OGDEN — At a time when similar agencies are cutting back on the services they offer, the Family Counseling Service is putting out a plea to the community for more clients.
The agency’s board of directors has set a goal to serve 10 percent more clients in 2012 than it did in 2011.
But officials know that in order to do that, they’ll have to overcome a stigma that mental health services often have with people who could use the help.
“It’s hard to admit there’s a problem you don’t know how to fix,” Center Clinical Director Curt Watson said.
And what’s more, he said, society has taught people that they don’t have to take responsibility for healing.
“We’ve created this victim status that allows people to be sick without any hope of getting better,” he said.
Ron Thornburg, the center’s executive director, said his staff has made efforts to overcome these stigmas by educating the public.
And Watson said people do get better and become highly functioning, even when they’ve faced difficult mental health challenges.
“Whether by evolution or God, we are designed to overcome,” Watson said. “The reality is, people can do better, but we are not giving them the skills they need.”
Watson talked about treating people with hope.
“The first thing our therapists do is show them there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Watson said.
One way the center has done that is to improve its offerings.
For the first time in its 45-year history, in 2011 the center received its state licensure as an outpatient mental health facility.
Also last year, the center produced a video that discusses the benefits of overcoming roadblocks to getting help.
Other ways staff has worked to change this problem is to produce brochures, in both Spanish and English, that discuss the benefits of mental health services.
Thornburg said the Hispanic population is one group that has increased at the center, thanks in part to two Spanish-speaking therapists and a Spanish-speaking receptionist.
“Last year, 30 percent of our clients were Spanish-speaking,” he said. “That’s up from 24 percent the previous year.”
Last year, the center saw 2,300 separate clients. Plans are to help another 230 individuals beyond that number this year.
The center will be able to accommodate so many more clients in 2012 because officials have raised additional funds to accommodate low- to moderate-income clients.
But Thornburg admits that his job of fundraising, since he took over as executive director a year and a half ago, has not been easy.
Using the term “donor fatigue,” he said donations from the public generally have been down because people have been asked so often to give.
“After five years’ recession, private donors are tapped out,” he said.
But he said corporations and foundations have provided his organization with its lifeblood.
“The Family Counseling Service has been able to make that up through organizations like Boeing, the St. Benedict’s Foundation, Eccles Foundation, Watkins Foundation and many others.”
Thornburg said the latest windfall was a $15,000 gift from Boeing Corp. in November that was somewhat unexpected.
He said he’s written a number of grants that were approved. But those grants have been focused on the difference the center has made in the community.
“People are responding to our funding requests because they know the impact we are making in the community,” Thornburg said.
And that’s another reason the center’s board wants to see clientele increased.
“My emphasis as executive director is, ‘How can we increase our impact? How can we help more low- to moderate-income people to receive counseling?’ and then the funding is going to follow that impact,” Thornburg said. “We are going to find a way to fund the need. I’m really confident of that.”
Family Counseling Service will hold a “Share Your Heart Celebration” at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Timbermine Steakhouse. The public is invited to attend and help support the effort to provide counseling for those who can’t afford it.
The event will include entertainment by Russ Germer and a live auction. Cost is $60 a person or $600 a table.
Family Counseling Service is at 3518 Washington Blvd. in Ogden.
For information, call the facility at 801-399-1600.
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