Inside the Wendt Center – Spring 2020

  • Serving Our Community in New Ways
  • Resources for Challenging Times
  • Camp Forget-Me-Not/Camp Erin DC Postponed
  • More from Inside the Wendt Center
  • Pathways to Healing
Serving Our Community in New Ways

The coronavirus pandemic is a collective grief experience, pushing us all to new limits. After all, as Rachel Remen wrote in Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that Heal, "The expectation that we can be immersed in suffering and loss daily and not be touched by it is as unrealistic as expecting to be able to walk through water without getting wet.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wendt Center continues to provide services to our clients through remote telehealth and is finding new ways to meet the needs emerging from this global health crisis. In a recent letter to the community , Wendt Center Executive Director, Michelle Palmer, LICSW, shared a full account of our changing landscape. Below are additional ways in which we are serving the community.
Support for Medical Professionals

The Wendt Center Training Institute recently shared information on vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue with Georgetown University Hospital. After focusing on the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has on medical providers, Melissa Sellevaag, LICSW, Director of Training, offered strategies for managing trauma exposure.  To schedule a training for your organization, please email Melissa Sellevaag .
Virtual RSP Services for DC Residents

Wendt Resilient Scholars Project (RSP) is now serving existing home-based families through teletherapy. In addition, we are enrolling new DC resident families in virtual home-based services. T his free, six-month program is for families in which at least one child in the household has participated previously in school-based services. We provide families with family therapy and basic case management support.
Short-term Therapy for DC Residents

The Wendt Center offers a short term counseling option that provides up to two sessions for people in need of immediate emotional support. During these sessions, therapists provide psychoeducation, coping skill development, and emotional support to people impacted by a recent death or traumatic event. For access to this service, DC residents may call our intake line at (202) 204-5021 .
Resources for Challenging Times

The Wendt Center is launching a series of tip sheets that offer guidance on navigating grief, traversing trauma, promoting self care, and more during this uncertain period. Please click the image below to read our most recent piece.
Camp Forget-Me-Not/Camp Erin DC Postponed
Due to pressing concerns about COVID-19, we have postponed the summer date for Camp Forget-Me-Not/Camp Erin DC. While we know this is disappointing news to our Camp community, volunteers, campers, and families, rest assured that we are developing new, creative Camp programming to serve grieving children during 2020. So stay tuned! In the meantime, check out the video below as Stephanie Handel, Director of Camp Forget-Me-Not/Camp Erin DC, shares some true Camp spirit!
More from Inside the Wendt Center
April is Counseling Awareness Month

We are thrilled to welcome our newest counselors to the Wendt Center: Megan Broderick, LICSW; Lamar Smith, LGSW, and William McKindley-Ward, LGSW; as well as Katrina Anderson, Executive Assistant. Welcome!
Photo courtesy of Studio Be, home to artist, Brandan 'Bmike' Odums

New Resources for a Pandemic

We have compiled a new suite of resources for caregivers and families, for healthcare workers, for self-care, and for pressing needs. Find these new support resources here.
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM)

The goal of SAAM is for individuals and organizations to raise public awareness about sexual harassment, assault, and abuse and educate communities on how to prevent it. Download your consent guide here.
Pathways to Healing

As the DC region's most trusted nonprofit provider of grief and trauma mental health services, the Wendt Center relies on your tax-deductible contributions to create pathways to healing, particularly for our most vulnerable populations. Please join us by donating today.
We are so grateful for your financial support. Thank you.