Jackson Hole Community Counseling Center has a new home

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

By Jake Nichols

Jackson Hole, Wyo--The Jackson Hole Community Counseling Center (JHCCC) is just weeks away from opening the doors of its new $3.2 million facility to the public. And development director Tom Hickey, for one, can’t wait.

“I’ve been working in the hallway for the last month,” Hickey said. “We have therapists trading offices, signing up for offices on a regular basis. We just don’t have adequate space to provide our services.

This new building should solve all those issues.”
The Counseling Center employs a staff of 25, including two psychiatrists, a contract-basis psychologist, and several masters-level licensed therapists. The Center provides services for 1,000 people annually in Jackson, regardless of an individual’s ability to pay. Hickey said crisis calls were up 25 percent last year, with a quarter of all people treated being under the age of 21.

The agency provides a wide range of services from 24-hour crisis intervention and support to family outreach and counseling.

For a community that craves exercise and demands fitness, it’s sometimes perplexing how so many can, and do, ignore their mental health. There are several stigmas attached to seeking professional help, but Deb Sprague, executive director at JHCCC, sees that way of thinking slowly fading.

“We’re starting to see some shifts, generationally,” Sprague said. “I know with people from my generation – the sixties and seventies – there is still a stigma about mental health. People don’t want to talk about it.

Also, this being the West, people have the attitude of taking care of their own, thinking that they can handle their own problems. But we’re seeing a lot more open mindedness, especially in younger people.”

Oftentimes, individuals will not recognize the need for professional counseling. “We [can help] a person who may just be grieving or having a hard time with the loss of a spouse, or a parent, or a child, or a friend; someone who has moved from the grief period but just can’t shake some depression that goes with that,” Sprague said. “Generally, we give the statistic that 3 percent of the population, at any given time, would be in need of mental health services. Some people need help for a shorter period of time and some folks need help for a longer period of time.”

Most of the Counseling Center’s clientele is referrals but walk-ins are always invited to arrive on-site or call. Sprague brags that the staff is used to putting people at ease. “Our people are very sensitive,” she said. “The comfort level, we hope, is really there for people and the ease of access to crisis services is always there.” Sprague added that a qualified therapist is always available on-site or by phone.

Operating in Teton County since 1974, the JHCCC is the sister agency to the Curran Seeley Foundation – an alcohol and substance abuse counseling center – and works closely with several area agencies including Teton Youth and Family Services, CES, Mountain House, and the Community Safety Network. This network of social services is called the Teton County System of Care. “We don’t do things in a vacuum,” Sprague said.

The headline-grabbing need for mental health counseling, at least in Wyoming, continues to be the alarming suicide rate throughout the state. Wyoming easily leads the nation in suicide rates – one every four days in 2002 – doubling the national average. Teton County suicide numbers also reflect Wyoming’s ugly trend. From January 2004 to June 2005, Teton County experienced 30 suicide attempts and 11 completed suicides.
Sprague cites several factors: “Isolation and long distances between cities or towns where professional help might be available [are factors].

Unfortunately, people in the Mountain States often have lethal means. It’s not that guns are a suicide issue – guns don’t create suicide, obviously – but when you have lethal means accessible to you and you have someone who is in a very bad situation, mentally, then you have a combination that is wrought with finality. Mixing a mental illness with drinking or substance abuse is also a very bad combination.”

Sprague is also aware of Wyoming’s long winters and the effect they have on mental health. “Seasonal Affective Disorder is real,” she said. “The fact that we do have long winters of confinement means people don’t get to socialize as much and maybe they aren’t involved in as many activities outside in the sunshine; these things all add up to ‘cabin fever’ and it’s very real.”

“And, as far as depression, 80 percent of the people who get help for depression receive some form of relief,” Hickey added.

For now, Hickey would be happy with some financial relief. Through grants, pledges, donations, and gifts, the Counseling Center has raised nearly $2 million toward the new facility at 640 East Broadway. “One of the unique things that most people don’t understand about the Counseling Center is that, for the most part, we are self-funding in our operating budget,” Hickey said. “For the first time in 35 years we needed a major asset that will house all of our operations.

A one-time campaign and then we can go back to helping people and not having to spend all of our efforts and time on raising money.”

Last summer, Hickey led dozens of staff and volunteers up Snow King to raise awareness and money for the new Center. The uphill battle will begin again this summer starting May 29 with $230,000 available in matching money from the Newton Foundation.

“We’re certainly hoping that our grand opening celebration will give people the idea that this isn’t just a dream, there is something to see now. And it’s ready to open its doors to the community within the next month. We’re hoping additional private donations and contributions from the community will help us get to our goal,” Sprague said.

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