First Day: Post 4

First Day made it a point to include counseling as a part of their services and that is something that has truly helped many residents to be able to put their lives back together.  With the investment in alleviating homelessness by Kaiser Permanente Foundation, First Day residents are able to receive counseling at no charge with those of the Intercommunity Counseling Center (ICC). "People who come here have a host of issues from dealing with childhood abuse to depression and feelings of grief and loss, so this is a way to effectively bring counseling to them," First Day Executive Director Ted Knoll told the Whittier Daily News.

The ICC works with non-profits like First Day and by doing so the two help each other. First Day receives people with experience to help their residents and the ICC has doctoral psychology students gain experience in their field of work and build skills.

"The training sites for psychology students have been drying up, so pairing up with First Day and other nonprofits in Whittier for our internship program seemed like a good fit," Dr. Rebecca Eberle-Romberger, executive director of Intercommunity, told Whittier Daily News.

First Day was the first nonprofit ICC worked with when it started the internship program. ICC provides private sessions with residents and once every week a counselor will come in the evening to share informal conversations with the residents. The program has proved to be successful in helping residents not only to overcome their homelessness, but to deal with the issues that led them to become homeless.

Together the Intercommunity Counseling Center and Whittier First Day work to create a mentally healthy community and believe that providing these services is a basic right that all people deserve to have.