The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA ) has awarded three communities experiencing economic hardship up to $16.8 million for up to four years to improve behavioral health service outcomes. Community Resilience and Recovery Initiative (CRRI) grants focus existing community health service resources on behavioral health needs and draw on the compounding effect of well-coordinated action. In Fall River, the SAMHSA grant funds will be used for substance abuse prevention, mental health promotion, short-term therapies for depression and anxiety, interventions for problematic alcohol use and other strategies to address resiliency and wellness. The City of Fall River will work with Stanley Street Treatment & Resources and other human service organizations in Fall River to implement the grant. A meeting on December 2, 2010 brought together representatives of some of the organizations who will be involved in developing a system to identify up to ten percent of the City's population who may be in need of these services. Click here for photos of the grant award announcement. For more information on the project, contact Nancy Paull at 508-679-5222.

(Top row, left) City of Fall River Health and Human Services Director Henry Vaillancourt, M.D talks with BOLD Coalition director Craig Gaspard and grant administrator Erica Moniz. (Top row, center) SSTAR CEO Nancy Paull listens as Mayor Flanagan welcomes the participants before she outlines the four major goals of the project (below). (Top row, right) Dr. Vaillancourt chats with Mayor Flanagan and newly-elected state representative Paul Schmid III. (Middle row, left) Wendy Holt of DMA Health Strategies describes the needs assessment process as Career Center director Diane Nadeau listens and Paul Martin of Fire City Pictures videotapes the interaction. (Middle row, right) Mayor Flanagan listens as Mr. Gaspard asks about the potential use of the Youth Behavioral Risk Surveillance System (YRBSS) in the public schools to assess mental health and substance abuse problems among Fall River youth. (Bottom row, left) Dr. Vaillancourt suggests how the project could reach out to area physicians as project co-director Paula Beaulieu listens. (Bottom row, right) Counselor Michael Borges talks with Fall River School Committee member Marilyn Rodrigues as neighborhood coordinator Perry Long listens.