ASHLAND —
Hope’s Place, the Ashland-based advocacy center for victims of child sexual abuse, has a new executive director.
She is Brandi Bayes, who brings a wealth of education and experience in counseling to the position.
Bayes replaces Erica Myers, who left to open a new Orange Leaf frozen-yogurt franchise in the Ashland Town Center.
Bayes is a licensed counselor who has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in counseling from Lindsey Wilson College, along with an associate degree in criminal justice from Ashland Community and Technical College.
Prior to being hired by Hope’s Place, Bayes worked for Hand of Hope, which provides counseling and treatment for addiction. Prior to that, she said she had spent most of her career in the field of foster care.
She said she felt “blessed” to have been chosen as Myers’ successor by the Hope’s Place board of directors and “enthusiastic” about her new job.
“I have had the pleasure of working with Hope’s Place a number of times over the years, and I got to see from the inside out who they are what they do,” he said. “To think I’m now a part of that is very exciting.”
Tish Evans, president of the Hope’s Place board of directors, said the organization was as happy to have Bayes as she is to be there.
“She brings a lot of experience with kids and a lot of passion for kids that we’re very excited about,” she said.
Bayes said her main goal was to keep Hope’s Place operating with the same “class and integrity” it’s always had.
Bayes and her husband, David, live in Cannonsburg and have a 7-year-old daughter, Hayley.
Bayes isn’t the only new hire at Hope’s Place. Mark Cole recently joined the center as prevention educator. His role is to increase awareness of what he called the “epidemic” of child sexual abuse and to teach children and adults about how they can prevent it, how to recognize indicators of it and how to respond when they believe it has occurred.
Cole, 47, said he also planned to work to increase the community’s awareness of Hope’s Place and its mission.
Prior to accepting the grant-funded position with Hope’s Place, Cole worked for Time Warner Cable. He and his wife, Deborah, also have an Internet-based business, Safety Products Inc. The couple have three children.
Hope’s Place’s primary service territory is Boyd and Greenup counties. However, this year alone, the center has served 235 sexual abuse victims from 16 Kentucky counties, as well as Ohio and West Virginia. The majority of the victims have been between the ages of 3 and 5.
Services provided by Hope’s Place include medical examinations, forensic interviews and counseling and advocacy. All are provided free of charge to the families of victims.
According to statistics provided by Hope’s Place, one in four girls and one in six boys suffer sexual abuse prior to turning 18.
KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or
(606) 326-2654.
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Hope's Place hires new director, prevention educator
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