Emily Wachter grew up in Russell from age 12 and graduated from the Warren County Christian School in 1994.

Wachter said she spent most of her life babysitting and also doing respite care as soon as she was old enough to work with children with special needs. Attaining her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Roberts Wesleyan Christian College in Rochester, N.Y., Wachter went on for her Master’s degree in clinical psychology from Edinboro University. Wachter has worked in a variety of roles mostly in Warren County, adding work in Erie and other areas in 2018. Initially, she worked in children’s mental health, as a behavior specialist, mobile therapist, evaluator, and eventually transitioning to Early Intervention. With an extensive amount of experience in behavioral health, she taught psychology at NPRC (Northern Pennsylvania Regional College) and Gannon University for several years.

Wachter said, “It was neat to teach college age, and that helped me learn more about how to work with young adult parents. That adult learner piece is a whole different world.”

Following in the footsteps of her late mother, Dianne Sherman, who started the House of Hope, Wachter said, “I grew up being very aware of the needs of the community, because we also grew up very low income, so I have been aware of the needs of the community, aware of what poverty can do and how the supports are absolutely necessary for families, especially when they’re living on a super low income. If I hadn’t grown up that way, I wouldn’t have known. My mom raised my brother and I by herself for the majority of our lives, and did everything she could do. She worked in human services until she finished her Master’s and started counseling. Which then led to jail ministry, and then opened the House of Hope with church support, before she passed away in 2016.”

Founder of House of Hope, Dianne Sherman was a Warren County resident. Although she passed nearly a decade ago, Sherman made a huge impact on the community of Warren. Her daughter, Emily Wachter carries on her legacy to communities across the region.

When Sherman started the House of Hope, Wachter shared, “We knew her vision and her dream because she talked about it for years before it actually happened.”

A shared passion for helping people in the community, Wachter continues what most would call her mother’s legacy. She founded Emily Wachter Early Intervention Services, providing services for children from birth to age three in 6 counties in the northwestern corner of Pennsylvania. Qualifications are based on an evaluation, often a developmental delay or extreme behaviors are present.

Through the county, service coordinators and evaluators visit families and evaluate their skills and needs, and if the child qualifies they have the opportunity to participate in free services. Parents can then choose a provider to work with their family, which is an important piece, as allowing people into their homes and lives can be stressful. However, services can be in the home or daycare, anywhere that works and is comfortable for the family.

The expansion from one county (Warren) in 2017 to six counties by 2024, including Warren, Forest, Erie, Crawford, Venango and McKean means that she has a staff of around 30 employees. Her team consists of Occupational Therapists, Speech Therapists, Nutritionists, Special Instructors and one Physical Therapist. The therapists work in one or two counties, but most of them work in the county in which they live, except Wachter who travels to all of the counties to provide services or support the team.

In 2023, Wachter and her team created a non-profit (501c3) called DreamBuilders Network, which aims to fill the gaps in services for families, providing free programs and support. Wachter highlighted the sensory-friendly events, haircut programs, and family support groups she has put together and now she plans to start a community support program in Warren County, focusing on intergenerational trauma and practical assistance. Emphasizing the need for more volunteers along with the funding to expand her initiatives, she is aiming to create a supportive village for families. Some of the programs that Wachter has been involved in or helped create are sensory friendly events here in Warren County, such as haircut events for those children who have difficulty with handling haircuts in a salon for a variety of reasons. Since 2017, the haircut events have been offered, with Jen Betts, Heather Erwin and then Paige Bishop as the “hair wizards” in Warren and then Erie. Other sensory friendly events, especially during the holidays, have been helpful to parents in order to bring their children to a safe environment. “If the children struggle and melt down, it didn’t matter. If they acted out or if they isolated, it didn’t matter. Nobody cared. But they could enjoy an event with other families and feel comfortable and know that their child would be loved on and cared about. Many families avoid public places and events because they can’t predict their child’s behavior.”

