret that substance abuse and addiction are all around us, even here in rural Lincoln County. In recent research within just our borders, reports find that almost 15 % of seniors in high school have used marijuana more than 100 times. Many high school age children report that they began using marijuana and alcohol between the ages of 6 and 11 years old. This is alarming and should raise the bristles on the back of the neck of every parent. This would mean that if your high school senior has 10 friends that you know, you can assume that at least one, if not two, are smoking marijuana, possibly on a regular basis. Statistics in Lincoln County also indicated that 21% of the children in the county live in single parent households and that almost 29% of our children qualify for state medical assistance. These numbers have been on a continual rise here in Lincoln County since 1997.

The Lincoln County Wellness Center is considered a success by all those that associate themselves with the project. Client surveys indicate that children are satisfied with services, guardian surveys indicate that parents are satisfied with services and the staff that comes to the Center from the three different agencies enjoys the work that they do here in our community. For a collaborative effort that mixes many types of clinicians and therapists, the staff have learned to share space, work together and make plans that best lead the child and family toward wellness.