Samaritan Counseling Center of the Fox Valley Inc.
The explosion in the number of mental health illnesses may be one of the pandemic’s long-lasting effects. People had their lives upended and experienced anxiety about what was to come next.
It’s something Rosangela Berbert, executive director of Samaritan Counseling Center of the Fox Valley Inc. in Menasha, knows well.
“We are seeing higher numbers than we even expected,” she says. “What we’ve been living with for the past 15, 16 months has really taken a toll on people. And it’s more than that. It’s the fact that everything that you knew and life as you knew it has changed so much.”
Guided by Berbert, Samaritan serves adults and children with outpatient mental health counseling through connecting the mind, body and spirit from its offices in Menasha, Oshkosh, New London and Kaukauna. Samaritan also conducts school mental
health screenings to help spot children who may need intervention and works with pastoral leaders on how to assist their parishioners with mental health issues.
A state-certified, nonprofit mental health provider, 40 percent of the center’s clients qualify as low income, underinsured or uninsured. While the organization adjusted to challenges quickly in 2020, Berbert used her business acumen to bring in more donations as it reached new fundraising records.
“Rosangela is a powerful advocate for mental health and a firm believer in collaborating with other health and human service agencies. She is an encourager, a strength-finder, and views challenges as opportunities.”
— Jane Frantz, Samaritan Counseling Center of the Fox Valley Inc.
A native of Brazil, Berbert moved to the area when her husband’s company transferred him for what was to be a two-year tenure. They never left. While she practiced psychology in Brazil, she needed to earn a new degree here to practice. She started at Samaritan as an intern while attending the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and rose through the ranks to become executive director in 2014.
As the pandemic brought Samaritan more clients, the organization switched to a virtual platform to deliver its counseling. First, it was just phone calls, but then some switched to video sessions. While that wasn’t the ideal way to deliver care, Berbert says it allowed counselors to reach a broader set of clients who may have had difficulty making in-person meetings. The clinics are slowly resuming in-person sessions for patients who are comfortable with it.
In 2012, Samaritan created its screening program to help identify teens with possible mental health issues. Those screenings are a difference-maker, reaching about 5,000 students annually through their schools, Berbert says.
“We identify hundreds and hundreds of students who may be suffering from a mental health issue,” she says. “We provide them with a further evaluation and connect them to services. Teen mental health is a vital issue and COVID made things worse. We also hope the screenings lessen some of the stigma about mental health and that it’s something that shouldn’t be talked about.”
In addition to its teen screening program and therapy services, Samaritan works with pastoral leaders on how to help members of their congregations who need mental health care but are afraid or unsure of how to seek it.
“People may feel stigma around mental health but seem to be more willing to talk to their pastoral leaders,” Berbert says. “That faith leader is the first responder. We want to equip faith leaders to be comfortable and confident in that position and help people understand their needs and to begin to break that stigma.”
