HOPE Services at Cummins
For many of us, children hold a special place in our hearts.
Children represent the best parts of humanity. We often think of them as innocent and pure. This makes it all the more upsetting if our child begins to engage in sexual behaviors that are inappropriate and harmful to themselves or others.
Cummins Behavioral Health is proud to provide assistance to families who are struggling with this situation. Our service program known as Healing for Optimal living through Protective factors and Education (or “HOPE”) is designed specifically for families that are experiencing patterns of harmful sexual behavior.
How Our HOPE Services Work
A child or teen may exhibit harmful sexual behaviors for a variety of reasons. For example, they may be struggling to heal from past sexual trauma, or they might not know how to appropriately communicate their wants and needs.
Our service program works with youth to uncover the route causes of their behavior, then helps them understand how they can meet their needs in healthy, constructive ways. We also work with the whole family to provide emotional support and address any dysfunctions in the family system. Parents and guardians are involved in every step of treatment to ensure that family beliefs about sex and sexuality are respected.
If you are getting started in services or considering seeking services, we invite you to watch the two short introductory videos below.
More Information about Our HOPE Services
For even more information about the nature of harmful sexual behavior and how our services address it, you can read these two articles from our blog, featuring Cummins’ Director of Specialty Programs, Ashlee Prewitt.
Meet Our Treatment Team!
Our HOPE services are now available in Marion, Hendricks, Putnam, and Montgomery counties. We hope to extend services to Boone County in the future, but for now, consumers in Boone county may be connected with a provider in Marion County or Montgomery County.
Depending on the county you receive services in, one of the providers below will act as your primary clinician.
Laura Braun, LMHCA (Marion County)
Laura has enjoyed being a mental health therapist since 2018. Professionally, she has served this field as a community-based therapist and an individual therapist for children, adolescents, and adults. She has been given the opportunity to strengthen her clinical framework by providing Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Play Therapy techniques, Trauma Focused-CBT, Certified Individual Trauma Informed Therapy, and best practice treatment for adolescents that have engaged in sexually harmful and/or reactive behaviors. She has utilized her framework to provide services and support to children and their families including but not limited to individual therapy and family therapy.
Allen Graham, MMFT (Marion County)
Allen is enthusiastic about helping others to heal and to grow. He started working in mental health in 2014 as a life skills specialist at an inpatient setting. He worked primarily with adolescents and children, helping them to build Dialectical Behavior therapy skills. Since completing his Master’s in Marriage, Couples, and Family Therapy, he has worked with a diverse population with a variety of challenges. This has allowed him to further develop his clinical framework, building his understanding in Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Trauma Focused CBT, Feedback-Informed Treatment, Structural Family Therapy, and Internal Family Systems.
Jeremy Haire, LMHC (Montgomery County)
Jeremy started his career working with youth and families in 2005 after volunteering in an after-school program. He has served in several roles as a volunteer, case manager, community-based therapist, home-based therapist, school-based therapist, group therapist and a supervisor. He loves having the opportunity to make an impact in the lives of children and their families. It is important to him that youth feel respected and they learn there is hope in recovery. During his career, he has been given the opportunity to receive training to strengthen and improve his clinical skills. Some examples are: Motivational Interviewing, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Family therapy techniques, Play Therapy techniques, Theraplay techniques, and Trauma Focused-CBT. He has used these skills to provide a variety of services that include intake evaluations, risk assessments, individual and family therapy, group therapy, skills training, and case management.
Christina Kerns, MSW, LSW (Montgomery County)
Social work has always been the right profession for Christina because of the overwhelming passion she has for helping individuals meet their mental, physical, social, and spiritual needs. She strives to understand all difficulties by encouraging individuals to challenge themselves to make a change in their own lives. Over the past nine years, she has developed a strong clinical skill set through the combination of education and practical experience. She provides therapeutic services for children, families, and individuals by utilizing an integrated approach tailored to their unique needs. She has also worked with a variety of diverse populations within the community. She understands the benefits of both professional and personal development throughout a lifespan and would consider herself a lifelong learner. She cultivates new opportunities by learning additional skills and techniques to assist all individuals. In addition, she has gained extensive experience in policy and public health research under the guidance of a research team and a fellowship. She encompasses advocacy and prevention surrounding the mental health of Putnam County’s residents, as seen through her work as Co-President for Mental Health America of Putnam County (MHAoPC). She works hard to establish financial stability and sustain community partnerships.
Kendra Solana, LSW (Putnam County)
Kendra is from a small rural town that suffers from mental health stigma, and it has been her goal to continue challenging that mental health stigma on the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. She graduated from Indiana State University with her Bachelor's in Social Work in 2020, and with her Master's in Social Work in 2021. She has interned with community mental health centers for the last 2.5 years, two being with Cummins, with a focus on working with the addiction population, i.e. IOT, life skills training, and case management. She was then offered a permanent position with Cummins prior to graduating with her masters. She was privileged enough to continue her professional development with those who supported her academic success, as well as found the inspiration through the Cummins team to take on the position she now fulfills. The position includes completion of intake assessments, collaboration with juvenile probation/DCS and their youth/families, focus on the high-risk youth population, and she facilitates the adolescent relapse prevention group. Thank you to our youth, families, affiliates, and team for allowing me to be a part of their processes! Recovery is possible.
Erica Bostic (Putnam County)
Erica has been a provider supporting children and families since 2020. Her aspiration to help this underserved community has been her passion since she can remember. She started this career path in 2015 at Indiana State University by choosing to study social work. She served as an intern at a nursing home and the Salvation Army, but instantly learned that her passion was working with youth. In 2019, she started her master’s program at IUPUI and chose the school track in hopes of becoming a School Social Worker. She interned at Northwood Elementary school and was amazed at all the opportunities to help children within the community. When COVID-19 hit that school year, it opened her eyes to how desperately the field and community needed the extra supports and services that she could potentially provide. Through her education, she has been given the opportunity to improve her clinical framework by utilizing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, play therapy, Trauma Focused-CBT, Mindfulness, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. Through these techniques and her current position as a School Based Therapist with Cummins Behavioral Health Systems, she can offer a wide range of services and supports to children and families in the community by providing skills training, individual therapy, and family therapy.
Stacey Bostian-Miller, MS, LMHC, NCC, CSA (Hendricks County)
Stacey has had the enjoyment of being in the helping field for almost 25 years. While most of her work in the helping field thus far has been in the dental field working with people of all ages, she switched careers in 2017 and went into the mental health field. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with a concentration in childhood and adolescent development and a Master of Science degree in Mental Health Counseling and has been employed with Cummins Behavioral Health Systems Inc. since October of 2017, where her role is a school-based therapist for kindergarten through 4th grade. She has also had the opportunity of working with adolescents, teens, families, couples, adults, and domestic violence survivors. Prior to her time as a mental health counselor, she volunteered as a CASA in Boone County and volunteered with Mental Health America of Hendricks County, where she went to elementary schools and presented puppet shows focusing on mental health and social topics. She is always excited to engage in trainings to further her knowledge, improve her skills, and keep up with the latest evidence-based interventions. She truly enjoys trauma work and play therapy techniques and is working toward a Certificate in Trauma Studies as well as focusing on becoming a Registered Play Therapist. Her most recent venture is beginning to work with adolescents who have engaged in sexually harmful and/or reactive behaviors.
Ready to inquire about our HOPE services?
Give us a call at (888) 714-1927 to speak with someone about your specific situation and treatment options. Our care providers will treat your family with the respect they deserve and work to inspire hope that recovery is possible.
