NEWS

Founded in 1966, the local nonprofit continues to make healing and wellness accessible for all with a new team of administrators and therapists.

Left to right: Family Counseling Service building, located at 3518 Washington Boulevard; Front Desk Assistant Manager Amy Black, Clinical Director Jeff Lavallee, and Keevo the therapy dog; new front lobby.
Photos by Deann Armes / The Ogdenite

The Family Counseling Service of Northern Utah (FCS) is going strong after 57 years. Since 1966, the Ogden-area nonprofit has elevated community wellness and healing by offering individual, family, and group counseling for all income levels. A new team of therapists and administrators provide therapy services at the center, located at 3518 Washington Boulevard in Ogden, open four days a week, Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

FCS employs a sliding scale fee structure, whether insured or not, and no one is turned away for the inability to pay.

Keevo, the resident therapy dog, greets visitors at the door to the newly updated space. Beautiful green plants pop against the retro brick walls coated with bright white paint, inviting a sense of renewal and peace.

On a tour, the new team of administrators, interns, and therapists talk excitedly about the organization’s history, community partnerships, and all of the services offered— support groups, Spanish-speaking therapists, LGBTQ-safety, case management, and affordable mental health counseling for adults, youth (ages 6 and up) and families.

Glenn Lanham joined FCS this past year as the new executive director, having served as executive director for the Brain Injury Alliance of Utah, CEO of Special Olympics Utah, Vice President of Development for Utah Symphony/Utah Opera, Director of Development for the Huntsman Cancer Institute, and Director of Corporate and Foundation Programs for the University of Utah.

New clinical director Jeff Lavallee shows off a children’s playroom that is utilized for play therapy with Kassandra Zamora, CSW. A Master’s level therapy intern from Weber State University is transcribing form from English to Spanish in his office. Leigh Martin, LMFT specializes in trauma using EMDR treatment in her newly redesigned space.

Photos of the organization’s founders and past leaders hang on the walls of a spacious, meeting room filled with natural light—Willie Moore, the late owner/barber at the iconic Moore’s Barber Shop on Historic 25th Street for 75 years, is seen pictured as a past board president.

Thanks to donors, sponsors and community partners—Ogden-Weber Community Action Partnership, YCC Family Crisis Center, Weber Human Services, Intermountain Healthcare, Midtown Community Health Center, United Way of Northern Utah, and more—the beautiful safe space of healing is accessible to all, including Northern Utah’s houseless community.

To continue to operate and expand its services, FCS requires more funding through new sponsors.

A fundraising dinner, Share Your Heart, is being held Friday, February 10, at Union Grill, Lower Level, 315 24th Street in Ogden. There will be a silent auction, followed by dinner and a program. For details and tickets call 801-399-1600 or email Glenn Lanham at glanham@famcounsel.org.

Donations are accepted online at fcshealingnow.org.