A New Chapter for Lamoille County Mental Health Services
By Jennifer Stratton, Executive Director, Lamoille County Mental Health Services
For the past two years, much of my energy, and the energy of our entire team at Lamoille County Mental Health Services, has been focused on getting our house in order. We owed that to the community we serve, and I'm proud to say we are delivering.
When I look at where we were and where we are today, I am genuinely encouraged. We have reduced our organizational deficit from $2.5 million to $1.3 million, implemented stronger financial controls, and brought greater transparency to our operations. Earlier this month, we received meaningful validation of that progress when the Vermont Agency of Human Services awarded LCMHS a $439,000 Provider Stabilization Grant, an investment that will help us significantly reduce our remaining deficit and put us firmly on the path to long-term financial sustainability.
I want to be clear about what that work has meant, because behind every budget line is a real commitment to the people of Lamoille County. Our staff never wavered. Through an incredibly challenging period, they showed up every day for the individuals and families who depend on us for crisis response, outpatient care, and community support for those with mental health issues and developmental disabilities. They deserve enormous credit for where we stand today.
Now that we have built a stable foundation, we are turning our attention to the future and that future is focused on becoming a Certified Community Based Integrated Health Center, or CCBHC. This is a federal designation, and pursuing it is one of the most important steps we can take for the people we serve.
To illustrate one practical example, when someone is seeking support for both a mental health condition and a substance use disorder, a combination that is very common, they often have to navigate two separate intake processes and two distinct care pathways. This can add complexity during an already difficult time and contribute to gaps, delays, or barriers in accessing coordinated support. The CCBHC model takes a different approach by allowing us to treat the whole person through one intake process and one integrated care team. This reflects the reality of how people experience these challenges, not in neat, separate categories, but as interconnected needs that often occur all at once.
Integration also creates opportunities to strengthen access and responsiveness across the broader system of care, including expanded hours so that support is available when people need it. It allows us to more specifically support populations such as veterans and their families, whose needs are often distinct and too frequently underserved within our community. Together, these changes move us toward a model of care that is more accessible, coordinated, and reflective of the needs of our community.
The path to CCBHC designation is not a short one. The approval process is rigorous and takes time. But our hope, and our goal, is to have these fully integrated services available to the people of Lamoille County by next summer.
That prospect fills me with real optimism. The work of the past two years has been about survival and stability. The work ahead is about becoming something stronger, an organization that meets people where they are, treats them as whole human beings, and provides the kind of care that our community deserves.
We are not there yet. But for the first time in a while, I can say with confidence that we are well on our way.
Jennifer Stratton is the Executive Director of Lamoille County Mental Health Services, which provides comprehensive community mental health, and children, family and person-centered developmental disability services throughout Lamoille County.
