Category: Stay in the Know

In his State of the Commonwealth address on Wednesday January 11, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe expanded on the increased spending on mental health he first proposed in his budget last year. 

When he proposed his amendments to the 2016-2018 budget in December, Governor McAuliffe included a $31.7 million dollar expansion on state spending on mental health and substance abuse, according to a press release from the Governor’s office. This includes a total of $17.7 million to provide better service within the state’s existing mental health system.

McAuliffe stated that he wants to use these funds to address overcrowding in state mental hospitals, as well as to provide same day service at community boards and conduct mental health screenings at jails. 

These efforts are a step in the right direction, according to Ruth Cassell, who is the Chief Development Officer here at Family Service of Roanoke Valley

. In an interview with WFXR/Virginia First, she said identifying individuals within the criminal justice system who need mental health support is especially important. Without additional resources, the criminal justice system is not adequately equipped to process these individuals. Mental health screenings of individuals within the criminal justice system could identify individuals who need additional help and reduce instances of repeated offenders.

While this is definitely a necessary step, Cassell expressed a desire for more funding to be put toward preventative services that help individuals before they reach a crisis and end up in the criminal justice system. By spending money on preventative measures, she said in the interview with WFXR, the state could save taxpayer money by identifying individuals who need mental health services and not letting them end up in the criminal justice system in the first place. 

The governor also proposed $5.3 million to help combat opioid addiction, which the state officially declared a public health crisis last November. Once the statistics are finalized, there are expected to be over 1,000 deaths from opioid overdoses in 2016. 

Finally, there was an additional $4.5 million allocated to assess mental health services across the state. McAuliffe received pushback on this item, with critics pointing out that there is already a Joint Subcommittee in place to study these same issues. McAuliffe defended his budget when pressed, stating that the government itself needs to conduct the evaluations.

Find the full text of Governor McAuliffe’s address here and the original interview with Ruth Cassell here.

In 2016,

Family Service of Roanoke Valley reached its

115 year anniversary

of providing service to our community.

Our annual report details our achievements this year. These achievements are only made possibly by generous donations from our community members, so thank you to everyone who donated their time or money this past year.

In 2015-16, Family Service kicked off Mental Health Awareness month with the second annual Celebrity Tip Off, which raised $47,000. Special thanks to our Menu Sponsors, MemberOne Federal Credit Union and Davenport & Company, and all the sponsors, attendees and tippers who made it another successful year!

This past year, Family Service wanted to expand on it’s acclaimed Play Therapy program, by establishing the Play Therapy Institute. Thanks to help from the Virginia Department of Social Services, we were able to make this happen and expand our capacity to help traumatized children.

Family Service is also excited to announce over $280,000 in funds made available through a federal grant to provide interpreter services to victims of crime in the Roanoke Valley. In a partnership with TAP Domestic Violence Services, the Salvation Army Turning Point, and SARA, Inc., Family Service will work to provide these services so that everyone who has been a victim of crime will receive the services they deserve.

To read more about our 2015-16 year, read the full report here.

Each year, Family Service of Roanoke Valley celebrates the holidays with a festive gathering. We recognize staff members for years of service and have a special recognition for those who go above and beyond the call of duty. We share in food and fellowship and have a good time together! We give gratitude to one another and take time to recognize how important our work in the community is for those we serve.

See the crew we are fortunate enough to call a family and all the highlights of our holiday potluck on our Facebook page!

Happy Holidays!

Family Service of Roanoke Valley and community partners recognize the specific challenges faced by refugees and other Limited English Proficiency persons in our community. To better serve this growing population in the Roanoke Valley, they today announced a collaborative project to address the need for qualified, appropriate and culturally sensitive interpreter services for victims of crime—Health and Wellness Interpreters of the Roanoke Valley.

“We are making a commitment to not let any victim of crime feel isolated or hopeless because they are not able to access services in their primary language,” Family Service President and CEO Sharon Thacker said.

The program will serve any victim of crime—physical assault or bullying, financial fraud, child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault, robbery, or any other type of crime—for whom language is a limitation.