Wachter said, “The nonprofit started with the intention of finding ways to support families with programs that aren’t available. With the goal to create community support, filling in the gaps of services that families cannot receive, due to wait lists, no funding, or no programming. So that was our goal with the nonprofit, was to be able to support families in more ways. So it’s coming. It’s growing.”

Wachter believes it is very important to be very careful that services are provided directly to families in more ways than just groups and events. After seeing the specific needs within the clients that are being served, Wachter assists them in ways that go above and beyond. Collecting and distributing donations to the best of her ability, Wachter is constantly looking for a team of volunteers she can rely on to help carry out this mission.

Recognizing these incredibly stressful situations is one of the reasons for the events, as well as the DreamBuilders Playspace, located in Lawrence Park in Erie. The space was created three years ago, and it provides a sensory safe space for families and their children to come play as well as an unusual yet fitting setting for programming. Wachter said that she would love to see something similar created closer to Warren. Important collaborations with The expERIEence Children’s Museum and Erie City Moms have provided the opportunity to expand supports and awareness of developmental and sensory needs, in addition to childcare, assessment and education for families involved. “We are looking for more opportunities to collaborate with agencies, providers and community members, as our team has the specialists that are needed to provide valuable, accurate, appropriate education and support for local families.” Wachter has been meeting with locals lately to discuss the opportunities for Warren.

In addition to helping young lives, Wachter has noticed the growing need to help all generations.

“So we’re starting a new program that I’m super excited about. Part of the local mission through DreamBuilders Network is a community supports program. So I have been working on starting a community support program in Warren County, specifically because this is where I live. This is where I see the need, and this is where I know the people to be able to help families with fixing their homes, fixing their cars, clothes, food, and the things that really beat you down when you are low income and/or you’re disabled.”

After meeting with a local church pastor, Wachter is thrilled that they are starting a local missions team as well as reaching out to other churches in order to grow it and help more families in the community. “Because what I’m finding is especially, there’s so much intergenerational trauma, and when each generation has grown up in poverty, the impact on each following generation is a larger impact and it is even more challenging to climb out of the cycle on their own,” said Wachter. Not being able to find a way out of that cycle on their own, she is looking at the big picture and what can have the largest impact on a family’s life and offering long-term benefit, such as helping fix homes, helping clean and improve or even assisting with transportation. Other ways that volunteers can help include helping people with groceries, gardening, laundry or cleaning; the needs are numerous. We, as a community, can have a significant positive impact on the lives of so many in our community, making lives better and impacting the next generation of children.

“So finding the funds to provide the program, finding the church groups, or anybody who wants to volunteer, and then finding the families that need that support, that’s my newest mission. Finding more volunteers who have the heart of a helper is necessary,” said Wachter. In addition, she added that it is time consuming and difficult to coordinate due to so much need.

“I’m excited that this is hopefully going to get off the ground now. We’ve already started by supporting a local family with wood processing and delivery that was a challenge this year due to health issues.”

“So that is the newest, biggest thing locally that we’ve got,” said Wachter. She recognizes the needs of people in all aspects of health, from mental health to physical and developmental delays and just the everyday struggles that prevent people from living their best lives.

This is a call to find more volunteers and to find funding in order to help multiple generations. “We can affect change in the next three generations so that they’re not living the same way and so their kids aren’t experiencing the same trauma.” One way to support the mission is to attend the 1st Bingo event in Erie on April 18th. They are also looking for baskets to raffle and sponsors for the event. The link to buy tickets or donate is: https://givebutter.com/dreambuilders-network

When Wachter has free time, she enjoys getting herself and her family out in nature for walks, taking care of her dart frogs and other animals and homeschooling her youngest child alongside her husband. They also have two adult children who live and work in Erie as well as two grandchildren.

For questions about services or finding a way to get involved, contact Emily at emily@eweiservices.com or 814-688-8334. Find out more on Emily Wachter’s Facebook page which provides links to her intervention services as well as the DreamBuilders Play Space.