COLUMBUS, Ohio — A phone call. The phone call Christina Preston never wanted.
“I can’t describe the emotions that went through me as soon as she said that,” Preston said.
Her sister was on the other line telling her Preston’s niece had run away from home. She put out pleas on social media begging for extra eyes to be on the lookout. The reason her niece ran away, Preston says, was a little bit of everything.
“So many different stigmas and technology and social media…just everything,” she said.
Abbey Wollschleger gets that call a lot.
“Definitely some days are harder than others,” she said.
Wollschleger is the clinical director at Huckleberry House that works with youth dealing with difficult problems like abuse, neglect and homelessness. The organization helps them take control of their lives. In a typical month, Huckleberry House sees about 55 youth in its shelter. Once school begins in the fall, Wollschleger says that number goes up to about 75.
“The conflict gets pretty intense at home and then either the child leaves or the parent kicks them out,” she said.
Add COVID on top of that and Wollschleger says the boiling point comes much quicker.
“Because of COVID we have really seen an inability to really cope with a lot of the conflict at home,” Wollschleger said. “And by the time the child gets to us the parents are like ‘I am done, they can’t come home’.”
Preston says her niece, after a search that included the Frankin County Sheriff’s Office, Madison Township and Groveport law enforcement agencies, has been found. She says the voice of change lies with everyone not being afraid to speak up and to break stigmas associated with coping and mental health.
“Parents need to get together and be willing and able to talk without wondering how everybody’s going to perceive them and look at them about issues that their children are having,” Preston said.
Wollschleger encourages anyone to contact Huckleberry House for resources and says if they can’t help, they will point families in the right direction for community resources.