By Jaymie Mordue
frontdesk@theenterprise.net

New services are coming to Patrick County, according to officials with Family Preservation Services.

The private mental health agency soon plans to open a satellite office in Patrick County, according to Terry Catoe, regional coordinator.

Catoe, who lives in Patrick, said that although the agency works with Patrick residents, opening a local office has been one of her goals.

Jeannie Odachowski, regional director, agreed.

In addition to providing services to residents, “we’ll have much better visibility to the community than we do now,” Odachowski said.

The organization started in 1992 with a single goal in mind; to keep children in school and to help them recover in their own homes, officials said.

The agency has found that children are more likely to succeed in their efforts to manage symptoms and behavior if allowed to do so in their respective community rather than when forced to seek help outside the community or home.

“We have provided services to 1,217 clients in the past 10 years,” Odachowski said, adding that programs are available in several areas, including child and adolescent, outpatient services, adult services, officials said, and noted that a Therapeutic Day Treatment was the first service provided by the agency.

The day service “is designed to support children in their classrooms. We provide a counselor in the school who works with five to six children each day to help them maintain their attention, emotional balance and behavior in the school,” Osachowski said. “We provide support during class and outside of classroom activities. No academics, these are all services that are not provided by the school.”

This program started in Patrick County and Martinsville, and expanded to Henry County two years later, she said.

The agency also provides Multi Systemic Therapy (MST), a fairly new service that began in October 2017.

Experts working in this service provide supervision to youngsters, officials said. Many of those who participate are in the juvenile justice system. Services last from four to five months and are available daily, if needed.

While all programs have a strong component of family structure, this service (MST) focuses solely on the family rather than one on one therapy like some of the other programs, officials said.

The agency also offers a mental health and skill building program for adults, a school based program and intensive in-home services with parents and children.

Catoe “has been developing Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral therapy services,” Odachowski said of Catoe’s work “with trauma survivors of all ages.  All of our staff have had training in working with individuals that have had trauma in their lives to understand how it affects their brain development, their responses to situations, and to teach them how to help the client learn to regulate their responses.”

In addition to the new office planned for Patrick, the agency has locations in several areas, including Roanoke, Charlottesville, Abingdon and Martinsville, where they recently celebrated their 10 year anniversary.