Howard Center is a Burlington, Vermont-based nonprofit organization that offers professional crisis and counseling services to children and adults; supportive services to individuals with autism and developmental disabilities who need help with education, employment, and life maintenance skills; counseling and medical services for those struggling with substance use disorders; and interventions and supports for adults with serious and persistent mental health challenges in Chittenden County, Vermont's most populous county. Howard Center collaborates with many community partners and is a United Way of Northwest Vermont-funded agency.
Services and supports are community-based and provided in more than 60 locations, including area schools, hospitals, emergency rooms, and client homes, in addition to Howard Center offices and residential homes. In 2018, Howard Center's professional staff of 1,500 helped more than 16,000 people, primarily in Chittenden County but also in the other Vermont counties of Franklin, Grand Isle, and Rutland.[1]
History
Tracing its roots to the 1865 founding of the Home for Destitute Children, Howard Center is the largest of Vermont's designated agencies representing Vermont's mental health care system.
In 1966, the Howard Center for Human Services received its designation as the community mental health center for Chittenden County under the federal Community Mental Health Act of 1963.
In 1994, the Howard Center for Human Services merged with Champlain Drug and Alcohol Services and the Baird Center for Children and Families (a successor of the Home for Destitute Children) into one organization, forming today's Howard Center.[2]
Crisis services
The organization maintains First Call for Chittenden County, a 24/7 crisis hotline for Chittenden County residents experiencing a non-medical crisis.
Specialized programs
The organization operates four therapeutic schools:[3]
The Baird School, Burlington,[4] provides an alternative educational environment for children ages 5–15 in grades K-8.
Jean Garvin School[5] in Williston provides a therapeutic educational program offering learning opportunities to inspire personal change and well-being for adolescents, ages 12–8 in grades 7-12.
Fay Honey Knopp Memorial School in the city of Rutland is a licensed school that provides educational, therapeutic, and transition services to residents of HowardCenter's Park Street Program for adolescent males with sexual harming behaviors.[6]
Howard Center is a partner with Matrix Health Systems and the Northeastern Family Institute of Vermont to operate the Centerpoint School Collaborative in South Burlington.[7]
School Services: Howard Center's School Services Program helps children ages 3 to 22—and their families—who face a broad range of challenges that may impact learning and school behavior.[8]
Howard Center supports clients in recovery from substance use.
When the Chittenden Clinic was established in 2002, it was the first medication assisted treatment clinic for opioid addiction in Vermont.[9] From July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018, the clinic provided treatment and support to 1,342 individuals.
Safe Recovery serves people who are currently using cocaine, heroin, or who are in early recovery from opioid dependence. Services include syringe exchange, low-barrier distribution to buprenorphine, fentanyl test strips, drug treatment options counseling, HIV and hepatitis C testing and referrals, hepatitis A and B vaccination, distribution of Naloxone overdose rescue kits, corrections outreach, basic needs assistance, advocacy, and other recovery support services. From July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018, 1,236 individuals visited Safe Recovery. In December 2013, Safe Recovery began distributing Naloxone kits to reverse overdoses from opioids. Since then, 1,357 overdose reversals have been reported from the kits the program distributed.[9]
Although the goal of all Howard Center programs is to help individuals and families live healthy lives as independently as possible, several programs provide specific support for individuals with intellectual disabilities including autism.
The Safety Connection program helps adults with intellectual disabilities or autism live independently in the community setting of their choice. The program assists youth in transition, single adults and families, and elders who wish to age in place. Safety Connection works with clients and their support teams which may include both Howard Center staff and community partners. A Safety Connection team collaborates with all partners to build an individualized independent living program, combining home-based monitoring technologies with clinically trained staff monitors and responders.[citation needed]
The SUCCEED program is a post-secondary education program for students with intellectual disabilities and autism, provided by Howard Center in collaboration with area colleges.[10]
Clients served and community impact
Howard Center serves a yearly average of over 10,000 clients[11] in Chittenden County. Some of the programs and services for these clients include:
Crisis Services
Outpatient Services
Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT)
Residential Services
School Based Services
Community Based Support
Employment Programs
In addition, Howard Center annually provides support to thousands of individuals in the community who receive services (particularly through 24/7 crisis services) without officially enrolling as a client.
Several Howard Center programs offer treatment and support services that reduce the request for services from other city organizations and departments. For example, Howard Center's Street Outreach and Community Outreach Programs reduce reliance on the police to respond to calls in the downtown area that are primarily the result of social service needs.
