AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The Family Counseling Center of the CSRA has been serving the area for the last 43 years.
They provide access to mental health care to anyone in the community, regardless of their ability to pay, if they are uninsured, or if their insurance doesn’t cover mental health options.
Executive Director Celina Keys says they are the only place in the area that provides this service.
“Mental health is a dying resource in Augusta,” she said.
The center is in dire need of funds and might have to close its doors for good.
“I’m truly having to make decisions about whether or not our doors are gonna stay open past January,” said Keys. “These are thoughts that I’ve had before. These are fears that I’ve been concerned about before, but this is the first time that it’s truly a reality that after 43 years we may close its doors at a time that we are most needed, at a time that we are most impactful, and at a time that our community needs us the most.”
Currently, the need is greater than it’s ever been.
The center has served more than 400 people this year. They have 150 active clients and have a waitlist of 180 people right now.
“Those people would have nowhere else to go if we were to close down. We are in survival mode. You know, we stay busy. We definitely stay busy, but we’re doing such good work that the work isn’t the burden,” she said.
Keys has been with the Family Counseling Center since 2017, and she’s seen the need shift since she started.
“Part of my perception that it’s growing isn’t so much that it’s growing. It’s always been there. It’s now more that people are willing to ask for help and to talk about it a little bit more,” she said.
The center has a more holistic approach that looks at mental health and she says it’s working. They look to give kids a community and more importantly, love on anyone who steps through their doors.
“What makes us a different organization is I teach my therapist, I teach my students that it is not psychology that saves people. It is not intervention that saves people is not medication that heals people,” she said. “It is love. It is love and the people that work in this building. We love this community. We love our people. We love our children. We love our adults. We love our family. And if our doors were to close, 100 people who have been able to walk through these doors and experience that love and experience that healing may not have anywhere else to go to get that they will not have any work to go.”
They’re changing countless lives.
“We’ve seen miracles occur and have been within these walls. We’ve seen miracles, we’ve seen people accomplish the goal that they never thought that they could accomplish,” said Keys.
That’s why they need donations to stay open.
“It is very clear that those needs are there. If we close, where are those people that we are currently serving going to go, on top of the 180 people that are that are waiting?” said Keys.
She is continuing to work to keep serving the community, asking for help if you can.
“I have been fighting and I will continue to fight until the last day,” she said. “That mission is my life. I have put my heart and my soul into that. And I will continue to do that. Not for me, but for the people that work for me and for the people that we serve in his organization. I won’t go down without a fight.”
To learn more or to donate, visit the Family Counseling Center website.
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