A Taste of Daemion Counseling Center

Sunday's taste of Berwyn event is one organizers hope will be just the first of an annual happening in the heart of Berwyn Village.  They hope it will also be fun with a heart as it is being organized as a charity fundraiser for the Daemion Counseling Center of Berwyn.

You may have seen Daemion's sign handing at the bottom of the T/E School District Network Operations Sign across from TE Middle School at the corner of Howellville and W. Conestoga Road in Berwyn.  While the Center rents space from the Tredyffrin Easttown School District, it is not a part of the district.

According to information on the Daemion Counseling Center website "it costs Daemion $100 per session to provide counseling.  Our clients pay on average $20 per session.  Each client must provide documentation of their household income and then a fee is established based on a sliding fee scale. The Taste of Berwyn and Beyond will raise much needed funds for Daemion Counseling Center and the people it serves."

Margaret Magee, Executive Director of Daemion Counseling Center talked with TE Patch about the non-profit Center and the services it provides to people with financial needs.

What does Daemion do?

We provide professioal mental health counseling to the uninsured, the under insured and those who can’t afford traditional therapy fees.

We work with the school district, we work with the local magistrates, we work with local attorneys and we provide drug and alsohol evuations as well as anger management evaluations and then follow-up classes to help those individuals.

People may have seen your sign across from T/E Middle School in a building that house TESD offices. Are you part of the school system?

We are not a part of the school system.  We actually rent space from the school system.  They have allowed us to be there for a long time and they’re very generous.  But we are separate entity and we have nothing to do with the school district other than the fact that we work with them.

How long has Daemion Counseling been around?

43 years.  I’ve been there a year as of last May.

What’s your role at Daemion?

I’m not a counselor, I’m an administrator.  It’s my job to make the community aware of what we do and to find money to support those activities.

Who are the counselors?

We have licensed counselors as well as licensed social workers.  And we also have an internship program where we work with the local colleges and they’ll provide us with an intern who is supervised by somebody who is licensed to do so and give them their start.

We do mood disorders, anxiety depression. Those are enough to keep us busy.

If someone is interested in finding out about your services how do they go about that?

Basically call 610-647-1431, go on our website you can check us out.

Most of the people that call us don’t know exactly what they want. But if you call and say ‘this is what I’m experiencing, I’d like to talk to somebody about that, we’ll do a brief contact information over the phone.  Then they come in for what’s know as as an intake.  That intake gives an idea of what their goals and objectives are and how we can best help them. 

The majority of our clients come by word of mouth. We work closely with Surrey Services for Seniors.  People who have been to us and then recommend a friend to come to us.

One of the goals that I have is to raise the awareness about the services that we provide and I think this event is an opportunity to do that.

How did Daemion become involved in the Taste of Berwyn?

We were looking. What could we do that would be different?  I had heard about the (Taste of) West Chester event but I had never been to it.

30 Main was about to open its doors and I walked in there with another employee and we said ‘this is something we’re thinking about, what do you think?’ and Mike Dedminico said ‘I’d love to be a part of this.”

He agreed that he’d help us work it out, that he’d help us bring restaurants to the event.  We’ve had some bumps in the road, but this is our first year but I think there’s genuine interest so my hope is that is will be successful.

What are you hoping will be the end result of the first Taste of Berwyn?

The hope for this event is not only that we would bring the community together but that we would support a non-profit in the community such as Daemion.