Grant Spotlight: Heartland Family Service

Organization Name: Heartland Family Service

Mission: The mission of Heartland Family Service (HFS) is to strengthen individuals, families, and communities through advocacy, education, counseling, and support services.

Funded Program Description: HFS is a multi-service non-profit agency that has been serving residents of east central Nebraska and southwest Iowa since 1875. Last year, HFS reached over 120,000 individuals through direct services, outreach, advocacy, and education. The HFS service population comes primarily from very low or low-income households. HFS offers a multi-service integrated approach, providing critical human services to individuals and families in our community to improve safety, self-sufficiency, and well-being. Utilizing a trauma-informed care approach, HFS provides access to affordable mental health, substance use disorder, and problem gambling counseling or treatment for individuals and families in our community.

The generous funding from the Kim Foundation supports our Behavioral Health and Psychiatric services, which collaborate to provide clients with whole person support regardless of ability to pay for services. HFS continues to train and support our staff to address high risk clients’ needs, utilize evidenced-based practices and modalities, and gain skills and extended resources so clients can access the individualized care that they need.

Having therapists trained in multiple evidence-based practices, including Parent Child Psychotherapy (CPP), Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EDMR), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and Play Therapy allows for clients to access individualized care that is needed to support their journey. All these evidence-based practices work to help individuals, families, and support systems gain the tools needed to improve mental health and well-being.

Successes of Program or Inspirational Stories: Our Mental Health Counseling program and Psychiatric services have had many successes over the past year, largely due to the variety of evidence-based practices HFS utilizes, and collaboration taking place between programs, medical providers, and therapists. The following is a story provided by one of our clinical supervisors, Amy Steil, who has been able to start her certified play therapy training due to the Kim Foundation:

*Elsa is one of the first clients since beginning my journey to become a certified play therapist, and she is thriving. I am the Child and Family Therapist at Iowa Family Works (IFW)—a unique residential drug and alcohol treatment for women and their children. Our 4 to 6-month program works to improve the lives of families by teaching relapse prevention skills, providing therapeutic services to address trauma and other mental health needs and teaching parenting skills.

Elsa reunified with her mother at IFW in July after her third stay in foster care. During the three removals from her parents over her 7 years of life, Elsa had lived in 5 foster homes in two different states and had attended 4 different elementary schools. She had witnessed domestic violence, her parents’ arrests, and substance use. Her physical and emotional needs were frequently neglected as a result of her parents’ substance abuse. When Elsa entered our program, she trusted no one, especially her parents. She was angry, dysregulated, had sleep disturbances, and could temper tantrum for up to three hours multiple times a week.

This year, through the generous support of the Kim Foundation, I was able to begin a two-year process of becoming a certified play therapist, which included over 150 hours of classroom training and ongoing monthly professional consultation. When I met Elsa, I had completed about 50 hours of this training. I was eager to start and was being encouraged to do so by my consultant. Elsa, with her trauma history and externalizing behaviors, was a perfect candidate for non-directive play therapy.

I met with Elsa’s mom to discuss what was happening in therapy. Her mother shared that Elsa’s tantrums were decreasing in frequency and intensity. Elsa was sleeping at night; she was excited to go to school and finally began agreeing to separate from her mom to see her dad. In all areas, Elsa was beginning to stabilize, trust the adults around her, and recognize what she was feeling. Elsa was healing.

The ability to bear witness to healing is a privilege. So is having the opportunity to share what I am learning with other therapists working with families and children all over the metro area. Last year, my role at HFS expanded, and in addition to my position at IFW, I now provide clinical supervision, consultation, and training to other therapists. The play therapy training I am receiving is being disseminated to others in the agency.

For the next few months, Elsa will continue to heal, and so will the other children I am currently working with. For the next year and a half, I will continue to learn and grow professionally through this training opportunity, sharing what I am learning with other child therapists who work for HFS. And for the next few years, your investment in healing childhood trauma will grow exponentially.

*Indicates name has been changed to protect client privacy

Contact Information:
Victoria Cassidy, LIMHP
Clinical Director
2101 S. 42^nd St.
Omaha, NE 68105
https://heartlandfamilyservice.org/