Chamber Member of the Week: Future Forward Behavioral Health
“There is something about knowing what good treatment can do for children,” she said. “It can change the whole trajectory of their life. The thought of being able to be a facilitator in setting a kid on a better path or happier, more fulfilling path is what I love.”
Future Forward Behavioral Health has been a goal and dream of Holman for a long time, and she is adamant about how her practice will operate.
“My goal is not to fix kids; that’s not what I do. Kids aren’t broken; they don’t need fixing,” Holman said. “I’m not willing to take shortcuts. I’m stubborn, and it serves me well in this endeavor. Everything children need they already possess. They just need to be shown how to access the gifts that they already have.”
Future Forward Behavioral Health is located at 1020 Halifax Drive, Suite 102. For more information, visit their Facebook here, their website here, or call 270-713-0799.
After 23 years as a nurse, Anessa Holman opened Future Forward Behavioral Health, LLC last September. The practice offers behavioral health services to children of all ages in the greater Owensboro area.
Empowering children of all ages to discover their inner power and passion, Future Forward wants children to be looking to their future and moving forward toward happiness and success. Holman is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner and relishes the opportunity to serve the children and families of the community.
“Caring for our community’s children is my passion,” Holman said. “I believe that through focused community collaborations and the use of traditional and non-traditional treatment modalities, all children can achieve their goals and thrive.”
Before opening Future Forward, Holman provided psychiatric treatment for children and adolescents in an inpatient mental health hospital setting. Caring for patients in acute care and long-term settings, she specialized in serving children and adolescents suffering from trauma and those with neurocognitive disorders such as autism.
In 2018, the American Nurses Credentialing Center awarded Holman with national certification and the designation of Psychiatric mental Health Nurse Practioner, Across the Lifespan.
Treatment plans at Future Forward focus on depression, anxiety, OCD, ADHD, mood disorders, and autism. Holman said the modalities prescribed are varied and individualized with the child’s and caregiver’s needs in mind.
Treatment could include medication management, psychotherapeutic services, neurocognitive evaluation, applied behavioral analysis, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and physical therapy.
Holman considers medication a small portion of the treatment plan, referring to it as a bridge for other therapies to work.
“Medications have their place, but I am not a huge proponent of medication alone,” she said. “Most of the time, it is just a temporary thing for kids as part of their treatment, like a Band-Aid. Some kids come here and simply do therapy.”
Holman admires the resiliency of the children she cares for and is constantly astonished by their ability to “bounce back.”
“There is something about knowing what good treatment can do for children,” she said. “It can change the whole trajectory of their life. The thought of being able to be a facilitator in setting a kid on a better path or happier, more fulfilling path is what I love.”
Future Forward Behavioral Health has been a goal and dream of Holman for a long time, and she is adamant about how her practice will operate.
“My goal is not to fix kids; that’s not what I do. Kids aren’t broken; they don’t need fixing,” Holman said. “I’m not willing to take shortcuts. I’m stubborn, and it serves me well in this endeavor. Everything children need they already possess. They just need to be shown how to access the gifts that they already have.”
Future Forward Behavioral Health is located at 1020 Halifax Drive, Suite 102. For more information, visit their Facebook here, their website here, or call 270-713-0799.
By John Kirkpatrick The Owensboro Times