FCS providing professional therapy, education, advocacy and other supportive services https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/proposals-2019/fcs-providing-professional-therapy-education-advocacy-and-other-supportive-services https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/@@site-logo/sitelogo-75x75.png

FCS providing professional therapy, education, advocacy and other supportive services

Additional Information
Used for	Family Counseling Service (FCS) respectfully requests a grant of $5,000 from the Dudley Dougherty Foundation to support our on-going therapy services for individuals and families. Family Counseling Service is dedicated to strengthening children, individuals and families by providing professional therapy, education, advocacy and other supportive services in response to community needs. The services your grant will pay for include therapy, crime victim services, employee assistance programs, parent education programs, survivors after suicide support group, senior citizen services and sex offender treatment groups.
Benefits	Unresolved personal issues can cause lasting problems and interfere with an individual's ability to lead a successful, productive life. Family problems may also cause debilitating psychological and behavioral conflicts that can spill over into all aspects of life. The goal of the Family Counseling Service is to build strong, effective families and to support psychologically-resilient individuals by providing them with the very best in effective counseling and psychological services that will help them lead healthy, positive lives and contribute to their community and the world.
Proposal Description	Need The FCS service region is an area in tremendous need. All of the 9 counties we serve are classified as medically underserved, 8 have a health professional shortage, and 6 have areas designated as colonias. Nineteen percent of our service region residents live in poverty, which is nearly 4% higher than the national average of 15.4%. The ethnicity of the region is 63.5% Hispanic, 30.5% non-Hispanic white, 4% African-American, 1.6% Asian, and 0.4% other. The Coastal Bend's 2010 Community Needs Assessment conducted by the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Social Sciences Research Center indicates the need for professional therapy services. Compared with data from the 2004 Community Needs Assessment, mental health issues seem to have increased in 2010. In the 2010 Assessment, respondents were surveyed regarding mental health issues including stress, depression and problems with emotions. Of those surveyed, 9.7% indicated that their mental health was "not good" for the past 30 days. Interestingly, 4.1% indicated that their mental health was "not good" for 2 of the past 30 days and 3.3% replied that their mental health was "not good" for 15 of the past 30 days. Overall, the mean number of days "not good" was 4.73 days in the past 30. Additionally, mental health was viewed by health care and social service providers as a major problem. A surprisingly large portion of mental health conditions seen by the physician and social survey providers included psychological problems 33.3%, depression, 30.3% and bipolar disorders 18.2% and schizophrenia 9.1%. In Texas, child abuse and neglect is a critical issue. Each day, 185 Texas children are victims of abuse. Each year, more than 65,000 cases of child abuse were confirmed. One in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are sexually abused before their 18th birthday. Studies have shown that in fact most parents can benefit from some guidance in order to do the best job they can in raising their children. Agency Founded in 1942, Family Counseling Service is a private non-profit, United Way agency providing high quality, professional counseling services to the Coastal Bend area. Our purpose is to strengthen children, individuals and families in Nueces and its surrounding counties by providing professional therapy, education, advocacy and other services in response to community needs. We deliver high quality, professional therapy services to nine counties in the Coastal Bend (Bee, Brooks, Duval, Jim Wells, Kenedy, Kleberg, Live Oak, Nueces, and San Patricio) and offer 4 areas of service: therapy, support group services, crime victims’ services, and educational services. Clients come to Family Counseling Service for many reasons (family relations, conflict, violence, divorce, parenting problems, adjustments in single parent or step-parent families, child sexual and physical abuse, neglect, school behavioral or learning issues, substance abuse assessment, trauma resolution, decision making, depression, anxiety, etc.) and we address them all. Regionally, the average hard cost for therapy is $117/hr., which is beyond the budgets of most people. Family Counseling Service is unique in that we offer high quality, professional therapy services to our service community at a vastly reduced cost. With services provided on a sliding fee scale, our average reimbursement rate is only $59/hr. This amounts to an annual shortfall of approximately $100,000. Although we operate on a very lean budget, our expenses continue to increase. For this reason, we supplement our budget with grants, donations, and special events. Family Counseling Service is accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Services for Families and Children headquartered in New York City. This accreditation holds Family Counseling Service to meeting the highest national standards of professional performance. Services Family Counseling Service is filling the need for high quality therapy services in our area by providing Therapy, Crime Victim Services, Employee Assistance Programs, Parent Education Programs, Survivors After Suicide Support Group, Senior Citizens Services, and Sex Offender Treatment Groups. In 2018, Family Counseling Service provided 9,872 hours of professional therapy to nearly two thousand individuals of all ages, including families and seniors. Demographically, our clients are 43% Hispanic, 20% Caucasian, 2% African American, 1% other, and 34% unknown. Forty-nine percent of those we serve have incomes of less than $30,000. Therapy: Therapy provided by licensed therapists to families and individuals experiencing transition including divorce, single parenting, remarriage, grief & loss issues, depression, and the like. Crime Victim Services (CVS): CVS provides crime victims with free services including: assistance filing for Crime Victims' Compensation, crisis and long term counseling, information and referral resources, and accompaniment for legal proceedings. Employee Assistance Program (EAP): FCS works with individual companies to design an EAP benefit package for their particular need. Options include: therapy, information/referral, consultation and training for supervisors, training/education services, and critical incident debriefing/trauma resolution. Parent Education Programs: This program teaches ways families can get along better, follow family rules with less fighting and resistance and create a loving family relationship. It offers ten weeks of guided learning followed by four weeks of educational support groups Topics: parenting skills, effective discipline, communication, consequences, and behavior management. Survivors After Suicide Support Group: Group meets once a month at FCS to provide support and education to individuals and families who have experienced the loss of a loved one through suicide. Senior Citizens Services: FCS provides therapy services to homebound seniors. We also offer free Senior Sharing Groups at local senior community centers. Topics: loneliness, death of a spouse or child, stress management, isolation/depression, maintaining independence, Alzheimer's issues, and retirement/transition. Sex Offender Treatment Groups: FCS offers juvenile and adult sex offender treatment groups. Goals of the groups are to break through denial, take responsibility, and develop empathy for their victims and others. Topics: admitting in detail their offense, empathy building, anger management, developing life skills, identifying triggers, learning abuse cycle, and developing a relapse prevention plan.