Lincoln’s Malone Center ‘overwhelmed’ by demand for mental health care

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – The Malone Center is standing in the gap to provide resources for mental health, but the great need in Lincoln has a therapist there concerned.

Lawrence Gardiner has worked with the Malone Center since 2020 and said it offers traditional therapy and exercise-based therapy.

The latter type of therapy works to balance dopamine responses in children who tend to be hyperactive or impulsive.

“The feedback is better, the participation is better, the engagement is better, the consistency is better versus the traditional sit-down model,” he said.

Gardiner’s work caters to Black youths, and he said he’s not aware of other programs that provide therapy in the capacity he does.

“I think that’s the importance of the Malone Center campaign to build a bigger facility,” he said. “Because we are just not able to provide the services and the programming that is needed for the population here.”

As the sole therapist working for the Malone Center, Gardiner says he is “overwhelmed.”

There’s currently a two-month wait to receive assistance.

“We provide such a needed service because it’s our population depending a lot on the resources,” he said.

Gardiner said programs that don’t focus as much on the Black community “receive all the resources we need.”

“If we had it here, we could expand our services and serve those needs even more,” he said.