Anchored in Unity, a regatta-themed fundraiser, will feature boats handmade by children who receive services at Unity Counseling. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

BY SHERI TRUSTY

Mike Kasperczyk, left, and Alicia Boreman opened Unity Counseling Services to focus on children’s mental health. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

PORT CLINTON – In 2016, Alicia Boreman and Mike Kasperczyk began collaborating to offer private counseling services. Since then, they have fostered a dream of operating a counseling practice focused on children. A year ago this month, they fulfilled that dream when they opened Unity Counseling Services with offices in Port Clinton and Genoa.

“Our passion has always been children and families, no matter where we worked,” Kasperczyk said.

Boreman and Kasperczyk worked in various settings both together and independently, and they pulled from those experiences to create Unity Counseling.

“We both worked for different mental health organizations, and we wanted to take the great things about each one and create a business that is clinic-focused and client-driven,” Boreman said.

Unity Counseling offers a variety of services for children, including individual counseling and case management. Case management focuses on connecting families to local resources to meet children’s basic needs, like housing and transportation. Community integration services help children build life skills, and Unity Counseling’s afterschool program, informally called Groups, focuses on a variety of services.

About thirty children from multiple school districts are currently enrolled in Groups. They are picked up by Unity Counseling staff and brought to the Port Clinton site, where they are fed dinner and then engage in fun activities to address specific skills. The youngest children work on socialization and personal growth, like improving impulse behavior. Preteens also work on socialization and learn skills like emotion regulation. Older teens learn life skills, like how to do laundry or a job interview.

“We pick up kids from schools in Port Clinton, Genoa, Fremont, Woodmore, Sandusky, Clyde and Gibsonburg, and we pick up kids from North Point Educational Service Center,” Boreman said.

Groups are also available on the weekend, where the focus is tied more to community engagement.

“We’re open seven days a week because mental health doesn’t stop on Friday,” Boreman said.

Unity Counseling collaborates with many local entities, including Ottawa County Job & Family Services, Ottawa County Juvenile Court and Sandusky County Board of Developmental Disabilities. The business recently partnered with CrossFit Port Clinton to offer exercise classes for the kids.

“CrossFit does a great job. They teach them concepts like ‘healthy body, healthy mind,’” Kasperczyk said.

Unity Counseling is working to grow its caregiver program, a support group for parents and caregivers.

“We talk about topics they want to talk about. We can provide transportation, and they can bring their kids and a staff member will take care of them,” Boreman said.

Once school ends, Unity Counseling will offer a summer program in Port Clinton and Fremont that will include fun field trips. Last summer, the staff took the kids bowling, to area parks and to Jungle Junction. This year, they hope to take the group to the Toledo Zoo and a baseball game and offer career exploration trips to area businesses.

On May 17 at 4:30 p.m., the business will host Anchored in Unity, a regatta-themed fundraiser that will raise money to pay for summer camp field trips. The event will include dinner, sideboards, raffle baskets, fun activities and more. Anchored in Unity will be held at Unity Counseling’s Port Clinton location at 1632 E. Perry St. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased by phone, on the website, or, if still available, at the door. Tickets include one admission, dinner, dessert and refreshments. Spirit tickets will be available to purchase at the event.

For more information, visit www.unitybhservices.com or the Unity Counseling Services Facebook page.