949 Bridgeport Avenue • Milford, Ct 06460 • Tel: 203-878-6365
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949 Bridgeport Avenue • Milford, Ct 06460 • Tel: 203-878-6365 |
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ServicesBridges provides recovery-focused evaluation, counseling and treatment services to families, children, adolescents and adults. We offer comprehensive and diverse services for:
Adult Mental HealthA comprehensive, recovery-focused range of services is available for adults experiencing behavioral health and substance abuse problems. Community-based outpatient mental health services for adults include:
Addiction and Substance Abuse TreatmentAddiction Services provide recovery focused outpatient substance abuse treatment to persons who have a substance abuse disorder. Service are non-residential and include:
Specific diagnostic treatment service is provided through contracts with The Office of Adult Probation. A contract with Advanced Behavioral Health provides urgent or same day Substance Abuse evaluation including Chain of Custody Urinalysis of caretakers of children referred to Protective Services of the Department of Child and Family Services. School-Based Early Intervention Program: Bridges offers a school-based early intervention program in the three middle schools in Milford. In this program, a clinician facilitates several groups for adolescents at high risk of developing a substance abuse problem. Consultation with school personnel is also offered. Family & Children's ServicesFor families, parents, children/adolescents experiencing emotional and/or developmental difficulties. Bridges emphasizes actively involving parents, other family members and school personnel in the treatment of children and adolescents. Services include:
Teenage Drug and Alcohol PreventionThe Middle and High School Substance Abuse Prevention Program is designed to provide prevention and early intervention to middle and high school youth. Participation in the program is voluntary and provided in a group format. Services are provided to all three middle schools in Milford and the two high schools. The program offers three different types of groups which are offered to all students. The groups are targeted to students who are affected by someone else’s substance use, students who are feeling pressure to begin using alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, and for students who are currently using alcohol, tobacco and other drugs and would like to stop. In one Milford middle school over 80 students signed up for the groups. The groups begin in October and run weekly until the end of May. The funding comes through the Milford Board of Education, which channels a Federal grant, Safe and Drug Free Schools, to Bridges on a contractual basis. The goals of this program are as follows:
Community Support ServicesBridges is the state designated Local Mental Health Authority for Milford, Orange and West Haven, Connecticut. Specialized, recovery-focused services support individuals with severe and prolonged mental illness and addiction problems. The goal is for each individual to reach their maximum potential. Services include:
ACT Team ServicesThe ACT Team, funded by the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, provides outreach and engagement to individuals who have difficulty establishing a traditional treatment relationship. The ACT Team helps individuals to secure the level of care they require. The team assists clients with benefits and housing. The Team works cooperatively with other providers to facilitate recovery. The ACT Team identifies and helps address the consumers’ needs through advocacy, coordination of treatment, and securing basic needs. People served by the ACT Team are not engaged in traditional treatment, but utilize acute services such as the local emergency rooms. Consumers are diagnosed with a mental illness and may have a substance abuse diagnosis. Consumers are 18 and over and reside in Milford, West Haven or Orange. Referrals come form the local shelters, churches, American Red Cross, hospitals, community providers, Bridges and West Haven Mental Health treatment staff. Bereavement SupportThe Caring Network for Adults is a support program for any adult who has experienced the loss of a loved one and is looking for a safe place to sit with others in a similar circumstance. The group is facilitated by a mental health professional and meets monthly at Cody-White Funeral home, who has co-sponsored the program since its inception in 1988. The Caring Network for Grieving Children and their Families, formerly know as The Shoreline West Cove, is a support program for grieving children and their families. The mission of the program is to provide safe harbors for grieving children. The program is co-sponsored by the Cody-White Funeral Home, St. Gabriel’s School and St. Barbara’s Greek Orthodox Church in Orange. The Caring Network for Grieving Children and Their Families provides twice-monthly support group sessions where children and their families can receive support, understanding and nurturing from skilled professionals and trained volunteers. These nights include games, art projects, and special activities and ceremonies to help children learn to acknowledge and express their grief – and begin the process of moving on with their lives. Often for the first time, they are with other children who have suffered the same type of loss so they don’t feel different or isolated. There is no fee for the service but each family is asked to pledge what they can afford. The Caring Network for Grieving Children and Their Families is fiscally supported by Cody White Funeral Home and local pledges. The two sites that we utilize for the Cove nights – St. Gabriel’s School and St. Barbara’s Greek Orthodox Church – provide space at no cost to the program. We also receive donations of supplies and food from a variety of businesses and persons. The Caring Network for Grieving Children and Their Families is directed by a program director that is a licensed mental health professional. The program utilizes the skills of trained volunteers that are carefully screened, selected and guided by the program director and receive initial and ongoing training about children and grief. In addition, they meet with the staff before and after each session of the group for continuing education. Vocational Rehabilitation/Employee Assistance Services Offered:
Program hours are flexible depending on the particular situation. For example, a job coach may need to be available the hours in which the consumer is working. It is not unusual for a program staff member to work on weekends and into the evening. 24-Hour Mobile Crisis InterventionThis program services persons in crisis with symptoms of mental illness or addictive disorders or case histories of severe and persistent mental illness. It may also service current Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services clients whom community care may divert from hospitalization, or to arrange hospitalizations, if necessary. The Mobile Crisis worker works collaboratively with the after hours telephonic and mobile crisis services provided by South Central Crisis Services, our in house Central Intake Team, the Act Team, and on occasion, Jail Diversion. Services include assessment, assistance in obtaining necessary clinical and case management supports, and brief crisis management services. The program serves persons presenting in crisis from Milford, Orange, and West Haven. Residential/Transitional SupportThis program provides community based supported housing for persons who meet DMHAS target population eligibility requirements. Funded by DMHAS and DMR for specific clients, priority is given to those discharged from state inpatient and residential facilities and those persons with behavioral health disorders who are homeless. The Residential Program is committed to the goals of the Fair Housing Act as well as the principles of Recovery. There is recognition of the severe shortage of housing for people with low or no incomes and people who are homeless. There is also recognition of the existence of discrimination and stigma against people with psychiatric and developmental disabilities and people who are homeless. Therefore, Bridges staff works with other agencies, government bodies and interest groups to develop and promote both traditional and innovative ownership and tenancy, and advocate legislative action to further these objectives. The program is dedicated to promoting the successful community integration and recovery of individuals who have incompletely developed or who have lost skills of independent living. The goals include helping participants to establish a secure sense of self across spiritual, financial, vocational, and educational life domains. In order to realize these goals, the philosophy is to support the development and implementation of client determined life goals. The program recognizes that individuals’ service needs fluctuate on a continuous basis and supports are modified to address those changing needs. Program participants are educated, empowered and supported in making responsible choices and are subject to the same legal and social sanctions as other citizens. Services Offered:
Young Adult ServicesThe program seeks to assist Young Adults who have not yet experienced independent living with supports to obtain housing, learn skills of independent living, and recovery tool to manage their disabilities. In order to meet these individualized service goals, and to maximize opportunities for continuity of care, the program maintains a “no eject, no reject” policy. Program participants are educated, empowered and supported in making responsible choices and are subject to the same legal and social sanctions as other citizens. Services Offered:
Emergency Mobile ServicesEMS and Care Coordination are linked under DCF’s Kid Care Initiative to provide immediate and comprehensive assessment, crisis stabilization, de-escalation, and referral services for children in crisis in a natural community setting. Help is available for youth in crisis 24-hours a day, seven days a week by calling a toll-free hotline at 1-866-573-4357. The Kids Crisis Response Service accepts telephone referrals from all individuals and agencies. Callers receive immediate access to crisis workers through the hotline. Based on an initial telephone assessment, the following services may be provided.
Once a crisis situation is stabilized, a comprehensive assessment determines the long-term needs of the youth and his or her family. Intensive Family Preservation and Family ReunificationThe Intensive Family Preservation Program provides home-based services to Department of Child and Family families at risk of family disruption, or having a child returned from an out of home placement. Depending upon the type of service (preservation or reunification), the program accepts referrals from up to 22 towns in the southwestern part of Connecticut. The clinicians meet in the family home for an average of twelve weeks, scheduling meetings for two or three times per week. The program operates Monday through Friday, with evening and weekend times available as needed. There is a clinician on call 24 hours a day, seven days per week. Intensive In-home Child and Adolescent Psychiatric ServicesThe IICAPS program provides intensive home-based services to children who are at imminent risk of out-of-home placement due to mental health issues, behavioral or emotional disturbances. These children may have returned, or are returning home from out-of-home care and require a less intensive level of treatment. The goal is to provide a degree of clinical care and supervision in the home and community setting that is appropriate to children discharged from a more restrictive setting. All treatment, care and support services must be provided in a context that is child-centered, family-focused, strength-based, culturally competent and responsive to each child’s psychosocial, developmental, and treatment needs. The purpose of this service is to provide the clinical intervention and supports necessary to successfully stabilize and maintain children in their home and community. These efforts focus on prevention of hospitalization, unless clinically necessary, and out-of-home placement. Efforts are also focused on supporting families and caregivers, providing specific behavioral assistance, and transitioning children to the most normative and clinically appropriate setting. Court-Based Jail Diversion ServicesThe Jail Diversion program provides clinically appropriate evaluation and linkage with the DMHAS Managed Care System and other community resources for court referred clients. The program staff assesses client needs and develops treatment and supervision protocols at court sites in Derby and Milford.
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The Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment Opportunity Program assists individuals to choose, get, and keep jobs in their communities. The program helps individuals to identify their interests and develop the skills necessary to attain and maintain desired employment. The program attempts to individualize supports so the individual can have as little or as much support as required. The program promotes self-advocacy, career exploration and development and assists consumers in identifying their strengths to promote self-satisfaction with career choice and recovery.