MTHA Introduces New Counseling Administrator
Jessica Hammond was looking for a new career path this spring that would allow her to return to her professional counseling roots. It was then her husband, Scott, saw an online posting.
“He was on Facebook and saw the MTHA [Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association] was looking for a counseling program administrator,” says Hammond, who recently turned 39. “He showed it to me and I thought, ‘Did they make this job for me?’ Who even knew there was such a thing that would combine horseracing and counseling? It’s perfect.”
Before becoming the new Assistance Coordinator for the Horsemen’s Counseling Program, Hammond spent 3 ½ years at Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) working in the emergency room as a social worker. She left in 2012 to manage her husband’s business, Somerset Racing, for four years and then, this past January, the whole family, including their son, Luke, moved to England to pursue another racing endeavor.
“My husband is from England, but the job didn’t work out for us and after 2 ½ months Scott and I returned home,” Hammond says. “But before we left, we got Luke, who turns 19 July 7, settled into the National Stud Diploma Course there. It was a six-month program and he graduated from that June 24. Now he’s taken a great job at Cheveley Park Stud in Newmarket [England], working the yearling prep program, getting horses ready for the sales.”
Back in Maryland, her husband, too, has settled into a new job, managing the new Timonium Off Track Betting facility at the Fair Grounds. With the two men in her life settled, it has allowed Jessica Hammond to rekindle her own career, enhancing the new, revamped Horsemen’s Counseling Program with her experience and familiarity with the industry.
A Maryland native, Hammond grew up in Baltimore and Harford County. She graduated from Bel Air High School, got her degree in psychology from Towson University and then doing her postgraduate work at the University of Baltimore in counseling psychology.
“When I saw this position advertised, I applied,” says Hammond, who replaces Jasmine Arian, who is pursuing other career opportunities outside of horse racing. “I worked for two months as a temporary employee and then was hired full time. I already knew a lot of people in the industry, because my husband had been training here for 25 years and I was a horse owner. It’s been a nice comfortable transition.”
She officially began her full-time duties July 1.
“Jessica brings a wealth of experience to the table to our newly revamped Counseling program,” said MTHA Executive Director David Richardson. “Not only does she understand the culture on the backstretch, which is huge, she has a ton of real world social work and counseling experience that our horsemen can utilize. We couldn’t be happier that she is a part of our team.”
During her part-time work at Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, she already has seen workers who are dealing with substance abuse, depression and anxiety, a fact she doesn’t find surprising.
“There are certain things you almost expect with the backstretch,” she says. “They have abnormal sleep schedules and people sometimes live there and have difficulty getting around. And then there are injuries that can lead to social and mental issues.
“But what I like is that the MTHA and MJC together have been working to improve the entire backstretch community. They have transportation services now and the new Medsar medical program which is second to non. It really is wonderful what they’ve been doing. And those services and what I do complement each other.”
Hammond is able to touch base with the doctors and transportation services when necessary.
“If a horsemen has an accident or injury or if they’re suffering from anxiety or the such, I can send them to our medical staff and have their treatment managed by professionals,” she says. “If someone needs social services or Medicaide/Medicare set up or have no way to get to an appointment or get a prescription, I can help schedule appointments and transportation to get them where they need to go.”
And the backstretch workers pay nothing, as the MTHA absorbs the costs as a perk for working within the Maryland racing industry.
The most important thing, says Hammond, is for people to know she is on site to help.
“I can help them with many things beyond substance abuse,” she says. “I can help with relationship issues, with work or financial stress or even if someone wants to pursue a GED and they don’t know how to get started, I can help get them to the right person and on the right path.”
She also has started an Alcoholics Anonymous group that had its first meeting June 29.
“The AA meeting is once a week at Laurel Park at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays,” she said. “Anyone interested in joining can call me or stop into the Rec Center the night the meeting is held. If people call me and we see the need at Pimlico we can work on starting a group there, too.”
She is based in the Rec Center at Laurel Park and in the MTHA Office at Pimlico. She is at Pimlico every Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. At Laurel, her schedule alternates each week. If it is a week when she is working Saturday, she is at Laurel Park, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. If she is off Saturday, she is at the Laurel track Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, with the hours the same, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
The schedule is posted in the Rec Center. Anyone wishing to call Hammond for information or help can reach her on her cell phone at 301-776-0404.
“I’m excited,” she says. “I just really like my clients and my coworkers and I am working in an industry I love. I’m hoping my pre-existing relationships here will help people want to come to see me. I really don’t think these services have been utilized enough by the backstretch employees. I don’t think enough of them know they’re available or that I’m here.
“But I like to talk a lot, so I’m going out into the Rec Center when people are there watching TV. I go out and introduce myself and tell them what I do. I’m letting them know if they need me, I’m here.”
