Photo by Mike Lamb The "neutral space" inside the New Horizons Crisis Center provides a place for staff to meet with families in crisis.

The New Horizons Crisis Center held an open house a couple of weeks ago at its current location near the corner of Main and Fourth streets in downtown Marshall.

The center shares a retail building with a number of retail outlets. I walk past this building daily on my way to the Main Stay Coffee Cafe located across the street before I head to the Independent office in the morning. While I have noticed the New Horizons Crisis Center, I was in for a little surprise.

If you are not familiar with this nonprofit organization, its website states a mission “to advocate for, support and empower those impacted by crime, while providing education and resources for our communities and partners.”

Once inside, I was immediately greeted by a handful of New Horizons staff members and an invite to enjoy a hot dog and chips. Executive Director Carrie Buddy introduced herself and took me on a tour.

And that’s where it got interesting. The amount of space was larger than I was expecting.

“So right here is our client services space to provide services to sexual assault services and general crime victims, Buddy said while we stood in the front part of the center. “The only crime we really are not the primary responder for is domestic violence. People come in here for support, assistance with court orders trying to identify other resources. They might come in here and call the county attorney’s office with us to have a supported call or law enforcement or whatever.”

The office visit might also include getting victims contacted with the Food Shelf, housing services, counselors or other community services. Buddy also said staff might have to leave the office with the victims to accompany them to the courthouse for hearings, to medical emergency services for a law enforcement interview.

“We have a crisis line so that we are available twenty-four-seven. That’s how we end up at either the emergency room or law enforcement centers,” Buddy said.

Buddy did provide numbers when it comes to dealing with crime victims. Between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024, there were 23 sexual assault cases and 24 general crime cases for Lyon County. Between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025, there were 15 sexual assault cases and 26 general crime cases.

From the front office, I was led through a short hallway to a much larger room that contained a long table with chairs, couch with other furniture and toys. Yes, toys.

Buddy calls it a “neutral space.”

“The other thing we do from this office is parenting time. So what parenting time is, it’s a program in which parents are estranged from their children for safety-based purposes. It could be because they’ve done drugs,” she said. “But a lot of times it can be orders for protection harassment. There could have been an assault issue regarding the child.”

A fully supervised visit with a staff member might be in order.

The room can also be used for safe exchange of a child between two parents.

“Might not be where a parent has to be supervised the whole time, but the parents shouldn’t have contact with each other. It could be a violence related issue, it could be just unhealthy — contentious divorce. The child doesn’t need to see that interaction between the two parties.”

The next room contained another office space or where more parenting time can be done. Buddy said it can get busy, so two rooms are needed

Buddy explained they were actually in much smaller space on Fifth Street which wasn’t quit big enough. She also explained why they needed the larger space. So, the moved to the Main Street location in 2022.

“We have some larger families that literally have up to seven kids, and so imagine trying to visit for two hours in a little space,” she said. “This is way more ideal.”

She also said on some busy nights, food might be brought in. There are also lots of activities and rooms are setup for certain activities.

Between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024 there were 742 scheduled Parenting Time Program scheduled visits with 72 guardians and 70 children for Lyon County. Between July 1, 2024 and June 20, 2024, there were 819 scheduled visits involving 39 guardians and 98 children.

The numbers tell you the services offered by the New Horizons Crisis Center are severely needed.

New Horizons Crisis Center serves victims of crime and their families in Lincoln, Lyon, Murray and Redwood counties. There are also centers located in Redwood Falls, Slayton and an office on the Southwest Minnesota State University campus.

And why is this center located on Main Street in the downtown Marshall area?

Well, I think it’s simple: Location, location, and space.

People and families in crisis need help. They need a safe place to go and that place needs to be easily accessible to victims. And like Buddy emphasized during the tour — that space needs to be large enough to accommodate not only lots of people traffic, but large families.