Lutheran Family, Children Services offers mental health help | Local News

This summer, children, teens and young adults may receive immediate access to free mental health services.

Lutheran Family and Children’s Services (LFCS) of Missouri recently announced that it will provide free mental health services for children and young adults this summer in Jefferson County.

The organization emphasizes the importance of continued support during summer breaks, especially for youth who are left without the mental health resources provided at school through counselors and teachers.

“When kids are in school, they have a structured day-to-day schedule and the resources readily available to them. When they aren’t in school and they go home, those challenges that the child was facing, maybe at school, don’t necessarily go away. They’re still very present and hard to manage,” said Lindsay Jeffries, director of behavioral health services for the Lutheran Family and Children’s Services of Missouri. “It’s not as easy for them to connect with those resources or have those people around them to help them with those concerns. We want to make sure parents and caregivers know that we’re still here through those summer months.”

Jeffries also said summer is a great time to continue therapy because a lot of great work can be done with a child over the summer, when they may not have competing schedules, such as sports or after-school activities.

“We (LFCS) are here to fill that gap with free counseling and other services that make mental health care accessible all summer,” Jeffries said.

LFCS, which was founded in 1868 and began as an orphanage, has been serving Jefferson County since 2014 through funding from the Jefferson Foundation. The organization later received additional funding from the Jefferson County Community Mental Health Fund board.

According to the LFCS website, it’s a nonprofit social services organization that provides six areas of support to strengthen families in Missouri: adoption, foster care, pregnancy services, parenting education, behavioral health and child development.

Jeffries said the organization serves those aged 3 to adulthood. It also has immediate openings for adults needing mental health services as well.

“We (LFCS) do this because we want to help and serve children and families throughout the region,” she said. “Jefferson County being one of those. We want to impact children and families at no cost to them.”

The only qualification for those interested in mental health services is that they need to be residents of Jefferson County.

“We can help anybody who is struggling with their mental health in the county. We also have other services throughout the region for children who are struggling with their mental health, as we are trying to break down those barriers and make help more accessible,” Jeffries said.

While there is a stigma around needing support with one’s mental health, it is not an uncommon need. LFCS is working to stop the roadblocks that may keep any person from bettering their own well-being and receiving the exceptional care they deserve, no stigma attached, she said.

“All of our services start out with a mental health assessment during their first appointment. That’s really where our master’s level, provisionally licensed or licensed therapists in the state of Missouri are getting to know the child and their family, and adults too,” Jeffries said. “We try to understand what their concerns are and then after that, they will schedule, typically, weekly sessions, as we’re getting started with services. We then work through and establish goals and come together to try to reduce those symptoms that the child and/or adult is experiencing.”

LFCS encourages families to use these free services to support mental health this summer. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call 866-326-5327 or email [email protected]. To learn more about LFCS and its other services, visit lfcsmo.org.