The new mental health unit is staffed with counselors and therapists who can see people through virtual appointments and in person. The community center already has a food pantry, programs that help with housing and energy assistance, and spaces for meetings and activities.
Several offices on the first floor are furnished with couches, posters with inspirational sayings and colorful, fluffy rugs.
“It just gives a nice feel to it,” said Jamica Cropper-Pam, CFAR senior director of outpatient programs. “The therapist feels good in here, the client feels good in here, everybody leaves feeling good.”
CFAR founder Maryann Volk said her hope for the behavioral health organization has always been to fill gaps in care in vulnerable communities.
“There is so much need,” she said, adding that a well-trained counseling staff helps families and traumatized children.
Brogan said the new partnership benefits everyone, because now CFAR’s clients who are already getting behavioral health care can get referred to Project HOME’s housing assistance and other social services directly down the hall, and vice versa.
The idea of collaborating and co-locating services had been in the works for several years, said Brogan and Bullock.
But now, they said pooling resources together has become critical as the Trump administration seeks to cut government spending — and Republicans in Congress look at programs like Medicaid.
