Gabriela Miselem was at her wits’ end. Her first-grade son was struggling with aggressive behavior, physically attacking teachers and other kids at school. Despite therapy appointments, the behavior only worsened.
“I was so scared he was going to hurt someone,” says the 33-year-old from Greenfield. Then Miselem got the call that changed everything: STRONG Milwaukee Center, a local day treatment program for kids and adolescents, had an opening the following week.
Miselem’s son isn’t alone: Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 1 in 5 children ages 3 to 17 have been diagnosed with a mental, emotional or behavioral health condition. “Kids’ mental health is in crisis, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Ronnie Jones, dean of students at Greater Holy Temple Christian Academy in Milwaukee.
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STRONG Milwaukee Center, a program of Christian Family Solutions – a Germantown-based nonprofit that’s been providing mental health services since 1965 – addresses this problem head-on. In 2020, the organization took over the former Holton Youth and Family Center building, a now-shuttered community center that served Harambee and Riverwest.
Its goal is to intervene early in kids’ mental health challenges to prevent related problems later like crime and incarceration. “We say we’re in the prevention business of mental health,” says Ashley Schoof, senior director of psychological services at Christian Family Solutions Counseling Care & Services.
STRONG (Successfully Treating and Reaching Our Next Generation) functions like an intensive outpatient program for kids struggling with aggression, hyperactivity and communication and social difficulties, all of which Jones says he’s seen on the rise in recent years. Many schools don’t have the resources to hone social-emotional learning, so outpatient support for struggling students can be a game-changer, Jones says.
By the Numbers:
100 kids served each year since 2021
1 in 4 referrals STRONG can currently accept due to capacity
130 local schools with which STRONG has collaborated
Along with daily individual and group therapy sessions that teach kids to regulate their emotions, the program helps families access services to help children in the classroom. It’s based on Christian values, such as loving people, and includes occasional lessons from the Bible, says Schoof. It’s a big commitment – typically, kids attend Strong for three hours a day, five days a week, for anywhere from six to nine months.
Miselem’s son attended for about eight months, one of 500 kids to complete the program; hundreds more are on a wait list. Miselem drove him to Milwaukee each morning, and a STRONG-sponsored shuttle took him back to school for the afternoon. On the second day, he punched his therapist in the face – but STRONG didn’t give up on him, and today his mom says he seems like a totally new kid. This type of trust and relationship-building is at the crux of STRONG’s approach.
Safe relationships, Schoof says, are one of the best ways to help kids learn and grow. This approach can be transformative: “The vast majority of kids we refer make it through the program,” says Jones, “and come back with so much improvement.”
