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Focus on Non-Profits
Greetings from Counseling Service of Addison County (CSAC)! I am grateful to share the work of CSAC in this month’s Chamber magazine. May is Mental Health Awareness Month and a chance to pause and reflect on how vital mental health is to our overall health. CSAC strives for a connected, resilient community—where individuals and families are valued, supported and thrive—leading emotionally healthy and satisfying lives.
CSAC offers a variety of services including adult mental health, emergency and crisis, developmental services, employment services and youth and family services to support maximum well-being for individuals and a thriving community. We provided over 1.1 million service hours to Addison County individuals and families in Fiscal Year 2022. We certainly could not do this work alone; we collaborate with community partners, and are grateful for support from local businesses and organizations, service clubs, and individuals who help us in this vital work. I am excited to announce a new service offering: Interlude – a mental health urgent care service located in the Marble Works Complex.
Please read on about Interlude, and I also hope you will join us for these upcoming events so we can stay connected and work together to build a connected community:
- CSAC hosts the Chamber mixer Thursday, June 22 at 109 Catamount Park (hopefully outdoors)
- CSAC’s September 30 Bocce tournament (sponsor, play, cheer) We’d love to see you there!
CSAC announces new service!
The Interlude project is a mental health urgent care service that is part of a pilot program by a Congressional earmark from Senator Sanders and the Department of Mental Health (DMH). The space (behind Vt. Adult Learning on the south side of the Marble Works Complex) is a daytime and evening space for adults staffed by a mix of peers and clinical staff.
Interlude offers another option for mental health crisis support, person-centered support planning, opportunities for engagement, peer support, and collaborative network consultation in a calming environment. Hours into the evening.
Interlude staff are guided by the frameworks of Intentional Peer Support (IPS) and Open Dialogue/Collaborative Network Approach (CNA). These are trauma-informed ways of relating: instead of “what’s wrong,” we think about “what’s happened.”
This serves as a powerful reminder that people are the experts of their own experience. Both these approaches aim to look beyond the notion of individuals needing to change. Instead, they see our lives in the context of our relationships and communities, and provide the message that recovery does happen and there is space for us.
Interlude welcomes you to come as you are and experience what you are going through. We are a nonresidential community crisis center that offers individuals an alternative to hospitalization.
We prioritize creating a healing environment that opens up space for reconnection to our natural state of wellbeing. We are so pleased for this new offering to the community. Sandy Smith, CSAC’s Director of Adult Mental Health Services, shares “Interlude was created out of over two years of work by a committee of clients and family members who brought direct experience of navigating mental health crises, and worked together with CSAC staff to search for additional support options. We’re very hopeful that having a welcoming comfortable space, offering support from staff who listen to, understand, and who have been through similar experiences together with the chance to slow down crisis decision making and to involve members of personal support networks where possible, will make a big difference for many people coping with mental health crises.”
Interlude will be open weekday afternoons and evenings. Please stay tuned for an upcoming open house and official opening announcement!
Questions about Interlude? Contact Sandy Smith, CSAC’s Director of Adult Mental Health Services: ssmith@csac-vt.org.
