Clara Martin Center Awarded $4 Million SAMHSA Grant to Continue Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Expansion
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has awarded the Clara Martin Center a four-year, $4 million grant to continue their development as a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC). Clara Martin Center is the first community mental health agency in Vermont to have been designated a CCBHC after receiving an initial two-year CCBHC Expansion grant from SAMHSA in 2021.
The goal of a CCBHC is to increase access to, and improve the quality of, community mental health and substance use disorder treatment including in-person and family-centered integrated services. Under the initial CCBHC grant, Clara Martin Center has been able to provide enhanced and expanded services to any individual in need, expand evening and weekend availability, and provide greater outreach and collaboration with community partners. Clinical services were also enhanced, with select staff receiving targeted trainings in such specialties as EMDR, Dialectical Behavior Treatment, Intentional Peer Support, Wellness Recovery Action Planning, and Grief Counseling among others.
While this new award is intended to continue the CCBHC services implemented across all agency programs under the CCBHC Expansion grant received in 2021, the primary populations of focus for this specific grant will be individuals served in our Transition Age Youth (TAY) Program, as well as individuals ages 55+ served through Elder Care Services.
Using a Resiliency model, the TAY program provides services to youth, ages 16 to 22. Providing therapeutic supports in the youth’s environment help adolescents and young adults succeed and develop a caring relationship by being held to high expectations and giving them opportunities to participate and contribute to their communities. Elder Care Services provide psychological services to elders in their homes or in the office and provide interventions to improve mental health symptoms, overall functioning, and quality of life, while also addressing substance use concerns and isolation.
“Clara Martin Center is very proud and honored to receive this grant award. It will allow us to sustain and build upon the agency and program development the initial CCBHC grant provided, and all the work the Clara Martin Center staff have done over the last two years to continue in reducing barriers to care. This 4-year grant will significantly help us to meet the high demand for mental health and substance use needs in our local communities, especially for transition age youth and elders. The Clara Martin Center continues to strive to meet our mission to provide high-quality mental health and substance use services during these unique and challenging times”, Melanie Gidney, Executive Director, Clara Martin Center.
The grant will be instrumental in enhancing Clara Martin Center’s existing service delivery system and developing greater access to care and treatment options for residents of Orange County Vermont and surrounding areas. Providing behavioral health and substance use services since 1966, Clara Martin Center is a certified Vermont Care Partners Center of Excellence and one of the ten designated agencies through the State of Vermont community mental health system.
