A nonprofit that provides mental health services in the Staunton, Augusta County, Waynesboro area is celebrating newly regained financial security that will allow them to expand programs. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
The ARROW Project, based in Staunton, offers outpatient and telehealth counseling, therapy groups for a variety of demographics, and a psychological assessment center for conditions such as autism spectrum disorder and ADHD. They also train student clinicians. After a funding boom during the pandemic, Executive Director and Co-founder Sabrina Burress said the organization encountered financial hardship – with big expenses such as workbooks and software and not enough money coming in. Now, they've attained more stable funding sources by –
SABRINA BURRESS: Building out the services that we know we can bill for, so for insurance companies, really working to understand the billing process and reimbursement … which is incredibly helpful for us. We also looked at contracts, so we contract with social services offices … something that, we know that when we complete this project or this assessment or these 12 sessions of outpatient, we will be reimbursed for those services.
The organization has also won three new grants this year, totalling more than $300,000. One, from the Jeffress Trust, will support a non-crisis mobile mental health unit.
BURRESS: We go to the schools. We go to after-school programs. We go to our older and aging population. … It's a really lovely way for us to, I think, be truly embedded in community.
A new destination this grant will pay for is a Waynesboro preschool, so ARROW Project staff can work with teachers there. Another grant from the Virginia Healthcare Foundation will support counseling, therapy groups, and peer groups for new and expecting mothers. And one from the Farm Credit Charitable Contributions Fund will provide mental health services for farmers.
