Lexington Observer interviews Emily Hayes, Executive Director of Youth Counseling Connection
LO: Tell me about Youth Counseling Connection’s origin story.
EH: Youth Counseling Connection (YCC) was founded in 2008 as Lexington Youth and Family Services (LYFS). At that time, community members in neighboring towns had experienced teen suicides. A group of concerned Lexingtonians wanted to prevent the same tragedy in our town, so they came together with the goal of creating a way to support families and teens in Lexington. After some time spent getting organized, the original LYFS opened its doors in 2011, offering drop-in counseling services.
In 2020, we rebranded to Youth Counseling Connecting, as there was a lot of confusion around whether we were a town-funded organization, if we were involved with the schools, and how that might impact confidentiality. To distinguish ourselves as an independent nonprofit, funded primarily by private donations, we changed our name.
LO: You still offer drop-in counseling today, correct?
EH: Yes. Just as when we first opened, teens, parents, and teens with parents can visit us on Wednesday afternoons – no appointment required – and get access to counseling services immediately. However, since 2008, we have grown and expanded well beyond only the drop-in offering. A big pivot point for us was the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, it wasn’t uncommon for traditional counseling service waitlists to be six months long, and families needed help immediately. Not only that, but so many of our families cannot afford the $150 or more out of pocket for weekly sessions. So many families reached out to us during that time for help meeting their child’s mental health needs. The heart of our mission is to ensure families and students in Lexington don’t feel alone in the face of stress, and the intensity and uniqueness of the need that came from the pandemic required us to expand our services to continue meeting that mission. As a result, we now offer twelve free therapy sessions per school year, as well as small groups that focus on skills-building.
LO: How many families do you serve annually, and how many therapists do you employ to meet that need?
EH: I am the only full-time employee, and a licensed therapist. I provide some of the therapy services, but in addition we have great relationships with several of the Masters programs in the area, which enables us to keep up with demand by engaging clinical interns in their final semester. In addition to in-person therapy, we offer telehealth options, which is especially useful for young clients in college (We serve youth up to 22 years old.) Approximately 60 families annually use our services, and about 250 families attend our mental health events. In addition, our all-volunteer adult board helps with fundraising, outreach, and program alignment, while our all-volunteer clinical consultation team, comprising local mental health professionals, ensures compliance and efficacy of our services.
LO: What are the mental health events you put on?
EH: We have 2-3 youth events every year. These are such amazing resources for parents. At these in-person events, our Youth Advisory Board presents a topic that is important to them, and parents have a chance to ask questions of our panel of teenagers – questions that parents might not want to, or don’t feel they can, ask their own child. No question is too small or silly, and what parents learn can have a significant impact.
For example, last year, we participated in Parent Academy, and a father shared in our second session that he had applied information he’d learned from our first session, and the conversation with his child that resulted was the first open and vulnerable discussion he’d had with his teen.
LO: What about your own story? How did you come to be involved with YCC?
EH: I got my Masters in art therapy a decade ago, which I’ve found to be useful in my current role, as sometimes students and even adults have an easier time communicating their feelings through art, rather than words. However, in the early stage of my career, I realized that trauma counseling and family therapy is my real passion, so I shifted into a role at a for-profit mental healthcare agency. While that allowed me to focus more on my areas of interest, the operating model there did not match my preferred level of care. I wanted a position that would allow me to remain pure to the mission of meeting the individual needs of those in my care. YCC provides that. I’ve been its Executive Director since 2019 and wear a thousand different hats, from fundraising and marketing, to developing community conversations and relationships, and also providing therapy services.
LO: What are some of the challenges YCC currently faces?
EH: One of our biggest challenges is fundraising. To give some background, we only provide services for Lexington residents, children who attend school in Lexington, or families in which a parent works in Lexington. We are a Lexington-only nonprofit, which is an important distinction that allows us to provide the best service possible for our community. However, it is extremely difficult to secure funding for an organization that is town-specific – let alone Lexington-specific. So many of the larger grants see “Lexington” and think “wealthy.” In so many ways, that could not be further from the truth. We do not ask for insurance, because we recognize the importance of maintaining confidentiality and privacy. But as a result, continuing to provide free services to community members in need requires significant resources. We’ve been so lucky to receive several grants from the Community Endowment of Lexington. Without them, we simply wouldn’t exist. But the vast majority of our funding comes from private donations. Given that we have continuously and steadily grown over the last three years, we need more financial assistance to help meet the increased demand. So, we welcome and greatly appreciate donations!
We also need volunteers. We are actively recruiting for both our Youth Advisory Board and our adult board. For our Youth Advisory Board, we are looking for high schoolers who are passionate about YCC’s mission.
LO: What else would you like the community to know about YCC?
EH: There is a huge stigma around going to therapy. YCC aims to break down that stigma, to be proactive in helping students with their mental wellness and get important conversations going in families before they reach crisis mode. We believe this is a critical mission for our community, and we need all the help we can get.
To make a donation and/or subscribe to the YCC newsletter, visit https://www.youthcounselingconnection.org/