MARBLEHEAD — Amid a surge in demand for mental health counseling and an ensuing counselor shortage, the Marblehead Counseling Center is running a budgetary deficit while its waitlist remains full.
About 200 people are on the waiting list, according to the center’s Board of Directors Chair Ruth Ferguson. She said that about half of those on the waiting list are young adults, teenagers, or children. The Marblehead Mental Health Task Force discussed this unmet demand at its regular meeting Monday. Ferguson confirmed to the task force that the center completed 6400 sessions last fiscal year despite being under significant financial strain. Task force members noted that the center’s revenue last fiscal year was $586,000 while its operating expenses were $729,000.
Marblehead Counseling Center’s Social Services Coordinator Teri Allen McDonough said while she is grateful for the financial support the center receives from the town’s Board of Health, it is important to note that the amount of funding it receives from the town has decreased over the years.
“It’s always a challenge balancing the business model when you’re also functioning as a community service,” McDonough said. “We are looking for philanthropic organizations to be able to preserve this asset for the town.”
McDonough added that the center is hoping to hire high-quality, experienced, and diverse staff to be able to best serve Marblehead residents in need, but that a national increase in demand for mental health services has made finding qualified candidates difficult.
Ferguson said the fact that the majority of people on the center’s waiting list are students also presents a challenge. New counselors the center recruits must be willing to hold sessions after schools let out, rather than earlier in the day. She added that some therapists don’t treat children at all, adding another barrier to the hiring process.
Ferguson said in order to ensure high-quality service, the center is looking at increasing salaries and offering hiring bonuses — things that will be difficult to do without proper funding.
Marblehead High School principal Daniel Bauer sits on the task force and said if the center’s waitlist is not addressed, it will ultimately place a burden on the town’s public school district, which its staff is not currently prepared to take on.
“Our staff — we are maxed out,” Bauer said. “It all connects to everything in the community. …If this isn’t resolved, it taxes the whole system so much more.”
Ferguson said the center is hoping to receive federal funding through the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, which provides economic relief related to the COVID-19 pandemic. She said the center is in need of some structural improvements and a new boiler, which she assumes town funds will cover as the center is located in a town building.
She added that the center relies heavily on generosity from members of the North Shore community. The center raised about $80,000 in charitable donations alone during the last fiscal year. Ferguson noted that the center will hold a Golf Day fundraiser at the Tedesco Country Club beginning at 10 a.m. on Oct. 17 this year.
“We have some relief funding that is going to be available in the immediate future,” task force Chair Joanne Miller said. “But we have to look at how we deal with the long-term and make sure we have some systemic changes to make sure things can continue running smoothly after that.”
Rachel Barber can be reached at [email protected].
