Foglia Family Resource Center Updates During Mental Health Awareness Month

Waiting Room at WINGS FFRC.

In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, recently we caught up with Beth M., WINGS Director of Children and Family Services and Megan W., WINGS Director of Clinical Services, to discuss Foglia Family Resource Center (FFRC) updates, a little over one year since its opening. Megan also provides a video tour of the FFRC’s Meditation Room.

WINGS Foglia Family Resource Center provides a wide range of free, trauma-informed support services to meet the needs of adult, teen, and child survivors of domestic violence. Services are offered in both English and Spanish as well as in-person and virtual.

Services include:

From left: Rebecca Darr, WINGS President & CEO; Beth Moss, WINGS Director of Children and Family Services, and Megan W., WINGS Director of Clinical Services at the Foglia Family Resource Center open house held November 2023.

Now that the FFRC has been open over a year, is it as you imagined or has anything surprised you?

Parenting and Support Groups

Beth shares, “Overall, a lot is going as I imagined. I am continually impressed by our parenting groups. The members develop these bonds and relationships where we can see them really supporting each other. After each group ends, people will hang around to chat with one another. Our staff make a concerted effort to build trusting relationships between the members, and it is always fabulous to see relationships being developed beyond the group time.”

Megan adds, “We have seen similar results in our support groups. We have a core group of people that are very consistent in coming. I didn’t realize how consistent most people would want to come. Our staff barely need to facilitate discussions because people can speak on topics and support each other. People see it as a safe space.”

Teen Group Room

More Time

“We are starting to rethink time limits. Originally, we were going to provide a year of counseling for a children who have been impacted by domestic violence. We did not anticipate the number of families who would want to continue beyond the year. Once we have hit their one-year mark, most don’t want their weekly counseling sessions to end. Now we have a waiting list, so it is a balance…

…We can refer out to other agencies, but we build such strong relationships that families do not want to go anywhere else. Some kids coming to us have had negative experiences with counseling in their past. We’ve found the families coming to us have made it a priority. We have some families driving 45 minutes one way on a weeknight. I attribute that to our excellent staff, they really build strong relationships,” Beth explains.

“Now that we have WINGS staff providing the counseling to adults in the community, it did not occur to me how many people would want to continue now that they had a consistent counselor,” Megan adds, “There is such a high demand for individual counseling sessions that we’ve had to close the wait list. We can still offer support groups. Hopefully, WINGS funding can continue to grow so that we can hire more staff and serve more survivors.”

Counseling room at WINGS FFRC.

What are the program’s strengths?

“I would say our counselors are excellent at building relationships. The building itself is also a strength. The FFRC is a beautiful, welcoming, comfortable, and calming environment. People are buzzed in, and that helps everyone feel secure. All these factors contribute to survivors feeling safe,” Beth says and adds,

“What we offer is fantastic as well. We host in-person English and Spanish parenting groups and also offer a four-week, healthy relationships teen group…

…Additionally, families served at our Foglia Family Resource Center can take part in Family Enrichment Activities that we offer to families in our housing programs. Recently, FFRC families have been invited to attend a Medieval Times outing, trips to Urban Air, UniverSoul circus, a summer picnic and more. These activities allow families to have fun, make memories and bond with each other. I think this makes our program unique and impactful.”

Children’s Group Room

What are some of the challenges you see?

“I wish we had another Children’s Advocate who could provide more counseling to survivors. Since teens are more susceptible to domestic violence, we would love to have a staff member dedicated to going out into schools in the community and providing information about healthy relationships,” Beth shares.

“Yes, some of our adult counselors also go out to speaking engagements. We did about 10-20 events last year and if we had a designated staff for these opportunities, we could have more time to work with clients. Being out in the community is important to let people know resources are available,” Megan says.

Children’s counseling room at WINGS FFRC.

What is something you wish more people would know/realize?

Megan responds, “I think a lot of people don’t realize we offer virtual counseling options and we are seeing a lot of adults opt for it.”

Beth continues, “Teenagers often enjoy virtual counseling. We would also want people to know that are staff are trained in a variety of therapies including EMDR, play therapy, Child Parent Psychotherapy, Emotional Freedom Technique (Tapping), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy.”

Megan adds, “Some people don’t realize that we have a meditation room at the FFRC. Teens & adults both utilize this space as a more calming environment before or after sessions. In that space, clients can experience calming lights, relaxing sounds or music, aroma therapy, yoga mats, comfortable seating, and even a water feature.”