LEWISTON — Sweetser announced Monday it will host an open house at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday for its new Hope & Healing Center at 20 Mollison Way, next to Just-In-Time Recreation.
Starting the first week of December, the center will offer walk-in services from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays for those in need of mental health and/or substance use disorder services and easy access to professional support. Services include outpatient mental health and substance use screening, assessment, diagnosis and treatment, which includes medication-assisted treatment; around-the-clock mobile crisis response and crisis stabilization; case management; and peer support.
“Having a central, physical space located in service center communities will reduce barriers to accessing treatment, expand the type of services offered, and increase the number of people served,” Kristen Cianelli, Sweetser’s director of community-based services, said. “Think of this center as a mental health version of a walk-in care clinic, a one-stop shop for all things mental health and recovery.”
The new center is a certified community behavioral health clinic and services were made possible by a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and support from Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
Certified community behavioral health clinics are designed to increase timely access to wraparound mental health and substance use services in areas that otherwise lack accessibility, the Sweetser news release said.
Sweetser was able to provide these services to some 2,000 Androscoggin County residents in 2023. The release said Sweetser expects to be able to serve at least 700 more.
“In the year since the Lewiston mass shooting, the long road to hope and healing isn’t over,” Jayne Van Bramer, Sweetser president and CEO, said. “We have served the Lewiston area for decades, but to meet the long-term mental health needs of the community and expand treatment to more people, we have to literally meet people where they’re at. Together we are writing a new chapter of hope and healing, and we will all be forever Lewiston Strong.”
Mental health and recovery support is available by calling the Promiseline at 1-800-434-3000 or by emailing info@sweetser.org. Learn more about the center here.
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