By GREGORY ZELLER //
One of Long Island’s largest and busiest health and human services organizations will supercharge two existing mental-health clinics, with a nod to New York State.
The Garden City-based Family and Children’s Association has received a $265,000 New York State grant, earmarked for the establishment of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics in Nassau and Suffolk counties. The funding is a part of a $3.5 million startup grant from the New York State Office of Mental Health, which is looking to establish 13 new CCBHC facilities across the state.
The FCA will use its cut to add CCBHC designations – denoting clinics specially designed to provide a comprehensive range of mental-health and substance-use services to all comers, regardless of their diagnosis or ability to pay – to existing clinics the association already operates in Hempstead and Hicksville.
The clinics currently service individuals and families with a wide range of effective and culturally sensitive residential and community-based programs. Adding the Office of Mental Health’s CCBHC designation will open the clinics’ mental-health and substance-based services to a wider range of clients in need – whatever their age, address, insurance status or financial situation.
Jeffrey Reynolds: Comprehensive, convenient services.
The FCA is “excited” to receive a portion of the competitive Office of Mental Health funding, according to President and CEO Jeffrey Reynolds, and hopes to complete its CCBHC-designation requirements this summer.
“We extend our gratitude to New York State and eagerly anticipate being able to better meet the increasing demand for integrated mental-health and substance-use disorder services for Long Islanders,” Reynolds added.
The $265,000 grant is the latest positive development for the growth-minded FCA, which in October celebrated the relocation of its THRIVE East End Recovery Center from Westhampton to a larger and more centralized location in Riverhead. The FCA also operates THRIVE recovery centers – free, non-clinical facilities focused on assisting individuals and family members through often-difficult substance-abuse recoveries – in Westbury and Hauppauge.
The association also opened Gambling Support and Wellness Centers at its Hempstead and Hicksville facilities in 2024, backed by the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports. And it’s been less than four years since the FCA moved into its bigger, better Garden City home base, marking significant improvements over its smaller, outdated Mineola headquarters in both elbow room and its ability properly service clients.
Designation anticipation: FCA’s Hicksville facility will soon carry the important CCBHC designation.
With the new Office of Mental Health funding in hand and the CCBHC designations in sight, the 501(c)3 nonprofit organization is moving closer to its best destiny, according to Reynolds – not only assisting Long Islanders in need, but doing so in the most comprehensive and convenient ways possible.
“People often struggle with mental-health conditions, substance-use disorders and accessing general healthcare simultaneously,” the FCA president noted. “They shouldn’t have to travel to three different locations to get complete care.”
