On Nov. 14, All members of Community Board 1’s Health & Human Services and Seniors committee voted to endorse VNS Health’s proposed plan for expansion of a treatment center in Melrose. The plan aims to expand assessments and treatments for residents struggling with substance use disorder. These assessments and treatments include psychotherapy, substance use disorder counseling, peer services support, medication, crisis intervention, and complex care coordination and successful discharge services.
These services would be provided at an integrated treatment center at the FRIENDS Building on 489-493 East 153rd Street, which already offers care for Bronx residents with mental health conditions and is an established hub for behavioral health services. The new services aim to help teens and their families regardless of financial or legal status. “We’re gonna be open after 5 p.m., we’re gonna be open on weekends, which we already are, and we’re gonna service the adolescent population, which I know there’s a big need here, for how do we help our adolescents,” said Patricia Kissi, director of treatment. “We really are centered and focused on the youth. We want to be able to develop their self-esteem, help them set future goals, help them have the ability to achieve them without the substance abuse piece or the mental piece being a barrier to what they want to do in their lives.”
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