OperationPAR, the premier nonprofit substance abuse and mental health treatment facility on the west coast of Florida, has received a 1.5 million dollar grant over the next three years from SAMHSA, the Substance And Mental Health Services Administration. The grant is through SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. The money will be used to provide treatment for over 60 pregnant or post-partum women and their children.
The grant will allow OperationPAR to continue its expert care treating women who have experienced trauma, substance abuse, and mental health issues and aid them and their children recover and return to productive lives. Through FAIR, Family Achievement in Recovery, women and their children live in a community setting, PAR Village, on the agency’s property in Largo, Fl and are aided by Wellness Navigators who assist them and their families. The project includes innovative techniques such as the use of electronic tablets for the women so that they can communicate with their counselors and receive eServices training, information and support. They will have access to information they need during treatment and the tablets will be used after recovery to help monitor their progress.
According to Dianne Clarke, OperationPAR COO/ Executive Director of Project FAIR, saving families has been a major OperationPAR mission for 45 years. She said, “The best prevention for children is treating their families. This grant will significantly help the treatment of pregnant and post-partum women and their families. It will not only improve their lives but may be a significant answer to Florida’s substance abuse and child welfare issues.”
OPERATIONPAR AT A GLANCE:
- 2015 will be 45th Anniversary
- Funded through grants and donations.
- Began in 1970 by Shirley Coletti, a mother who discovered her daughter was experimenting with drugs.
- Today OperationPar provides addiction and mental health treatment to clients in 7 counties: Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee, Hernando, Sarasota and Charlotte, and Lee. Serves more than 15,000 men, women, adolescents, and pregnant women and children a year.
- Special services for pregnant women, their children, families,
- Staff of over 450.
- For more information please visit OperationPAR.org