KICKING THE STIGMA ACTION GRANT HELPS HOPE FAMILY CARE CENTER PROVIDE CRITICAL MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

Mental health is health. Mental healthcare is healthcare. And at the HOPE Family Care Center, a free clinic in Cicero, Ind., the services they provide to uninsured, underinsured and medically underserved people wouldn’t be complete without mental health counseling.

Through a Kicking The Stigma Action Grant, HOPE Family Care Center is able to regularly offer counseling services to a population that otherwise wouldn’t have access to such a vital part of their wellbeing. One in four adults with frequent mental health distress do not see a doctor due to cost, according to research conducted by Mental Health America.

And that the program has the backing of the Colts has only helped bring more people into it.

“When you hear of a certain supporter like the Colts, word spreads pretty quickly,” Mike Jenkins, president of Hope Family Care Center’s board of directors, said. “I don’t know if you know a whole lot about people’s attitudes toward free clinics, but that’s usually one of the last places they want to go because they have a mental image of what a clinic is like. But we try to provide the kind of quality service that we’ve been giving, and word gets out that, okay, we have a mental health program that the Colts are sponsoring, and I think that helps maintain the flow of patients to our facility.”

All of HOPE Family Care Center’s expenses are paid for through donations and grants, and losing funding can lead to reducing and even losing services that can be provided. The counseling program has served as many as 100 patients in years past, and in 2024 its operational costs were about $17,000 – with the Kicking The Stigma Action Grant going toward that figure.

“It gave us the ability to continue with our counselors because we operate totally on funds that are limited through grants and individual contributions,” Jenkins said. “We are always thinking terms of, if we don’t get funding, what will we have the reduce. So from that standpoint, (Kicking The Stigma) helped us maintain our goal of providing adequate healthcare for the patients who come through our doors.”

About two-thirds of the patients are returning, while a third are new; patients are a mix of adults and youth. In a recent survey, Jenkins, said, 50 percent of respondents mentioned counseling services as an important reason why they go to HOPE Family Care Center.

“That tells me one thing that we’re doing right,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins said HOPE Family Care Center would like to expand the program, which currently is available for two and a half hours on Tuesday evenings, to include a few hours on Saturday mornings. The resources are there to compensate counselors for their time on Saturdays, but so far they’ve been unable to find a counselor to lend their time in that window. Three counselors provide services on Tuesdays.

HOPE was founded in 2003 by Cicero Christian Church, and since 2004, it has provided healthcare services at no cost to over 9,000 local residents. Counseling services were added in 2019 and have been expanded over the years, and with Kicking The Stigma’s support, those services can not only continue, but could be expanded, too.

“The Colts’ contribution from the foundation helps us keep our doors open for counseling,” Jenkins said.