Community Counseling Program

Jack Formanek talked at the Treynor Optimist Club on Saturday, February 26 about the Community Counseling Program in Omaha, funded by the Methodist Hospital Foundation.  Jack helped start this free counseling program in Omaha High Schools in 1998.  They now have 17 full time counselors in the Omaha Community.

Jack Formanek has worked for twelve years at Benson High School.  There are full time counselors in all High Schools and Middle Schools in Omaha.  They work with school counselors to provide therapy as needed.

Jack spends three hours a day working at the Douglas County jail.  Then he works four hours and the High School and three hours counseling at a church.  There are eight churches in Omaha that provide space for counselors to work with youth.

Jack provided a lesson about roles people have within their minds.  He categorized the roles as Parent, Adult, and Child.  The parent role is an emotional one where the person balances between being critical and nurturing.  Guilt and shame are associated with this role.  The Child role is one of fun and play.  The person does what they want to do.  Fear is often associated with this role.  The Adult role is one of logic and facts, without emotions.  The person uses facts and consequences to solve problems and live life well.

Each person needs a balance between these different roles.  If the Parent role is dominant, they can experience anger, anxiety, and depression.  A person can be stuck in the Child role if they are abused, suffer a trauma, or are an addict.  These people often end up in jail or living off of others.