MILWAUKEE — Since she was little, Milwaukee psychologist Dr. Ashely Schoof has always been intrigued by people and how their brain works.
"I really always had a passion for figuring out why people behaved the way they did," said Dr. Schoof.
That curiosity eventually led her to get her doctorate degree in psychology where she discovered the desire to help children.
"I got my first job in just plain outpatient counseling mainly seeing children that had developmental delays," said Dr. Schoof. "Things like autism or ADHD. That seemed to be solvable to me from a brain perspective."
But little did she know she'd soon be called to a higher purpose: Helping children with significant mental and behavioral health issues in a city that needed it the most.
"Funny enough story, I didn't really want to treat trauma at all. I thought that looked kind of scary until I got my first case with a kiddo that was in foster care," said Dr. Schoof. "I was missing an entire population of children that I would be able to serve."
Dr. Schoof is now the clinical director of the STRONG Milwaukee Center.
"It always has been the mission of STRONG, and I really believe in that mission, to help those who don't have access to that care anywhere else."
Since opening in 2021, Dr. Schoof has been actively advocating for each and every child who walks through the center's doors, fighting to make mental health care more accessible and affordable in order to help the city heal from the inside out.
"I treat every single person that walks through here like they are part of my family," she said. "I wouldn't do this if I didn't have hope."
And she says as long as she has breath in her lungs, she'll never stop advocating for her Milwaukee family.
"We truly care about these children, and I only do this job because of that."
