Epworth to Expand Services with BlueCross BlueShield Foundation of South Carolina Award
COLUMBIA, SC – Epworth Children’s Home received a grant to expand services to provide individual, couples and family counseling through a new child and family counseling center, scheduled to open later in 2019. The award extends over a three year period to establish the Epworth Center for Child and Family Counseling in Columbia in 2019, with satellite sites opening in subsequent years in the Pee Dee, Low-country and possibly other regions of South Carolina.
“We are thrilled that the BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation has awarded Epworth with the start-up funding needed to begin the Epworth Center for Child and Family Counseling,” says John Holler, President of Epworth. “Family settings, whether they are biological, kinship, foster or adoptive in nature, need to be healthy, nurturing environments for children. The new center will provide children and families who have experienced trauma and other challenges the opportunity to receive high-quality mental health services that can prevent family disruptions by encouraging positive personal growth and developing healthy family relationships.”
The counseling center is one of many community-based programs within the new Epworth Institute for Child and Family Wellbeing, which began operation in early 2019 with the support of The Duke Endowment. The institute, headquartered on Epworth’s second campus in Columbia (the former property of Carolina Children’s Home), provides a variety of child and family services beyond Epworth’s renowned residential group home on its original Millwood Avenue campus.
In addition to its Columbia headquarters, the institute is designed to foster operations in satellite hub locations around the state. Earlier in 2019, Epworth established the first satellite hub by launching a foster parent recruitment and support program for the Low-country based in Summerville. The newly funded counseling center will provide another opportunity to expand to future hubs and continue to expand Epworth’s service footprint to reach more children and families in need.
The Foundation selected Epworth as one of 13 organizations working to improve the health of South Carolina’s economically vulnerable citizens during its spring of 2019 funding cycle.
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About Epworth: Epworth Children’s Home serves children, youth and families throughout South Carolina. In addition to traditional residential programs, Epworth provides foster families, early childhood intervention, family care and preservation, and independent living programs. Founded in 1896, Epworth provides childcare, counseling and related services without regard to race, religion, national origin or ability to pay.
About BlueCross BlueShield Foundation of South Carolina: Headquartered in Columbia, the Foundation is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Its mission is to promote and support healthier South Carolinians, particularly the economically vulnerable, by supporting solutions to address gaps in health care and serving as an agent of change to support innovation and value-added public-private partnerships.