Hawthorn Heights, located in Bryson City, has reopened and is now operated by a local, independent nonprofit.
Jessica Webb
editor@thesmokymountaintimes.com
Closed since last spring, Hawthorn Heights rescue teen shelter reopened recently under the management of the newly formed local nonprofit, Hawthorn Heights WNC.
Kara Long, executive director, shared her jubilation in being able to serve the youth once again. “We really are over the moon excited,” she said. “It’s the best feeling to announce we’re back open. This has been a long road. Our team loves this so much and loves working with kids, so to get back to doing what we love is huge for us. We’re very happy to be doing what we’re doing.”
The reopening took a bit longer than was predicted, in part due to the pandemic. Long said when they first submitted the licensing application to the state, they were told it would take about six months. In the end, it was nearly 1 ½ years.
She was a bit surprised at some of the structural upgrades required at the facility since it was renovated in 2015. While the work was mostly minor, like increasing sprinklers, there was some delay in getting contractors to complete the work.
Long expressed her gratefulness for the support to reopen the shelter.
“There were a lot of community members county commissioners and court counselors just different people who advocated for us. We definitely appreciate it,” she said.
The reopening is good news for the community at large particularly given that needs increased during the challenges of last year.
“Since our closure last year, there has been a huge gap in the continuum of services,” she said. “Just residential services were not that robust in our area, and we were hearing from Vaya Health that they were getting a ton of phone calls for kids, a lot came from family conflict and increased stress in the home. That’s really our target population is those kids who have an immediate need for placement out of a home where there is chaos or conflict.”
The house, located in Bryson City, has 9 individual bedrooms, which is a benefit when it comes to having flexibility to serve more children.
Long said Hawthorn Heights is fortunate because the majority of the previous staff has returned. “Between just the supervisors here, we have over 35 years of experience,” she said.
They all have training, which includes a variety of skills such as de-escalation, CPR and first aid and being sensitive to working with LGBTQ kids.
Most of the youth at the shelter continue attending high school locally, or continued with virtual learning. They are also connected with counseling including substance use education and even family sessions for those families who that would be the best option to get the child back into the home.
The residents also learn independent living skills beginning with how to maintain an household and fulfill responsibilities like doing their own laundry every week. Some even get help with finding local jobs and building resume skills.
Among current needs are a donation of a laptop and funding to have at-home rapid Covid tests. The nonprofit is also hiring for some part-time positions.
Those interested in learning more or helping support Hawthorn Heights WNC can go online to hawthornheights.org.