Four primary partners include Family Service of Roanoke Valley,Salvation Army’s Turning Point, TAP Domestic Violence Services and Sexual Assault Response and Awareness (SARA, Inc)

. Health and Wellness Interpreters of the Roanoke Valley will focus on giving people with limited English proficiency access to counseling, support services, advocacy, crisis intervention and more.

Refugees, immigrants and other Limited English Proficiency/deaf persons need affordable and accessible interpreter services, specifically in-person interpreter services by qualified and certified interpreters trained in mental health. Layering interpreter services into existing direct services allows victims of crime to get the help they need without having to deal with the added challenge of not being able to speak the language.

Funding for the program is made available through the Department of Criminal Justice Services Victims of Crime Act. The Roanoke Valley will receive over $280,000 in the next 12 months, with additional funding available in coming years.

City of Roanoke Vice Mayor Anita Price joined Thacker and others to make an announcement about the new program on Tuesday, November 22 during National Family Week.

See the media coverage of the announcement on:

WFIR

The Roanoke Times

WDBJ7

WSLS10

“The City of Roanoke is proud to partner with our local non-profits to give people who live and work in this beautiful Valley the tools they need to succeed,” Price said. “Roanoke is a refugee resettlement community with a diverse population, and there are growing numbers of people whose primary language is not English. These neighbors will be better able to live, work and play in our Valley if they can deal with the trauma and hopelessness associated with extremely difficult life circumstances.”

As a refugee resettlement community, the Roanoke Valley is a melting pot of various cultures and nationalities, representing over 100 spoken languages. This diversity is an incredible asset to our community, and understandably, also represents challenges for health and human services providers responding to the needs of clients with Limited English Proficiency (LEP). Over 3,800 people were identified as not being proficient in English in the 2016 County Health Rankings.  The current system relies on expensive language lines, and live interpreters provided by insurance companies which can’t be accessed in a timely fashion, and don’t adequately meet the needs of clients. These resources become virtually non-existent for those that are uninsured or lack behavioral healthcare coverage.

Health and Wellness Interpreters of the Roanoke Valley will make these services available to LEP/deaf victims of crime at no cost, and in the most appropriate and culturally sensitive manner possible.

The City of Roanoke is partnering to identify and refer victims of crime with language limitations to the new centralized resource. Many organizations have also lined up to help bring no-cost interpreter services to people who need it—the Mental Health Refugee Council, United Way of Roanoke Valley, Roanoke City Public Schools, Roanoke City Department of Social Services, Blue Ridge Literacy, Commonwealth’s Attorney Victim/Witness, Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital Emergency Department and Mental Health America.

Funds are included for each primary partner agency to provide interpreter services at no cost to the crime victim. There are also funds to give victims of crime access to interpreter services so they may get connected with other needed services not provided by the four primary partners.

Health and Wellness Interpreters of the Roanoke Valley will also conduct community outreach events and trauma-informed trainings. The purpose of these events will be to educate service providers, refugee and immigrant communities, limited English proficiency or deaf persons, and the greater community on how to identify and access services.

For more information, please call 540-563-5316 x3014

Getting to know Alex Matthews

Alex Matthews, a Play Therapy graduate intern at Family Service of Roanoke Valley, earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Virginia Tech. She is now participating in the Play Therapy Institute at Family Service to complete the Masters of Counseling program at Virginia Tech. She joined Family Service in August 2016, and her supervisor is Jennifer Nolley.

Matthews has experience working as a research assistant for child study center for a professor known worldwide for his research in oppositional defiance disorder and phobias. She also worked as a preschool teacher and feels like there were kids who fell through the cracks.

"I have always been interested in psychology-related field. I was drawn to counseling because as a counselor we look at the whole person rather than seeing them as a diagnosis," she said.

The Counseling intern said she got to choose between a school placement or a community-based placement for her internship. She chose a community-based placement because she wanted the one-on-one therapeutic time with children and she really felt like she could make a difference.

She said she is pursuing social work because she thinks there is a great deal of impact she can have on families in need.

"The whole experience I am gaining at Family Service is very new, because it’s younger kids than I’ve worked with. I like the idea of Play Therapy. It’s very non-directive, and I like that aspect of it–just letting them be who they are in that space," she said.

