While treating mental health in communities across Louisiana, the Restore Outreach Center (ROC) now provides care across the country.

Restore Outreach Center is a mental health rehabilitation agency that works with children ages 5 to adults. They send professionals into homes and schools to provide counseling to children and adults suffering from mental illness such as anxiety, depression and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD), or experienced abuse or trauma.

ROC services a large region of the state. This region includes New Iberia, Loreauville, Jeanerette, St. Martinville, Broussard, Franklin, Baldwin, Lafayette, Opelousas, Crowley and Baton Rouge.

Now, ROC not only operates offices across the state, it recently established an office in Cleveland, Ohio in January 2023. Peaches Mitchell traveled there to train the staff. ROC plans to open another office in Dallas by the end of the year.

Prior to serving as Director of Operations for Restore Outreach Center Peaches, Mitchell worked in childcare protection for the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services (DCSF) for 10 years, four of which years she supervised the foster care unit.

Because school guidance counselors must split their attention between large groups of students, many children don’t receive the specialized mental health care they need. When these kids leave school, parents subsequently struggle to manage their behaviors. Mitchell believes people require a personal touch beyond the classroom environment. She said ROC is unique because it provides this specialized care.

“When it comes to making a treatment plan, we’re going to work directly with the clients’ goals,” Mitchell said. “We want to make sure that it’s tailored to the individual’s needs. We can’t just have a basic treatment plan. You can have a lot of people diagnosed with depression but it can be all kinds of different issues causing the depression whether it’s grief, whether it’s a child being bullied, whether it’s parents going through a divorce.”

Specialized care requires specialized workers, so ROC pairs workers with patients based on their specific needs.

“Let’s say we get a child that came in with suicidal ideations. We’re not going to put a worker with them that has only dealt with children with ADHD,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said ROC often treats individuals facing a challenging family life, including those with incarcerated or deceased parents, whether they are being raised by siblings, grandparents, or others. Mitchell believes it’s important to involve parents in their children’s development. ROC maintains contact with incarcerated parents by sending them progress updates. Upon release, ROC will work to incorporate the parent in the planning process.

“That helps maintain the family unit by having the parents involved,” Mitchell added.

The entire process takes roughly two weeks and starts with a referral, which allows the client to be assessed. After assessment, they coordinate with insurance companies to obtain approval for treatment of the client.

Mitchell said she has appreciated her time with ROC because it focuses on maintaining bonds within the family unit.

“Seeing the smiles we get from families when they’ve been in treatment is incredibly rewarding,” Mitchell concluded.