The Arc Central Chesapeake Region (The Arc) held a ribbon cutting for its new behavioral health suite at the organization’s regional headquarters. Joined by elected officials, community advocates, and people The Arc supports, the ribbon cutting represents a key milestone in the growth of The Arc’s behavioral health program.
The program began in 2020, growing out of an initiative focused on supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to process their emotions around the pandemic. The group sessions allowed for deeper conversations and created a platform to feel welcomed and supported. Recognizing that people with IDD lacked access to services that sustained these conversations, The Arc began building and expanding a permanent behavioral health program to provide tailored mental health support.
Seeing the importance of this work and the clear need it addressed, Senator Ben Cardin and State Senator Pam Beidle partnered with The Arc to provide funding that allowed the organization to hire additional clinicians and renovate the behavioral health suite located in its Linthicum headquarters. With the updated suite’s unveiling, the program’s rapid growth is now housed in a facility that matches the holistic, person-centered approach the program’s clinicians provide.
The Arc President and CEO, Jonathan Rondeau, issued the following statement on the ribbon cutting: “The rapid growth of this program and our organization is leading to exciting, important new work. As our physical presence across the region expands, we are including behavioral health counseling suites at each of our locations. This means that more people throughout the region can easily access tailored mental health counseling. As word of our behavioral health program continues to spread, more and more people are contacting us about our services. Our vision over the next few years includes expanding services to support the mental health of children and youth with IDD who are also in need of holistic services.”
The Arc hopes the ribbon cutting reinforces how vitally important and actively sought these services are for the IDD community and that the community deserves mental health solutions that are tailored and personal. It is proud to continue leading the way in supporting the community and advocating for an expansion of the support.