The children who seek Play Therapy services at Family Service have often suffered the most extreme life circumstances–poverty, abuse, neglect, and violence in their home.

Matthews said she became interested in Play Therapy in Theories and Techniques class.

"I know kids can’t always verbally express themselves," she said.

Seeing how her supervisor Nolley and other therapists at Family Service work with the kids lets Matthews feels like Family Service is the right place for her to learn more in her field and make a difference for kids in our community.

A Closer Look at Play Therapy Institute 

Play Therapy Counseling at Family Service is a robust program. Seven full-time and part-time counselors focus specifically on treating the youngest children in our community. With three rooms dedicated to Play Therapy, and a reputation for excellence, Family Service wanted to establish the Play Therapy Institute. The institute allows the agency to increase the counseling services available for traumatized children in our community, and address the waiting list for Play Therapy–which is consistently over 20 for children ages 2-12.

With the support of the Virginia Department of Social Services through the Victims of Crime Act funding, Family Service was able to see this dream come true. Matthews joins Family Service along with two other Masters level interns–Malvona Ross-Sohland Ashley Carr–to enhance the services available and reduce the number of children on the waiting list for Play Therapy,

Specifically for children who have suffered abuse or neglect,

Family Service is able to offer counseling free of charge. 

Click  for more information.

Getting to know Malvona Ross-Sohl

Malvona Ross-Sohl, a Play Therapy graduate intern at Family Service of Roanoke Valley, earned a Bachelor of Social Work from Radford University. She is now participating in the Play Therapy Institute at Family Service to complete the Masters in Social Work program at Virginia Commonwealth University. She joined Family Service in August 2016, and her supervisor is The Rev. Melissa Hays-Smith, LCSW, RPT-S.

Ross-Sohl grew up in a home where she witnessed domestic violence and tragically lost her mother at a young age. Now a wife and mother herself, Ross-Sohl has made a career of helping others and learning more about the cycle of domestic violence and how it impacts communities and families.

The Counseling intern has worked at TAP’s Sabrina’s Place and as a case manager at Blue Ridge Behavioral Health. She is currently working as Lead Case Manager for the TAP YALE (Young Adult Life Enhancement) program for youth 14-19 years old in addition to going to school.

She said she is pursuing social work because she thinks there is a great deal of impact she can have on families in need.

"The whole experience I am gaining at Family Service is very new, because it’s younger kids than I’ve worked with. I like the idea of Play Therapy. It’s very non-directive, and I like that aspect of it–just letting them be who they are in that space," she said.

The children who seek Play Therapy services at Family Service have often suffered the most extreme life circumstances–poverty, abuse, neglect, and violence in their home. Seeing how her supervisor Hays-Smith and other therapists at Family Service work with the kids lets Ross-Sohl know she’s made the right choice.

She said the ongoing therapeutic relationship developed through counseling provides an opportunity to intervene in a child’s life early and hopefully stop the cycle of abuse.

Ross-Sohl is grateful she was able to do that for herself and is hopeful her career in social work will allow her to help other kids escape from a lifetime of abuse and emotional wounds.

"I want to get a very diverse experience and I think I’m doing that," she said. "I also want to make the most impact that I can. I don’t want to just be comfortable. I want to make an impact on the people I work with."

A Closer Look at Play Therapy Institute 

Play Therapy Counseling at Family Service is a robust program. Seven full-time and part-time counselors focus specifically on treating the youngest children in our community. With three rooms dedicated to Play Therapy, and a reputation for excellence, Family Service wanted to establish the Play Therapy Institute. The institute allows the agency to increase the counseling services available for traumatized children in our community, and address the waiting list for Play Therapy–which is consistently over 20 for children ages 2-12.

With the support of the Virginia Department of Social Services through the Victims of Crime Act funding, Family Service was able to see this dream come true. Ross-Sohl joins Family Service along with two other Masters level interns–Alex Matthews and Ashley Carr–to enhance the services available and reduce the number of children on the waiting list for Play Therapy,

Specifically for children who have suffered abuse or neglect,

Family Service is able to offer counseling free of charge. 

Click  for more information.