Vermont Care Partners

01/15/2026

12/25/2025

On behalf of the VCP team, we wish all who celebrate, a very peaceful, Merry Christmas.

12/24/2025

Isolation can be paralyzing, but you don't have to face it alone. The Companion app provides a safe space for you to share and receive support while you are taking care of those with mental health and/or substance use disorder.

Enroll today! https://signup.companion.health/?token=A0j2R

12/22/2025

Join us!

12/21/2025

New initiative taking shape.

12/17/2025

Partnerships make big things happen.

📢 “I just wanted to crawl out of my skin - I was depressed and couldn't see a way out.”

Under the autumn glow of the Intervale Center’s silver maple trees, Gabby Makatura recalls when her life reached a breaking point. After leaving a high-stress job, what was supposed to be a restful transition period turned into anything but. Anxiety and uncertainty took hold. She felt numb and disconnected. She lost weight. A series of escalating panic attacks ended with a trip to the emergency department.

Her mother, visiting from Colorado, had heard about the new Howard Center Mental Health Urgent Care Center in Burlington, Vermont. With encouragement, Makatura agreed to try it. When she walked through the doors, she broke down in tears.

“I just knew I should’ve been there all along.”

🫂 A Low-Barrier Resource for Care🫂

Struggling with mental health can be isolating, especially when people aren’t sure where to turn.

“So many suffer in silence because they’re afraid of being judged or because they feel they’re not ‘hurting enough’ to go to the hospital,” says Tim Durney, director of the MHUC. “This center is here to make care accessible and timely. If it’s a crisis to you, it’s a crisis to us.”

Designed for comfort, it offers a therapeutic alternative to an emergency department or the isolation of facing a crisis alone.

Staff include crisis clinicians, medical nurses, case workers and peer support specialists. The goal: Connect each guest with the right mix of resources. For some, that means finding a therapist or primary care provider. Others may need help with insurance or housing. Whatever the case, the guest drives the services — not the other way around.

“That’s what makes this place unique,” says Audrey Davis, the center’s clinical supervisor. “We take a 360 view of every guest, meeting them where they are and building the right team with the right resources.”

🫂 The Power of Peer Support 🫂
Often, what people crave most is connection, especially with other people who have lived through mental health challenges.

“I think that’s what’s made our peer support space so successful,” says Rawnie Davis, a peer support specialist. “We spend time with people who check in, keep them company or just listen. Many people just want a quiet, safe space — without judgment or expectation.”

For Makatura, that space — and peers like Rawnie — was a revelation. After her first visit, she spent the next four months coming daily to the peer support room. She packed lunch, caught a ride with her partner to the center’s fourth floor location at 1 South Prospect Street and spent the day among an ever-changing group of guests and specialists. She worked on job applications, did puzzles, laughed and cried and practiced coping with rising panic — supported by people who understood.

“It’s such a safe place — no one asks why you’re there or questions your agenda,” Makatura says. “There’s nothing like being surrounded by people who have lived through the same experiences.”

She soon landed a new job and found her outlook improving. A year later, she still stops by occasionally to say hello to friends like Rawnie.

“I don’t know what I would’ve done without people like her.”

Opened in October 2024, the center is a partnership between University of Vermont Health - UVM Medical Center, Howard Center, Pathways Vermont Community Health Centers and the Vermont Department of Health.

12/16/2025

Vermont needs more flexible, person-centered options, like this.

Champlain Housing Trust has partnered with the Developmental Disabilities Housing Initiative (DDHI) to create 10 affordable, permanently service-supported apartments on St. Paul Street in Burlington. This development represents a new model of supportive housing for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Learn more at https://www.getahome.org/when-housing-isnt-enough/

12/15/2025

12/15/2025

Wishing all who celebrate, a very bright, light filled, Chanukah.

Happy first night of Hanukkah to those that celebrate! May we fill this dark season with light and hope. This beautiful menorah is on the steps of our statehouse in Montpelier.

📸: Adam Silverman Photography

12/02/2025

Did you know that the network of VCP agencies across the state offer necessary substance use, mental health and disability related care to our most vulnerable Vermonters? They provide care in moments of crisis, enable individuals to live in, and to take advantage of community programs, provide support in our schools, and much, much more.

These agencies are nonprofit organizations and need your support. Your dollars will impact individuals, families and communities. You can find a list of the 16 agencies here. https://vermontcarepartners.org/agencies/ Please consider a donation on this or better yet, consider a donation any time of year.

Seeking Vermont services? Find the closest mental health, substance use, and developmental disability services agency near you.

11/21/2025

The bipartisan Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act urges the Office of Management and Budget to establish a Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) for direct support professionals (DSPs).