By Alecia N. Allen
MA LPC NCC Clinical Director/Supervisor
The licensed Behavioral Health Center at Keep Your Faith Corporation (KYFC) is a social enterprise designed to fill gaps in access to culturally sensitive behavioral healthcare across the state.
Located in Charleston, West Virginia, the behavioral health clinic is the only existing healthcare service of its kind with a focus on BIPOC representation in behavioral health in the state.
A diverse staff of 10 BIPOC clinicians and administrators work together to provide professional individual and group outpatient counseling, including intensive services and clinical outreach.
The center is in network with West Virginia Medicaid and all managed care organizations and private insurance carriers, as well as supported by grant funding from several supporting foundational, state, and federal partners. Clinical supervisors provide oversight for provisionally licensed clinical staff who wish to become independently licensed.
The clinicians utilize progressive strategies in psychotherapy to increase positive outcomes with an added focus on improved access to professional care for diverse and minority populations in West Virginia and across the Appalachian region.
Community need and impact
KYFC’s culturally sensitive behavioral health program provides support that is threaded through a three-pronged organizational approach to address social and health disparities in black and minority communities in West Virginia including: food-systems access, workforce development, and access to culturally appropriate healthcare. These programs are designed to sustainably impact social drivers in minority and marginalized communities that contribute to and mediate environmental impacts and community viability in relationship to people’s preferences, behavior and capacity to influence change.
Historically, Black and indigenous populations experience barriers to mental healthcare that include mistrust of healthcare systems as a result of negative cultural experiences in behavioral and primary healthcare.
The clinic and other social program efforts at KYFC work together to promote equitable resources across sectors in order to positively impact individual and community wellbeing.
Trends in mental health and healthy lifestyle practices directly impact sustainable development in marginalized and distressed communities of color in West Virginia and across the region.
More than 5,000 West Virginian children and families have been impacted through direct care, clinical outreach and training efforts since 2020.
Clinical outreach
In addition to in-office and telehealth direct counseling services, KYFC offers clinical outreach programming that includes individual and group counseling onsite at partnering schools, as well as health screening and training events that engage community members and stakeholders while providing data that gives insight to community mental health trends among the target population each year.
Clinic Founder Alecia N. Allen, MA LPC NCC, is the Clinical Director/Supervisor at Keep Your Faith Corporation Behavioral Health Center.
