The Peru Gazette

The Board of Directors of the Samaritan Family Counseling Center (SFCC) announces that the Center, with offices in Peru and Plattsburgh, will close at the end of August, 2015. The board has taken this action, in part, because of two staff retirements and an additional staff member reducing her hours of availability. The difficulty of receiving insurance payments for mental health services provided was also a large factor in creating financial difficulties which became insurmountable.

The SFCC has been in existence since 1980 when it started as an outreach ministry of the Keene Valley Congregational Church. More recently, the Center has been supported as part of the outreach ministry of the Peru Community Church, the First Presbyterian Church of Plattsburgh, and the Presbytery of Northern New York. Two foundations, the CVPH Foundation and the Charles R. Wood Foundation, were instrumental in sponsoring a project to provide counseling for students facing academic risk and their families at the Au Sable Valley Central School.

The Samaritan counseling program emphasizes the relationship of mental, spiritual and physical well-being. This concept is implemented through counseling services provided by a team of professionals working together–including therapists, clergy and physicians. The SFCC is accredited by the Samaritan Institute and is one of 80 counseling centers affiliated with the Institute, with offices in more than 200 cities across the United States and in Japan which provide professional and values-centered counseling, education, and support to people in need.