March is Social Worker Appreciation Month, and thanks to the Children’s Services Fund of Jackson County, CCVI has now hired a full-time social worker!   

With an onsite social worker, CCVI can now provide a more formal and consistent offering of emotional and mental health services to our children and families. Having on-site access to these services allows CCVI to meet families and their children where they are, as opposed to referring them elsewhere.    

Meet Kiara Ohle  

Kiara is a 2014 graduate from KU with a Masters in Clinical Social Work. She has done therapeutic work in residential and school settings providing services to children, teens, and families in the non-profit sector.   

As a play therapist, Kiara says “I see behavior as a means of communication used to express underlying needs. My role is to assist in the process of exploring and addressing underlying motivations underneath behavior in the individual and family context. I am a firm believer that when we incorporate play, we connect to a part of ourselves which is crucial in the healing process of any age”.  

It’s just as important to support the families as it is for the children who attend CCVI. Families have various things they deal with, and when your child has a visual impairment a new set of challenges arises. The unknown of the future can be scary and difficult to handle alone, but having another person to help with these anxieties and struggles can be incredibly helpful and even life-changing.  

Kiara takes an individualized approach when it comes to care. Whether it’s with a parent, caregiver, teacher, or child, meeting each person where they are through a collaborative approach is how she best offers her support and expertise. 

Recently, Kiara has started socioemotional group sessions in the classrooms and has had several parents approach her about individual parental support.  

“That really makes me smile,” says Kiara. 

Although she has only been at CCVI for a short time, Kiara and Danielle Schulte, Director of Therapy and Early Intervention Services, have been working together to explore ways to provide this new service beyond the CCVI building. Down the road, they plan to work closer with EIP families and the MOVE Program.