How Our Steps to Health Program Is Changing Lives
Thanks to our amazing donors who continually provide much needed support to our shelter, we were able to create a new branch in our program: Steps to Health.
Steps to Health provides evidence-based, trauma informed care to our Participants. This care and support enables them to become stabilized, empowered, and healed. Our program has a holistic approach, and we treat the entire person: mind, body and spirit.
The Need for Mental Health Treatment
Research indicates that nearly 50% of those experiencing homelessness struggle with mental health issues that impact their ability to function. Poor mental health can be both a cause and a result of homelessness.
Furthermore, the SHIFT (Service and Housing Interventions for families in Transition) study found that 93% of study participants had a history of trauma, with interpersonal victimization indicated as the most prevalent form of trauma. This population has extraordinarily high rates of trauma and mental health issues.
Untreated mental health issues, including trauma, can prevent an individual’s ability to stabilize, care for themselves, get into a stable home, become employed, and many other things.
Our Groups
We offer one-on-on mental health therapy including Trauma Focused- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) as well as group therapy and SUD services.
One of our groups is called “Feeling Expression” and is designed for children ages 4-18. These groups are broken up into smaller age appropriate sub-groups. The children engage in age-appropriate activities that help them identify, understand, and process emotions.
We also offer “Women of Excellence Empowerment Group” designed to empower our adult, female Participants. We have several other groups in the development stage as well, including a Domestic Violence Thriver group, and a therapeutic yoga group, as well as others.
The Need for Human Engagement
Engagement, human connection, is healing. When a Participant can sit face-to-face with another person, someone not looking with pity but with empathy, with understanding and compassion, that is where healing begins.
How Our Program Changes Lives
Andrea Bain-Frye, Steps to Health Clinical Director, says, “Our program aims to provide strength-based support to our Participants, and I have personally witnessed such resilience in those that I have worked with. Each Participant I have had the pleasure of working with has been through so much and yet continues to not give up. I am incredibly inspired by our Participants.”
You Can Change a Life
For our current and future Participants, the need for comprehensive services continues to grow. To meet that need, we have big plans. And big plans call for big dollars. We need your help. Will you partner with us to meet the needs of our community? You can give by PayPal , or by mailing a check to Leading Families Home, 2910 W. Central Avenue, Toledo, Ohio 43606.
Thank you for always being faithful partners in our mission — helping families transition from homelessness to permanent housing.Together we’ve got this.
Let’s Connect
Connect with us on social media to see the latest stories from our Participants, Board Members, Staff, and Volunteers!
You can support Leading Families Home by liking or following our accounts, liking and SHARING them on your social media accounts. Invite your contacts to like or follow us, too! Let’s spread the word, and end homelessness in Toledo!
Help Us Out
Leading Families Home is based in Toledo, Ohio. We are dedicated to fighting homelessness in our community – and we’d love your help! Please consider supporting our organization in one of the following ways:
Donate Online
Leading Families Home partners with PayPal for secure online payments. Click Donate Now to be taken to the secure donation page.
Mail a Check
To donate by check, please make the check out to Leading Families Home.
Mail your check to the following address:
Leading Families Home
2283 Ashland Ave.
Toledo, OH 43604
Other Ways to Donate
Shop with AmazonSmile
When you shop on AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com) the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. Learn more about AmazonSmile .
Use Kroger Community Rewards
It’s easy to donate with Kroger Community Rewards – just shop at Kroger, and swipe your Plus Card! Join Kroger Community Rewards .
Matching Gifts: Double Your Donation
Every year we have a Match Campaign – an exciting way for you to double your impact. During this campaign, our match partners will match your monetary donation to Leading Families Home.
Match partners also include corporate sponsors who match their employees’ donations. If you’d like to participate, find out if your employer matches employee donations to 501(c)(3) organizations and contact us .
Host a 3rd Party Fundraiser
Do you love to plan events? You can raise donations for LFH by hosting your own event! Have fun and make an impact on our community. Ask for donations instead of birthday gifts or baby shower presents.
Remember Us in Your Will
A Planned Gift allows you to donate in a very meaningful way. Contact your financial advisor or estate planner to learn more.
Leading Families Home Announces Executive Director, Jennifer Jacobs
