Meeting people where they are, Home for Families is bringing free on-site mental health support to clients through a new partnership with Hidden Roots Mental Health.

Home for Families is one of the largest providers of non-shelter housing for families facing housing insecurity in central Ohio. This largely includes both low-income families, single moms and young adults in Columbus.

Since January 2026, Hidden Roots has placed a licensed social worker at the Home for Families office in Columbus to provide counseling to the nonprofit’s clients.

The partnership seeks to address the trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resulting from generational poverty, chronic housing insecurity, recent shelter stays, or experiences with domestic violence.

The Home for Families president and CEO, Beth Fetzer-Rice, said the partnership can instill both emotional and physical safety for clients as they transition to more secure housing.

“An overwhelming number of our families are in need of mental health support… Experiencing homelessness is very often the most traumatic experience someone has faced in their life,” Fetzer-Rice said.

“Mental health is one of the biggest issues, but it often falls down the ladder of importance.”

The mental health support is free of cost to both Home for Families and its clients as Hidden Roots bills Medicaid to fund its services, she added. Client sessions can be scheduled either in-person or virtually.

“We’re trying to make it low-barrier and easy access for them,” she said.

Creating holistic safety

Hidden Roots Mental Health is a nonprofit mental health service provider with locations in Virginia, Texas and Cincinnati.

As an organization, Hidden Roots was looking to expand into the Columbus region to provide case management, therapy and Therapeutic Behavioral Services.

Melissa Humbert-Washington, vice president of programs and services at Home for Families, spearheaded the initiative that now allows Hidden Roots clinician Crystal Gary to serve clients in Columbus.

As the partnership grows and develops, the hope is to add additional staff members to bring mental health support directly to Home for Families’ clients.

While she started the new role with Hidden Roots in January, Gary isn’t new to Home for Families’ programming. She previously worked for the nonprofit as the senior director of Continuum of Care (CoC) housing.

“I’m very familiar with all of their programs and how they assist clients with getting back to housing stability,” Gary said.

“Home for Families works with individuals who are dealing with trauma on a day-to-day basis, because they’re housing unstable. With that, there comes a host of other things that they’re dealing with, like depression, anxiety and food insecurity.”

Increasing access to mental health care

The partnership also is to bring on a case manager to teach life skills to children enrolled in Home for Families’ after-school programming.

“Many of our clients have reported that they need mental health services,” Humbert-Washington said in a press release.

“Waiting lists for care are often long. Since our clients already feel comfortable here, giving them the opportunity to meet with their housing case manager and a mental health services provider in the same space made sense.”

On behalf of Hidden Roots, Gary said there is so much excitement for the partnership and expanding services into Columbus.

“Being able to provide that support directly to the clients is so thrilling. It’s so exciting,” Gary said.

“It’s beyond anything that we could have imagined.”

This article was made possible by support from the Center for HumanKindness at The Columbus Foundation, which has partnered with The Columbus Dispatch to profile those making our community a better place. Help us lift up inspiring stories of kindness by suggesting people, initiatives, or organizations to feature by emailing kindness@dispatch.com. The Dispatch retains full editorial independence for all content. Learn more at Dispatch.com/Kindness.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Home for Families and Hidden Roots Mental Health provide counseling