On November 19, 2019, around 20 staff members working on the Campus of Caring met for lunch to talk about mental health; specifically, the programs available through Coastal Behavioral Healthcare.
"For nonprofits like us, it's extremely important to collaborate," Coastal's Director of Development, Marlene Hauck told the group. She says Coastal currently collaborates with 17 nonprofits in their efforts to provide wraparound services for their clients, and they are always looking for more partners.
Coastal's reach is vast, and is set to expand even further as they plan to join forces with First Step of Sarasota, another tenant partner agency with offices at the Center. Together, their sliding-scale services will span locations in Manatee, DeSoto, Sarasota, Charlotte and Lee counties.
Staff in attendance had questions about how to access mental healthcare for their clients, noting that knowing where to start can be the biggest hurdle. Hauck described Coastal's Access Center, where individuals can call to find guidance for their next steps.
Coastal currently offers inpatient and outpatient clinical and medical mental health and substance abuse services. In addition, they offer programs specific to at-risk youth, people who are in crisis, and people who simply need assessments, resources or guidance. Their programs include youth outreach, with prevention classes in 13 schools and five after school programs.
The group was particularly interested in an emerging program to provide postpartum support for pregnant women and nursing mothers, noting that many clients shared a similar need. Perhaps it is the beginning of another important collaboration.
We are grateful to Apple Spice Catering for providing five free box lunches, making it possible to gather for this meeting of minds!
As a small organization with a staff of two, employee safety was a big consideration when we were looking for office space. We did not want our employees to be in a place where they were alone. Being on the GSHSC campus has been great because there is a whole community of like-minded professionals.
We are a small and young organization and having the ability to network and partner with other community organizations is key to the quality and impact of our work. In addition to the affordable space that The Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Center provides to all of us, it inspires us to use this collaborative model as we work to empower our students and their families.
The Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Center empowers non-profits to closely network with other agencies and create synergistic energy towards the life changing opportunities we all want for our clients and those in our community.
I can't fully express how wonderful it is to take a client by the hand and walk them no more than a couple hundred feet from our office to another agency that can help them when they are in crisis.
Real estate is one of the greatest costs in a business budget. Our partnership with the Glasser Schoenbaum Human Services Center allows more money to go towards our mission. And what better place to house our office than on a campus with nineteen other outreach agencies.
