When Kim Klock’s 11-year-old son said he wanted to be with his father, she knew her child needed help. Her husband had just died after a years-long battle with cancer. The family struggled to process the grief, and Klock’s oldest son was hit especially hard.
“I didn’t know where to turn, there were very few resources,” said the Caroline County mother of two. “So I turned to the Rappahannock Area Community Services Board. They were a blessing. They gave me exactly what I needed and helped us through a very difficult time.”
Klock recently shared her story about how RACSB’s children’s crisis program helped her family when they lost their hope. This intensive, round-the-clock program works with children and adolescents ages 3-17 who are experiencing a mental health crisis. It aims to keep children out of hospitals, by preventing hospitalization or by helping the transition back to the community.
“My son was in a very dark place,” she said. “But he actually started smiling and became his old self. He’s a very happy kid now. We’re all going to have dark days–he no longer has his dad–but he’s got coping skills now and he uses them.”
Child and Adolescent Emergency Services Therapist Honore’ Schrade worked with the Klock family. She met the young man at home and at school, using a variety of techniques to help him stabilize.
Klock hopes her family’s story will help others know where to turn when a crisis hits.
“There is hope available,” she said. “There are people out there who are willing to listen and to hear what you have to say. The Rappahannock Area Community Services Board is a hidden gem, the blessing that nobody ever talks about. When a crisis happens to you, they are there.”
When is it a crisis?
When your child struggles with mental health issues, it can be hard to recognize the line between a challenge and a crisis. Clues that your child needs emergency services include:
- Changes in social activity
- Changes in sleep patterns
- Losing interest in things they have enjoyed in the past
- Rapid mood swings
- School suspensions
- Suicidal thoughts
- Self-harming incidents
- Violence and/or aggression
- Changes in communication
If your family needs child crisis services, please call our 24-hour-a-day emergency services number: 540-373-6876. Or, in Caroline County, 804-633-4148; or King George, 540-775-5064.