LFCS Receives Grant to Help St. Charles County Kids
Social services organization to provide multimodal emotional trauma treatment to students

10/01/05

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 01, 2005 - Lutheran Family and Children's Services of Missouri has received a $24,950 grant from the Children and Family Services Authority of St. Charles to provide individual and family counseling services to residents of St. Charles County.

The grant funds LFCS' Multimodal Emotional Trauma Treatment project, which serves children and teenagers grades kindergarten through 12. METT is available to St. Charles County children and youth who are experiencing symptoms of emotional trauma.

"Children who are eligible for the METT program may have experienced several different kinds of trauma, ranging from news-making events like natural disasters, accidents or family violence to more common events like parents' divorce or even a transfer to a new school," said Paul Fullerton, LFCS counselor. "Whether the traumatic event is dramatic or more ordinary, LFCS can help the young person cope."

Different than most counseling programs, the METT program focuses solely on youth affected by trauma. The program includes counselors going into schools to obtain records, talk with faculty and observe kids in their classrooms. In addition, participants are assigned an individual therapist, who will work with the student and their family during their involvement in the METT program. LFCS welcomes referrals from pediatricians, public and private school counselors and other professionals. Parents or guardians should call to initiate services.

LFCS has three counselors dedicated to the METT program in St. Charles and has already received a number of referrals. The St. Charles LFCS counseling office is located in the Old Parish House at Our Savior Lutheran Church, 2800 Elm Street. The METT project is funded in part by the grant awarded by the Children and Family Services Authority of St. Charles County, which oversees administration of the Community Children's Services Fund. The fund, created from the 2004 sales tax measure, is designed to support local organizations, like LFCS, in providing youth services to St. Charles County residents. In 2005, the Community Children's Services Fund donated approximately $1.9 million in grants to local organizations to serve the needs of St. Charles youth and their families.

Lutheran Family and Children's Services of Missouri is a non-profit, statewide social service organization providing counseling, adoption, crisis pregnancy assistance, day care and mentoring services to the community. With offices in St. Louis, Columbia, Cape Girardeau and Springfield, LFCS touches the lives of more than 22,000 individuals annually. The services provided by LFCS are open to everyone regardless of race, faith, national origin, gender or age. Although Lutheran based, more than 80 percent of families served are non-Lutheran. For more information, visit www.lfcsmo.org.

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Editor's note: Lutheran Family and Children's Services of Missouri is located at: 8631 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, Mo. (63124) 401 West Boulevard North, Suite B, Columbia, Mo. (65203) 2911 Breckenridge, Cape Girardeau, Mo. (63701) 1400 S. Kimbrough, Springfield, Mo. (65807)

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