Telegraph Staff Writer
Answers Health and Resource Facility, which has offices in Keystone Heights and Starke, started with a focus on crisis pregnancies, but it has grown to better serve all of its community needs.
JoAnna Weldon, Answers CEO/founder, was the guest speaker at the Nov. 30, 2021, Kiwanis Club of Starke meeting. She talked about the evolution of Answers and some of the ways it seeks to help those in the counties of Bradford, Clay, Union, Alachua and Putnam.
“We’ll serve any community, but those are the main ones we serve,” Weldon said.
Answers opened in Keystone Heights in 2011. Weldon, who experienced pregnancy as a teenager, saw it as a way to help young women walk that same path she had to. It didn’t take long, though, for the center to offer so much more.
“We realized in the community of Keystone, where we started, the needs were so much more vast than just crisis pregnancy, so we expanded our services to really just serve women in any type of situation,” Weldon said, adding that such situations could include a single mother who’s struggling to raise her children or a woman who’s experiencing domestic violence.
Weldon said once the scope of Answers’ mission expanded, it was soon determined that efforts needed to be focused on preventing some of the situations that women were facing.
“We were kind of entering those situations as a crisis was happening or after the crisis happened,” Weldon said. “Though we still do that — and that is needed — what we recognized was, let’s be smart. Let’s be smarter and do some crisis prevention.”
One of the results of that thinking was the formation of the BEAT girls club for junior-high and senior-high students at Keystone Heights High School. BEAT, which stands for “Becoming Empowered, Assertive Teens,” has since expanded to Bradford County schools, though the clubs there aren’t meeting now due to campus restrictions due to COVID-19.
“We quickly realized what a need there was for that club,” Weldon said. “What we’re realizing in all of our regional area is that we’re not just dealing with fatherless generations. We are dealing with motherless generations. We have a lot of children who are being raised by grandparents or who are sleeping on friends’ couches.
“It’s a huge need for kids to be able to learn life skills that they’re not learning at home.”
Weldon said BEAT meetings consist of things that girls are saying they want to learn about.
“One week, we might be doing facial hair and skin care,” Weldon said. “That sounds so silly, but it’s not. Nobody’s taught them how to care for their skin. Nobody’s taught them about hygiene.”
That would be considered a “light” topic. Weldon said weekly meetings alternate between “light” and “heavy” topics so the girls aren’t constantly exposed to “super-serious stuff.”
Some of that “super-serious stuff” centers around the “heavy home-life situations” girls are dealing with, Weldon said, adding, “A lot of them are struggling with self-harm and cutting. A lot of them are struggling with suicidal thoughts and depression and anxiety. Their identity is very lost right now.
“We’ll talk about those things. We’ll bring in a mental healthcare professional to talk about those warning signs and when you need to get help.”
Another benefit of BEAT is that it provides a bridge to Answers.
“These girls now have a safe place to go other than school where they have people who have their back,” Weldon said. “They have people who are there to support them. If they need more long-term care, they can find that at Answers.”
People in crisis need more than 1 answer
Weldon said she and those who work with her at Answers realized that those who seek help during a crisis need “wraparound” care. It’s not addressing one issue and believing that a person’s life then becomes “all rosy.”
“It’s not just one and done,” Weldon said.
Answers wants to do more than simply help someone overcome a crisis. That’s why it offers such things as a Life Skills curriculum that consists of such topics as “Depression and Suicide,” “Home Health,” “The Monster of Debt,” “Credit Scores,” “Successful Family Living” and “Finding a Job.”
The curriculum is accessible in person or via streaming on an electronic device.
“You pick the topics you want to learn about,” Weldon said. “For every five sessions completed, you earn a gas card. It’s just a simple process, but they’re earning something while they’re learning these skills.”
Weldon said Answers has advocates who talk with people and help them along the way, so it’s not just a process of simply accessing the Life Skills curriculum on your own, earning your gas card and then you’re done.
We all come up against a “brick wall” in our life from time to time, but that wall is harder to climb if you’re in crisis.
“They need an advocate to help walk them through that process so they don’t turn around and give up,” Weldon said.”
Providing care during a pandemic
The Answers office had to close temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic due to staffing limitations, though the Keystone office remained open. People in Starke and Bradford County, though, continued to receive care.
“Anyone who had a need in Bradford County, we either were able to come and meet them over here, or they were able to get a ride to us in Keystone,” Weldon said. “Nobody over in this area was denied any services.”
Weldon and her Answers team have been a lot busier since the pandemic began. She said Answers used to average 30 client contacts a month.
“Now, we are 200-plus steady running for almost two years,” Weldon said. “Needless to say, it is like a revolving door in both offices. In Keystone, that’s three days a week. We’re in Starke two days a week now. We could be in both offices (at the same time) five days a week easily and still be trying to breathe. The need is huge.”
That’s confirmed by more than numbers alone.
“We are not just seeing women,” Weldon said. “The pandemic really changed the makeup of the needs in our communities. Men are in need. Men need a place to start when crisis hits their family, when crisis hits their employment, when crisis hits their budget. Where do they go?
“Everybody needs a place to start…Answers has really become that place.”
To find out more about Answers, please visit findanswersnow.org. Answers also has a presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. (Search for “Find Answers Now.”)
You may also call the Keystone office (115 Commercial Circle) at 352-473-1000 or the Starke office (512 W. Weldon St.) at 904-964-7000.
