24 Hour Helpline
The 24-Hour Helpline is often the first point of contact for families facing a crisis situation. The Helpline is staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by highly trained professionals. Our compassionate team is available to provide immediate crisis intervention, resources, and community referrals as needed to support families in the midst of crisis.
The Crisis Nursery works closely with referral partners across the region to provide comprehensive support for families and ensure that those whose needs do not align with the services we offer are connected quickly with another resource that can help.
Crisis Care
We know that the weight and responsibility of parenting can be overwhelming, especially when families are faced with a crisis and don’t have the support or resources they need. We believe that every family should have access to a safe haven for their children when life gets turned upside down.
Parents faced with emergencies such as a health crisis, unsafe housing or homelessness, domestic violence, community violence, lack of utilities, legal crisis, or overwhelming parental stress can reach out to the Crisis Nursery to access Crisis Care services for their children, birth through 12 years old, at any of our five 24-hour Nursery locations. Services are short term, typically 1-3 days, and completely voluntary.
Annually 96% of families who access Crisis Care services meet safety and stability goals set at intake by the time they discharge their children from care, ensuring their presenting crisis has been adequately addressed. Additionally, 99% of children who stay at the Crisis Nursery return home with their families, avoiding foster care placement and the trauma of family separation.
Crisis Care services include:
Individualized Therapeutic Interventions. Crisis Care staff are trained to incorporate these specialized interventions into the structure of each day, in order to help each child learn new coping and resiliency skills, as well as addressing any worries or fears that come up while the child is away from their parent.
Medical Screening and Intervention. Children staying at the Crisis Nursery for more than 24 hours receive a medical exam, provided on-site by our partnering physicians at the Institute of Family Medicine. Identified concerns are shared with parents and any necessary medication is provided free of charge.
Nutritious Meals and Snacks to ensure proper nutrition for children in our care, with specialized meal plans for children who have food allergies or dietary restrictions.
Developmentally Appropriate Play Activities. Our highly trained professional staff engage children in a variety of structured and free play activities throughout the day, tailored to meet the individual developmental needs of each child in our care.
Art and Play Therapy
Developmental Assessment. Children under age 6 are screened for developmental concerns. Results are shared with parents and referrals for additional supportive services are provided as needed.
Nurturing Therapeutic Care in a homelike environment with caring and compassionate staff engaged around the clock in providing the best care possible.
Take Home Supplies are available for families as needed, including diapers, wipes, infant supplies, clothing, toys, and books.
Family Empowerment
The Crisis Nursery’s unique Family Empowerment Program [FEP] provides individualized support to help families move beyond crisis into stability. Family Empowerment services are available to families in their homes or at 11 Community Family Empowerment Centers, located in communities across St. Louis City, St. Louis County, Jefferson County, East St. Louis, and St. Charles County.
Highly trained FEP Counselors and Social Workers offer crisis intervention, case management, strength-based counseling, and parenting support for families who have used Crisis Care services for their children. These services are also available free of charge for any families in the community with children under age 13.
Services are highly individualized, designed to meet the specific needs of each family with an emphasis on family safety and stability. Interventions include:
Immediate Crisis Intervention: Addresses the immediate needs of families in crisis through safety planning, basic needs support, and community referral.
Family Stabilization Case Management: Intensive support that connects families to resources and addresses barriers families may be facing in meeting their long-term safety and stability needs.
Strength-Based Counseling: Helps families address underlying issues that are causing distress or hindering progress toward goals. Family Empowerment professionals provide education and coaching to support families as they learn new coping skills and increase resiliency.
Parenting Support: Offers education and coaching around developmental milestones, positive behavior management strategies, and effective stress management to help families thrive.
Parent Education Groups: Parenting groups are available for families working individually with a Family Empowerment professional, or for those who just wish to connect with other parents and learn new skills in a group setting. Groups are offered across all of the counties served by FEP at varied locations and times.
In order to best address the needs of families in the communities we serve, the Family Empowerment Program also includes several specialized programs:
Latinx Outreach Program Offers FEP services entirely in Spanish, with an emphasis on meeting the unique needs of Latinx families. All services are provided by a team of bi-lingual and bi-cultural professionals.
Homeless Outreach Program Offers specific outreach and support for families living in shelters or facing homelessness, with a focus on goals around safe housing. The Homeless Outreach Program partners closely with a number of community partners focused on housing security.
Interested families who successfully graduate from the Family Empowerment Program are invited to join our Parent Advisory Board to offer ongoing feedback on program services and community needs.
Community Outreach
We know that reaching out for help can be hard, so we help families take the first step.
Canvassing
Our Family Empowerment Program professionals keep local businesses and agencies stocked with Crisis Nursery information and go door to door in neighborhoods across the region to make sure families know we are here to help.
Celebration Events
Every family needs time to celebrate. Throughout the year, often around special holidays, our team offers family celebration events with games, food, family activities, and give-aways to offer families the chance to spend quality time together in a safe, family-friendly environment. These events also offer the chance for families to learn more about all the services the Crisis Nursery can offer.
Boutique Days
When we have an abundance of supplies for families, we host boutique days for the community at our Outreach Centers, or on-site in neighborhoods around the region. Families in need can come shop for free for items they need for their families, including clothing, toys, books, hygiene supplies, diapers, and more. These events offer another opportunity for new families to learn about the Crisis Nursery.
Response Team
When tragedies occur, the Crisis Nursery is there to help. We pull together our response team to provide immediate crisis intervention and basic needs support on-site in communities impacted by violence or the tragic loss of a child to abuse or neglect.
The Healing Hearts program at the Saint Louis Crisis Nursery provides all kinds of art and play therapy interventions. Every child is an individual and comes to the Nursery with different life experiences. We know what works for one child may not work for another.
In Art and Play Therapy sessions, we provide a safe place, a safe person (a registered Art or Play Therapist), and an opportunity for children express themselves in an engaging, creative way.
For some children, the idea of seeing a traditional counselor may seem boring because their perception is that they are to sit and talk. Because art and play are the languages most natural to children, using toys, games, movement and various art supplies help engage and comfort a child to share their feelings and narratives in a way they can most relate.
Through art and play therapy, children build positive coping skills, positive self-esteem, and positive relaxation techniques and learn to identify, express and regulate feelings.
The Crisis Nursery’s Art and Play Therapists travel between all five nursery locations and also see children whose families are enrolled in the Family Empowerment Program.
In response to a growing need for trauma-informed mental health services for children, the Crisis Nursery has expanded Art & Play Therapy services into community day care centers. Through this service, children receive therapy sessions and early childhood professionals are provided training on Art & Play Trauma-Informed Therapy interventions to help children learn important coping skills to safely express their emotions both at home and in the classroom environment.
Art & Play Therapy
Through the Saint Louis Crisis Nursery’s Occupational Therapy Program, children presenting with potential developmental or social concerns receive a comprehensive occupational therapy evaluation, treatment plan, and intervention during their stay, as well as referrals for follow-up services.
The Crisis Nursery’s Occupational Therapist travels between all five Nursery locations, providing children with opportunities to build social skills, developmental skills, emotional regulation and coping techniques throughout their time at the Crisis Nursery.