You Can Help Eliminate Language Barriers

Posted on 4-28-2022

Because of communication barriers, people who speak ASL (American Sign Language) and other languages have accepted the fact of “doing with less than.” But, they don’t have to live in a different world than you and I.

With your financial help, they can live with the abundance of communication and understanding!

Just Imagine…

You’ve arrived in United States to begin your life over again after experiencing trauma, war, poverty, and/or other horrific experiences. To escape further trauma, you left your entire life behind, perhaps even loved ones and pets. As you get settled into your new Wisconsin community, symptoms of PTSD and depression start to negatively affect your daily life, including your ability to socialize, complete errands, or go to work. Intrusive thoughts and guilt about leaving your life behind haunt you all day and night.

Every day, you grow more desperate to receive help from a professional therapist. 

The Problem…

You don’t speak English, and you don’t have access to the resources to learn the language. You came into this country with only one backpack and hopes of safe living. Without the ability to speak English, you’re afraid to call the office to set an appointment, much less handle insurance – if you have it. There are so few offices that offer interpretation services or in-house native speakers with cultural competence to provide holistic help and understanding; the waitlists are extremely long.

The pressure of poor mental health builds inside of you. Unsure what to do, you feel forced bear your emotional turmoil alone. 

Communication Should Not be a Barrier to Getting Mental Health Care…

The Green Bay area is home to speakers of many different languages who come from diverse cultural, racial, and ethnic backgrounds. Additionally, there are people with hearing-impairments who also need and deserve support.

Communication barriers prevent ASL and non-native English speakers from obtaining coping skills for depression, healing their trauma, or handling their grief. 

The need for language interpretation services (Spanish, Hmong, ASL) for mental health counseling has grown ten-fold in the last couple of years. This problem is critical, affecting so many people in our community.

Hiring language interpreters at Foundations Health & Wholeness bridges the communications gap between clients and therapists.

Please don’t let our neighbors who speak Spanish, Hmong, or ASL feel like they must accept less than and live in a different world than we do.

You can help bridge the communication gap by providing a financial gift today.

Everyone deserves healing. Your gift can change the course of someone’s life – and that’s a big deal!

Click HERE to make your generous gift and help us dissolve language barriers.

Thank you! ¡Gracias! Ua Tsaug!

Foundations Health & Wholeness

Foundations Health & Wholeness serves the community by healing mind and spirit through mental health counseling and foster care.

Mental Health Counseling

  • Our main clinic offers full range of mental health and addiction services.
  • We partner with social organizations in ten different locations to embed our therapists to serve children and adults with significant barriers to care, including those living in poverty, experiencing homelessness, the aging and people with disabilities. These satellite clinics offer an opportunity for us to train and supervise the next generation of licensed therapists and address the scarcity of licensed therapists in Wisconsin.
  • We also provide counseling at three public schools. We are the founder, and an active member, of Connections for Mental Wellness, a coalition of mental health care providers seeking to reduce the number of poor mental health days.

We provide approximately 12,000 mental health sessions every year, plus casual support, psycho-education, and over 500 hours of service on mental health tasks forces and committees. About 60% of our clients are either uninsured or under-insured, and we keep our doors open to everyone in need of mental health counseling.

FOSTER CARE

In foster care, we recruit, license, and train foster parents. We work with counties throughout Wisconsin to provide placement and case management for children in need of loving foster homes. We provide treatment-level foster care to support children have experienced trauma, and have higher emotional and physical needs. Through our foster care offices in Green Bay, Greater Milwaukee area, Sheboygan/Lakeshore area, the Fox Valley, and soon Janesville, we serve over 130 children every year. The number of children we serve grows every year.

 

Foundations Health & Wholeness. The three words in our name relate around approach to care:

  • Foundations – we are here to walk with people has they strengthen the foundations of their mind and spirit
  • Health – Mental health is a key component of overall health and well-being. The World Health Organization defines health as, “A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being & not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
  • Wholeness – Wholeness is unity. It’s a personal state of forming a complete and harmonious life.

 

GPS 1061 W Mason St, Green Bay Wisconsin, 54303 Phone 920-437-8256 Visit Website
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