CINCINNATI — Since 2019, the Center for Healing the Hurt has worked to provide a safe space for Cincinnati children by helping them turn their trauma into healing and hope.
"Due to COVID-19, the first year we didn't have much information out there to the public," said Dr. Shantel Thomas, the executive director of the Center for Healing the Hurt (CFHTH). "In 2020, we started by providing services to kids in the society, Cincinnati Public School as well as Dohn Community School."
CFHTH has supported over 200 children, ages 5 to 18, from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who have experienced trauma. The majority are African American and Latino, with many having faced the loss of a parent, gun violence, abuse or neglect.
"Center for Healing the Hurt is here to help those young people who have experienced trauma, who are afraid to share with an adult," Thomas said. "We train teens to help other teens, so they can go out into the community and help their friends."
Watch our interview with Thomas here:
All individual, group and family sessions are provided free of charge through grants. CFHTH has trained and licensed therapists, social workers and counselors that go to Cincinnati Public Schools.
"They are bouncing back from COVID-19, they are learning how to recover from their parents having issues where there was divorce, or dealing with domestic violence, or where it was a friend they lost due to death by suicide, they are resilient," Thomas said.
CFHTH hopes to secure funding to open an even bigger safe space for kids. On March 1, they are holding The MENTality Day for Me where they'll have a mental health presentation, vendors and lunch.
"It's really focused on men's health, primarily African American males, because they don't come out to therapy, and the numbers are going up very slowly," said Thomas. "So this is a free event, we provide continental breakfast and lunch, there'll be three male speakers on mental health talking about fatherhood, and finances, and one is going to be talking about the new operating system, how you have to change your mind and operate differently."