Seva Health Center for Well-being continues brain health support and advocacy

Clayton County based non-profit Seva Health Center for Well-being continues to focus on supporting brain health for all ages. That has included community programming like a Mindfulness Story Hour at Murphy Helwig Library in Monona over the summer. (Submitted photo)
By Audrey Posten | Times-Register
Building off the work of the past few years, Clayton County based non-profit Seva Health Center for Well-being continues to focus on supporting brain health.
“We stepped back and said, ‘What can we focus on to make the biggest impact?’” said CEO and founder Jessica Goltz. “Through an evaluation, and we did some community surveys, we found the two biggest things that are barriers to people improving their mental health are lack of understanding how to do that beyond clinical appointments or therapy appointments and then a lack of support beyond those appointments to be able to implement some of those changes.”
Seva Health works with all ages in one-on-one as well as group settings. One area of support is in brain, or mental, health coaching. Focus can range from stress management to setting goals.
“It can be anywhere from what are you going to do when you’re done with high school to I’m in a career I’m not happy with. How do I move on from that career? Whatever those stressors may be, we help them through that,” Goltz explained. “We also can provide supportive conversations in between therapy appointments and help them implement techniques a therapist might recommend for them. We can also see individuals even if they’re not in therapy.”
“A big part of that is helping them develop coping techniques for anxiety, depression, stress management and burnout,” she added. “In addition to brain health coaching, we also provide mind-body coaching, so helping people learn those coping skills and put them into practice.”
Additionally, Seva Health supports youth through two contracts with Iowa’s Department of Health and Human Services. The first, a youth support group, is for kids age 12 to 18 who are at risk of entering juvenile court.
“We have a lot of kids who are at risk of developing clinical level depression or anxiety symptoms,” Goltz said.
The other contract focuses on youth who have been diagnosed with learning challenges like ADHD, dyslexia and dysgraphia. The program helps them develop executive function skills, “so we work on time management, organization, emotional regulation, which is really a hard thing for youth these days,” Goltz noted.
Another focus for Seva Health is community programming, such as a Mindfulness Story Hour at Murphy Helwig Library in Monona over the summer and education on stress management and burnout.
The organization has also focused on advocacy and conversations at the local and state levels. In partnership with the Clayton County Brain Health Coalition, Seva Health has met with key stakeholders who know what is needed in area communities and how the group can make a bigger impact at the county level.
“One of the biggest things is there are state dollars and that funding often goes to crisis or after first episode psychosis funding, and it goes to larger cities and not rural areas,” Goltz said. “We’re really pushing for funding to go more to rural areas and funding for prevention and early intervention.”
Goltz is part of the Iowa Integrated Health Planning and Advisory Council, which works to educate legislators on more holistic approaches to brain health.
“It’s not just therapy and medication; there are a lot of other things that can be very helpful,” she said.
Recently, Goltz was selected as one of two Iowans with The Mental Health Literacy Collaborative, an interstate coalition that brings individuals together to discuss mental health literacy, or understanding the brain, for education in schools and organizations.
“We’ve also represented Clayton County in conversations about school safety. The Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque is leading those efforts,” Goltz added.
The overall goal, stressed Goltz, is to support anyone of any age.
“We have heavily supported youth, and a lot of funding we’ve found is youth focused, which is why we have some of those contracts,” she said. “But there is a lack of support for adults, for sure. I also think adults are not always wanting to seek support because there’s a stigma around it.”
Goltz recalled a conversation with an adult who was struggling with stress and burnout. While the word “therapist” seemed scary, the offer of “coaching” was more palatable.
“It’s interesting how even just the words we use make an impact on if a person wants to seek help,” she said. “And there are so many things. Therapy and medication are great, but it doesn’t re-wire the brain. It doesn’t remove trauma. It doesn’t teach coping skills. A lot of things can be done outside of that. Therapy and medication are just one avenue you can take.”
Plus, said Goltz, “there are so many barriers to therapy in our area: accessibility, insurance, long wait times, long distance travel. We need something in between.”
Goltz is most proud of filling that need in communities, and is excited to do more.
“I see this opportunity to be more innovative to fill those gaps. I’m excited about being part of those conversations, that we can continue to advocate for change in how we approach mental health,” she said. “We have approached it the same way for so many years and have not seen the results we want to see. We’re at a crossroads where we need to decide, because so many individuals need that support...I’m proud of the support we’ve provided, even if it’s on a small scale. Just helping one individual can make a big difference.”
“We have services available,” Goltz added. “Reach out if you’re curious about how we can support your family.”