{"id":873331,"date":"2026-10-06T23:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/873331\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:58:13","slug":"new-eliada-homes-counseling-center-brings-resources-to-more-lower-income-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/873331\/","title":{"rendered":"New Eliada Homes counseling center brings resources to more lower income families"},"content":{"rendered":"

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) \u2014 A once-unused building at Eliada Homes<\/a> has a new purpose: Expanding access to trauma-informed mental health care as some western North Carolina children continue working through the effects of Helene.<\/p>\n

New Eliada Homes counseling center brings resources to more lower-income families. (WLOS)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Asheville nonprofit transformed the space into a counseling center for children, adolescents and families, offering specialized services to lower-income families while accepting Medicaid. Eliada President and CEO Andrew D\u2019Onofrio said the kinds of non-traditional, therapeutic experiences they offer tend to be out of reach for families with fewer financial resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not sitting in an office \u2014 not sitting on a couch across from a therapist,\u201d D\u2019Onofrio said. \u201cA child that comes here who may not have a lot of money is getting the type of care that a child who does have a lot of resources will.\u201d<\/p>\n

ELIADA HOMES’ CORN MAZE GROWS INTO ANNUAL FUNDRAISER AND COMMUNITY TRADITION<\/a><\/p>\n

The center serves children, adolescents and families, with individual, family and group therapy, assessments and medication management. Clinicians can also incorporate activities such as hiking, basketball and working with horses into sessions.<\/p>\n

Clinical Director Luke Mackenzie said those options give therapists different ways to connect with children.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have our horses to do equine-assisted therapy with,\u201d Mackenzie said. \u201cWe have a basketball court that we can shoot hoops and talk about our feelings and our coping strategies while we\u2019re doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY NOW JUST 11 MILES SHY OF BEING FULLY REOPENED AFTER HELENE<\/a><\/p>\n

The expansion comes amid broader concerns about young people\u2019s ability to access behavioral health care. North Carolina received a grade of \u201cF\u201d for youth mental health in NC Child’s 2025 North Carolina Child Health Report Card<\/a>, which evaluates indicators including depression, suicide and access to care. The report found more than half of children ages 3 to 17 who needed mental health services had difficulty obtaining them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWestern North Carolina in particular is considered a mental health desert,\u201d D\u2019Onofrio said. \u201cBy that, we mean if you are in need of mental health care, whether you have resources or not, you’re likely going to experience long wait times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eliada says that challenge can be particularly acute in Western North Carolina, where a shortage of providers \u2014 especially those accepting Medicaid \u2014 can leave families facing long waits or traveling farther for treatment. Mackenzie said Eliada is also seeing the longer-term effects of Helene among children and families. He said some children experienced declines in academic achievement after the storm, while families have processed the trauma in different ways.<\/p>\n

The counseling center was created with support from several community organizations. D\u2019Onofrio credited Biltmore Farms, the Rotary Club, WNC Bridge Foundation and Dogwood Health Trust with helping make the project possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is truly a community effort,\u201d D\u2019Onofrio said.<\/p>\n

The center is officially open. To learn more, visit this website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) \u2014 A once-unused building at Eliada Homes has a new purpose: Expanding access to trauma-informed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260],"class_list":["post-873331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}