The Center has been recognized by the following organizations:
The Greater Burlington YMCA recognized Howard Center with their annual award for the organization's continued service to clients and the impact of their work. (May 2015)[12]
KidSafe Collaborative's Annual Outstanding Service Awards presented the Gregory Packan Esq. Award for Outstanding Children's Advocacy to a Howard Center School Social Worker. (May 2015)[citation needed]
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) recognized Howard Center's medication assisted treatment program as a Patient-Centered Specialty Practice, the first outpatient treatment program in the nation to gain this level of recognition. (March 2015)[citation needed]
Jackson Healthcare Hospital Charitable Services Program of Excellence Awards named Howard Center's Street Outreach Program as one of 10 programs nationwide to receive a $10,000 award. [citation needed]
National Council for Behavioral Health's 2014-2015 Addressing Health Disparities Leadership Program selected First Call Director as one of 25 participants nationwide to participate in the leadership program. (October 2014)[citation needed]
The Governor's Criminal Justice and Substance Abuse Cabinet appointed Howard Center's Chief Executive Officer to serve on the committee and a member of Howard Center's board of trustees to serve as chair. (September 2014)[citation needed]
Accreditation
Howard Center's Chittenden Clinic, which provide medication assisted treatment for individuals with opioid dependence, received a three-year accreditation in 2015 from CARF International (formerly known as the Commission of Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities). The clinic is affiliated with the University of Vermont Medical Center.[13]
Affiliations and partnerships
In addition to the programs and services offered by Howard Center, the agency collaborates with numerous community partners to expand the support it offers to individuals and communities. Key examples include:
Central Vermont Substance Abuse Services: CVSAS is the designated substance abuse service agency providing effective alcohol and other drug outpatient and intensive outpatient treatment services for the Greater Washington County area. CVSAS offers services for adults and adolescents and their families.[citation needed]
Collaborative Solutions Corporation/Second Spring[16] is a licensed, residential treatment facility helping its residents develop and implement personal recovery plans that will help them become independent.
Howard Center is a funded agency of the United Way of Chittenden County.[17]
Organization
The organization has a budget of $129 million[18]. Over 90% of services are state-funded.[citation needed]
In 2014, Vermont Business Magazine ranked Howard Center as the 11th largest employer in the state of Vermont by employee roster.[1]
The president of Howard Center was Kelly Deforge as of 2024[19].
Sandra McGuire, MBA, has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of Howard Center, effective June 1, 2024.[20].
Footnotes
1 2 Howard Center Development and Communications Office
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The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. SAMHSA is charged with improving the quality and availability of treatment and rehabilitative services in order to reduce illness, death, disability, and the cost to society resulting from substance abuse and mental illnesses. The Administrator of SAMHSA reports directly to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. SAMHSA's headquarters building is located outside of Rockville, Maryland.
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Partial hospitalization, also known as PHP, is a type of program used to treat mental illness and substance abuse. In partial hospitalization, the patient continues to reside at home, but commutes to a treatment center up to seven days a week. Partial hospitalization focuses on the overall treatment of the individual and is intended to avert or reduce in-patient hospitalization.
In November 2004, voters in the U.S. state of California passed Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), which has been designed to expand and transform California's county mental health service systems. The MHSA is funded by imposing an additional one percent tax on individual, but not corporate, taxable income in excess of one million dollars. In becoming law in January 2005, the MHSA represents the latest in a Californian legislative movement, begun in the 1990s, to provide better coordinated and more comprehensive care to those with serious mental illness, particularly in underserved populations. Its claim of successes thus far, such as with the development of innovative and integrated Full Service Partnerships (FSPs), are not without detractors who highlight many problems but especially a lack of oversight, large amount of unspent funds, poor transparency, lack of engagement in some communities, and a lack of adherence to required reporting as challenges MHSA implementation must overcome to fulfill the law's widely touted potential.
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Peer support occurs when people provide knowledge, experience, emotional, social or practical help to each other. It commonly refers to an initiative consisting of trained supporters, and can take a number of forms such as peer mentoring, reflective listening, or counseling. Peer support is also used to refer to initiatives where colleagues, members of self-help organizations and others meet, in person or online, as equals to give each other connection and support on a reciprocal basis.
The University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) is a five-campus academic medical facility under the corporate umbrella of the University of Vermont Health Network that is anchored by a 562-bed hospital in Burlington, Vermont. UVMMC is based in Burlington and serves as both a regional referral center and a community hospital. The hospital was formerly known as the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont and later as Fletcher Allen Health Care until getting its current name. It is affiliated with the University of Vermont's Robert Larner College of Medicine and its College of Nursing and Health Sciences.
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Substance abuse prevention, also known as drug abuse prevention, is a process that attempts to prevent the onset of substance use or limit the development of problems associated with using psychoactive substances. Prevention efforts may focus on the individual or their surroundings. A concept that is known as "environmental prevention" focuses on changing community conditions or policies so that the availability of substances is reduced as well as the demand. Individual Substance Abuse Prevention, also known as drug abuse prevention involves numerous different sessions depending on the individual to help cease or reduce the use of substances. The time period to help a specific individual can vary based upon many aspects of an individual. The type of Prevention efforts should be based upon the individual's necessities which can also vary. Substance use prevention efforts typically focus on minors and young adults – especially between 12–35 years of age. Substances typically targeted by preventive efforts include alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants, coke, methamphetamine, steroids, club drugs, and opioids. Community advocacy against substance use is imperative due to the significant increase in opioid overdoses in the United States alone. It has been estimated that about one hundred and thirty individuals continue to lose their lives daily due to opioid overdoses alone.
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Miro Weinberger is an American politician who is the 42nd mayor of Burlington, Vermont. He is the city's first Democratic Party mayor since Gordon Paquette was defeated by Bernie Sanders in 1981. Weinberger was the Democratic Party chair for Chittenden County during the 2004 election cycle. He also was on the Burlington Airport Commission for nine years, as board president of the Turning Point Center of Chittenden County, a drug addiction recovery organization, and on the board of the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain.
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