Charlotte Behavioral Health Care, serving the behavioral and substance abuse needs of Charlotte County, announced the opening of a new office in Arcadia in early February, 2015. The main campus is located at 1700 Education Ave Punta Gorda and the new location will be opening at 201 E. Gibson Street, Arcadia, Florida 34266. The new office will be DeSoto Psychiatric Services a division of Charlotte Behavioral Health Care and will continue to provide Charlotte County and now DeSoto County residents with programs and services in an array of expert care.

DeSoto Psychiatric Services will focus on Children's and Adult Services including; Individual and Family Therapy, Substance Abuse Assessments and Counseling, Case Management, Psychiatric Evaluations and Medication Services.

With opening a new office, CBHC will be able to accommodate the growing need for children's and adult behavioral and mental health services in the DeSoto County area. The expansion of this new location will better meet the needs of current and future consumers in our neighboring community.

"The State of Florida is giving us the contract to provide mental health and substance abuse services in DeSoto County. We look forward to getting to know the community."  said Jay Glynn, CEO of Charlotte Behavioral Health Care. "Once we are open it will allow us endless opportunities to provide the DeSoto community with services and programs that were not available to them previously."

DeSoto Psychiatric Services held the Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening this Friday, January 30th. Joining Fridays festivities were County Commissioner, Bob Miller; DeSoto County School Superintendent, Dr. Karyn Gary; DeSoto Memorial Hospital CEO; Vincent Sica; Susan Nunnaly from DCF; Sheriff Wise and a representative for Ben Albritton, board members and staff, along with many others. A lot of hard work from many staff members was put forth to open this office and it showed today! We are proud to open DeSoto Psychiatric Services on February 2nd, 2015.

I would like to take this time to again thank everyone that was so instrumental in making our Holiday Party a huge success! A lot of time and prep work went into making this an affair to remember.

Thank you to the following:

Shelly Terruso

Julie Greaves

Gina Wynn

Kathy Smith

Julie Jones and Dietary Staff

Maintenance Staff

CBHC made the decision to participate in the Toys for Tots campaign this year and I am happy to report that between Healthy Start's applications and those received from Bldg. A, we were able to submit the names of over 150 families, all of whom received gifts for their children at Christmas.

The new Director of this program, "honorary marine" Carol Pickford, streamlined to process by which families picked up their toys and it was a huge success. She reports that over 7,900 children in Charlotte County received toys this year. Out of the 2,200 families that submitted applications, only 137 families neglected to pick up their toys at the distribution warehouse. This may be attributed to families moving away or simply being in a better position to buy their own toys after all. It is hard to even imagine that 7,900 children in one county are in need!

Thank you CBHC for assisting with collection of applications. Many families benefitted from this program and we look forward to even more being served next year!

DROP-IN CENTER ENJOYS NEW NAME AND LOCATION

The holiday season was busier than usual for some CBHC staff as they rushed to implement the move of the Drop-In Center from Building B on campus to its new home at 21450 Gibraltar Dr., Port Charlotte (previously know as the St. Vincent DePaul Pharmacy complex).  In record time the facility was cleared out, furniture brought in, decor hung and doors opened for the first day of operation on January 5, 2015!

The members voted on naming their center and agreed on The Share Spot with SHARE an acronym for: Self Help And Recovery Exchange. 

The days and hours of operation are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10:30am to 2:30pm.

The facility boasts two group rooms, an open sitting area, zen/meditation room, kitchen, snack room, and arts & crafts room.  Coming soon, there will be a clothes closet where members will be able to choose clean, gently worn clothing and accessories that have been donated (donations are welcome).

Share Spot is manned by four peer specialists, Cheryl Terry, Sue Littrell, Jeffrey Givens and Tammy Serio, with two on duty each day of business, and a summer intern, Samantha Miller, from Florida Gulf Coast College.  Over them is David Stone, our Adult Community Services Program Manager, reporting to Gina Wynn, Director of Residential, Healthy Start & Adult Case Management Services.