Kandiyohi County Board hears Woodland Centers, child services reports
Apr. 2---- The
heard a report Tuesday from Woodland Centers, whose client numbers leveled off to a more expected figure last year after a jump in 2023.
According to the report, the provider of mental health and substance use therapy served 4,762 clients in 2024, down from the 5,324 clients served in 2023, which was a jump of almost 600 clients the year prior.
"2023 was an anomaly. We served over 5,300 people. It was a huge bump for the year. I can't quite explain why that number went up so high. We are back on that normal trajectory of increasing the number comparative over the years," Chief Executive Officer of
Dr. Ashley Kjos said at the board's regular meeting Tuesday. She is a licensed psychologist.
Woodland Centers provides crisis, mental health and substance use services. The organization employs nearly 250 people, both in full- and part-time positions, in order to meet the needs of the seven counties it traditionally serves. Clients from outside of those counties make up 16% of the clients served in 2024.
Of the clients served, 36.25% came from
, remaining relatively in line with the percentage in previous years. Out of all clients served, 1,504, or 33.37%, were below the age of 18, according to the report.
The board also heard from Kandiyohi County Health and Human Services Director Caroline Chan on Tuesday, as well as Nicole Monson, Robyn Stryker and Stacy Gareis, child services supervisors in the department. The given report came as a part of a request for the board to make a proclamation of April as Kandiyohi County Child Abuse Prevention Month. The board approved the proclamation unanimously.
The county's ongoing child units are made up of 13 social workers and three case aides. According to Monson, at the end of 2024 a total of 171 cases were open; 106 of them are ongoing child protection cases and 65 are child welfare cases. The causes for these cases included parental substance abuse, child abuse or neglect and psychological abuse.
"I really appreciate hearing the numbers. I think it is so important, this presentation you gave. Taxpayers should know where their dollars are going and that we provide important services here. This is an area we don't hear much about," County Commissioner George Corky Berg said at the meeting.
Chan also presented information regarding the launching of a nine-month-long family resource center exploration project. This project, paid for in part by a grant from the Sauer Family Foundation, would determine community needs and how they would shape a potential family resource center.
The
invests in strengthening the well-being of children to help them thrive in their families and communities, according to its website. The foundation's work with
describes the centers as welcoming families to provide assistance or access other needed services, all to end child abuse and neglect.
According to Chan, the exploration process for a family resource center would attempt to gather input from 10,000 community members in order to determine their needs.
The input provided would then be used to determine the form that a local family resource center would take, whether it is a centralized location, multiple smaller locations or mobile services.
In order to reach the goal of 10,000 community members, the county will be hosting several focus groups and community conversations while putting out surveys and utilizing social and local media.
For more information on the County Board meeting or to view meeting documents for this and other county meetings, visit the Kandiyohi County website at
and look under the commissioners tab.
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