Taking mental health services on the road to help the underserved in Fort Worth
Stacy Shelton has been worried about her 11-year-old son, Jayzion Dudley.
He lost four family members in the past two years, and Shelton was concerned that he might be holding his emotions inside, rather than seeking someone to listen. Shelton said she had that problem growing up.
On a recent Thursday, as she was taking her son to Rise Community Center in the Las Vegas Trail neighborhood, Shelton met Lachelle Goodrich, founder and executive director of CHAMP, a nonprofit organization that addresses mental health and maternal health in Fort Worth’s underrepresented communities. CHAMP had a mobile office set up at the center.
Shelton saw the chance meeting as an opportunity to address the concerns she had about Jayzion. Goodrich showed Jayzion the inside of the mobile unit, which is equipped with a large screen TV, chairs, and snacks and led him and four other children through a session on that day’s topic, “Feelings and Boundaries.”
Jayzion said the session was helpful and he felt and more open to sharing his feelings and more aware of boundaries. Shelton wants her son to feel more comfortable opening up to her and others to promote good mental health.
“Have faith in your kid that if you allow them to go and talk to someone else they could eventually find someone that can help them,” Shelton said.
Goodrich said Jayzion’s experience strikes at the core of her mission in helping families.
“I’m the one that they call when trauma happens,” Goodrich said.
Goodrich said she makes sure people feel valued and reassured, and she makes an effort to meet people where they are in finding a language to describe their experience.
“Grow, heal and bloom”
Goodrich, who was a teenage parent, said she found inspiration in a social worker at her high school who helped her and other teenage parents navigate school and graduate. She realized that others saw the social worker as a someone who could help them process their emotions and experiences. Goodrich is now a licensed professional counselor who has had a private practice for about 10 years.
CHAMP, which stands for Community Healing And Mental Health Project, was created after the murder of Atatiana Jefferson in 2019 to help people express feelings and emotions in a safe space. CHAMP officially became a nonprofit organization in 2021.
The organization provides up to eight free mental health and counseling sessions to youth and their families who have experienced gun violence, abuse or emotional distress. The services are typically provided by master’s-level graduate students pursuing degrees in counseling or clinical social work who are supervised by Goodrich.
CHAMP is supported through grants, private donations, and community partnerships with recent funding from The Morris Foundation, Facebook Meta, Brave/r Together, United Way of Tarrant County, and local foundations.
After eight sessions, participants are referred to services through iLegacy Consulting and Counseling and other mental healthcare providers. Additional sponsorships or grant-supported sessions can be sought to extend care for families facing continued hardship.
CHAMP also offers Community Conversation and Connection sessions in neighborhoods, providing education, resources, and advocacy for trauma-informed practices and interventions aimed at supporting individuals and the community.
CHAMP partners with other organizations for Unity Healing Camps, which brings middle-schoolers from the 76104 and 76105 ZIP codes to a weekend retreat to engage in conflict resolution, therapeutic and recreational activities.
After having a dream about it in December 2023, Goodrich pitched the idea of a mobile mental wellness program to her board to meet critical needs in communities across Fort Worth. A 24-foot trailer was purchased last July, and a community launch was held in September.
The mobile mental healthcare unit provides counseling, educational assistance, and group therapy sessions. It will target the 76104, 76105 and 76116 ZIP codes, which contain neighborhoods like the Historic Southside, Stop 6, and Las Vegas Trail. These neighborhoods include low-income and underserved communities, where people often experience trauma but have the least access to mental healthcare, Goodrich said.
CHAMP has plans to buy another mobile mental healthcare unit to expand its reach in Fort Worth.
Goodrich and CHAMP held a Nurture & Thrive: Black Maternal Wellness Experience event on April 13 in collaboration with BRAVE/R Together, which added a maternal health care component to services provided by the mobile unit. The event included mental wellness sessions, maternal massages, sessions for fathers and childcare for people participating in the event.
Goodrich gave the mothers who attended eight free counseling sessions through CHAMP, whether they have insurance or not, while the men received three months of free gym access.
“It’s the fulfillment of seeing people grow, heal and bloom,” Goodrich said.
An investment
Paige Charbonnet is the executive director of LVTRise, a nonprofit founded to revitalize the Las Vegas Trail area in West Fort Worth. She is thankful for the services CHAMP brings to the area.
Charbonnet says the area has seen an increase in educational performance, a reduction in crime, and about a 60 percent decrease at primary school in behavioral infractions thanks to a variety of programs, which, like CHAMP, contribute to children learning skills to solve problems, deescalate situations and improve conflict resolution skills.
“I think that’s important in this neighborhood, because it’s something that will help them the rest of their lives and will help impact the neighborhood and help impact safety,” Charbonnet said.
Mental health and how it affects communities of color is a social justice issue that needs more attention, Goodrich said. CHAMP wants to help build stronger families and communities by helping them deal with mental health effects of trauma.
“The question is, can we really afford not to make this investment?,” Goodrich said.
Editor’s note: The Morris Foundation provides financial support for the Star-Telegram’s Crossroads Lab. The Star-Telegram retains independence in all coverage decisions.
