I’m going to cut to the chase. We need your help. If you’ve tried to find a good counselor in the last year, you already know what I’m talking about. Here’s what I mean. We had 83 calls from first-time clients last month. We’ve hired five new counselors, and they’re already full. Most people tell our Intake Coordinator, “I’m just so glad someone called me back.”
When I try to refer to counselors outside of CrossRoads, they often run into a six- to twelve-month waiting list. If you’ve ever needed counseling, you know that most people don’t place the call until things have gotten beyond simply difficult, and waiting for months seems overwhelming. Some agencies have coped with this demand by raising fees and saying they’re unable to take new clients, all reasonable decisions in a market where the service you provide is in demand. However, we have a different philosophy. We continue our mission to offer people excellent, evidence-based counseling regardless of their socioeconomic status. That means that in addition to record calls, almost 30 counselors, and the highest number of annual sessions we’ve ever conducted, we also have record amounts of financial assistance that we are offering to clients in significant financial need. This keeps our clientele diverse. We see doctors, pastors, missionaries serving in other countries, CEOs, teachers, first responders, restaurant servers and more, all from zip codes that span the rural, urban and suburban expanse. If you spent a day in our lobby, it would be a study in racial, socio-economic, and ideological diversity. And that’s how we like it!
Here’s where you come in. For the first time in a long, long while, we are facing an annual shortfall. That means that the surplus we typically allocate to our scholarship fund is likely to be non-existent this coming year. With the increase in services, we’ve also taken on new space, provided counselors to churches in communities where counseling is underrepresented, conducted free educational workshops and support groups, and invested in new technology and sanitation to effectively navigate a new era that integrates both in-person and telehealth counseling.
We would be grateful if you would include CrossRoads in your year-end giving. Now, more than ever, people in all walks of life are open to, and desperately need, the gift of counseling. Simply click the ‘Donate’ button at the top of the page or click here to give directly to our counseling scholarship fund. Thank you for helping many find support in this time of great need.