Samaritan Center awarded $4M grant

VINCENNES, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) – Vincennes-based Good Samaritan has been awarded a $4 million grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The health system says the grant will be awarded over two years and will be used by the Samaritan Center to expand services as a Certified Community Behavioral Health Center.

Kristi Scherer, executive director of the Samaritan Center, says certification requires more formal programming than was previously offered. Scherer said, “Because we agreed to these certification requirements, we were able to apply and receive this grant to further expand services within our communities.”

Good Samaritan says it will also add a Mobile Integrated Care Unit to the center’s services, which will provide access to services for individuals in remote and underserved communities with financial and/or transportation issues.

The health system says a portion of the funding will be used for the center’s new Clubhouse Program. The program plans to support reintegration in the community for those with mental illness and improve access to supportive services.

With the help of the grant funding, the center plans to introduce a partial hospitalization program for substance abuse. Good Samaritan says the program will be a comprehensive and structured form of substance abuse treatment conducted on an outpatient basis.