The Amy Schultz Child Advocacy Center has received a $210,000 three-year grant to provide mental health services.
Executive Director Michaele Wharton says in the past the services had to be outsourced and were not immediately available.
“That will help us increase our services,” Wharton said. “In 36 years, we’ve never been able to have an in-house therapist. It will just allow us to be able to offer more holistic services all around. We’ve been able to refer out for mental health, which has been wonderful and we have some great partners, but we’ve always dreamed of being able to offer that as one of our core and direct services within the Amy Center. That will make something that has never been a reality a possibility for us through the St. Clare Foundation.”
Wharton says the case load of sexual assault and abuse cases remains high in their seven-county service area that includes Marion, Jefferson, Washington, Wayne, Hamilton, and Clay.
“The cases are manageable,” Wharton said. “I will say the new intakes are going up, but the case load is remaining manageable because of the partnership with our multidisciplinary teams. Because we’re meeting so frequently and having important discussions with those team members like law enforcement, prosecution, and child protection, we’re able to service a lot of cases in a more timely fashion than what used to be the case.”
Wharton says the grant is coming from the St. Clare Foundation, which is making grants available to several area non-profit groups and schools to help address mental health issues. She notes the Amy Center is currently advertising for the mental health professional to fill the position.
