Vermont Care Partners

04/07/2026

Counseling Service of Addison County’s embedded master’s-level clinical internship program connects people to services, offering support from a familiar face within a trusted agency. Interns gain close supervision and guidance from expert staff in an established community mental health agency.

04/03/2026

Direct support professionals (DSPs) are the backbone of community-based services for people with I/DD. As begins, support the direct support workforce and ensure better data collection.

Ask Congress to cosponsor the Recognizing the Role of DSPs Act: https://www.ancor.org/actions/tell-congress-to-cosponsor-the-recognizing-the-role-of-dsps-act/

03/28/2026

03/25/2026

"Washington County Mental Health Services (WCMHS), through its Center for Substance Use Services, has recently expanded its outreach capacity by hiring a substance use clinician to join its mobile outreach team. This addition allows WCMHS to connect more individuals with treatment and recovery supports directly in the community".

As Vermont’s substance use treatment landscape shifts, community providers are stepping up to maintain access to care. In Washington County, strong partnerships ensure rapid connection to treatment, recovery services, and coordinated support.

03/21/2026

"Vermont’s youth mental health crisis is showing up most clearly among young adults trying to transition to adulthood. Anxiety, depression, substance use, and suicidal thoughts are affecting more young people and with greater intensity than in previous generations. For many, weekly therapy isn’t enough, but hospitalization alone doesn’t create lasting change. That’s where NFI’s Crossroads Transitional-Aged Youth (TAY) Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) is making a life-changing difference".

Vermont faces a deepening youth mental health crisis, with rising depression, anxiety, and su***de risk, especially among Transitional-Aged Youth. NFI Crossroads’ Dialectical Behavior Therapy-based intensive outpatient program provides skills-focused treatment that builds coping abilities, strengt...

03/20/2026

Next week!

Join NAMI Vermont for a series of presentations relating to mental health, delivered by knowledgeable speakers in a relaxed, lunchtime format.

03/18/2026

"A three-bed Integrated Crisis Stabilization Services (ICSS) Program aims to meet essential community needs in Bennington County. ICSS is offered by UCS, a nonprofit community-based agency, and part of the Vermont Care Partners (VCP) network, and is based at the Battelle House in Bennington, VT. ICSS reduces barriers to treatment by combining a Public Inebriate Program (PIP) with mental health crisis stabilization providing short-term support for adults experiencing mental health and/or substance use crises".

As part of a State of Vermont request, United Counseling Service (UCS) created an Integrated Crisis Stabilization Program (ICSS) this year to expand its services for individuals experiencing mental health and substance use crises in Bennington County. ICSS provides therapeutic groups, skill-building...

03/18/2026

Are you an innovator, changemaker, or advocate in mental health? This is your moment!

We’re now accepting presentation proposals for our annual conference on May 28 in Killington. Share your ideas, approaches, and experiences with others across Vermont.

Sessions will focus on systems policy and innovation, clinical practice and specialized care, and cross-sector approaches to mental health.

Submit your proposal by March 31. Learn more at the link in our bio.

03/18/2026

ANCOR CEO Barbara Merrill shared the per person cost of HCBS vs large state institutions during today's House hearing on health care affordability. Thank you US Rep Nanette Diaz Barragán for highlighting that HCBS is the most impactful AND cost-effective solution for people with disabilities.

03/17/2026

Employment matters.

"At Clara Martin Center, like many other VCP network agencies, the work goes beyond job placement. Our employment team understands that finding a job is as therapeutic as it is practical. When someone who has been defined by their diagnosis gets to be defined, instead, by their contributions, something profound shifts. Purpose returns. Pride returns. And with purpose and pride, community connection follows.

Clara Martin Center’s IPS-supported employment program helps Vermonters with mental health or substance use challenges return to meaningful work by integrating clinical care, partnering with local employers, and restoring purpose, confidence, and community connection through individualized, commun...

03/13/2026

One day late but still important to recognize.

On this day, March 12, 1990, many Disabled activists marched from the White House to the U.S. Capitol to demand that Congress pass the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). At the Capitol, many left their wheelchairs and mobility aids at the base of the stairs and crawled up the steps in a powerful act of civil disobedience, calling out the discrimination and inaccessibility that impacts Disabled Americans.

Later that year, on July 26, President George H.W. Bush signed the ADA into law — a milestone won through the leadership and persistence of the disability community.



[ID: A yellow graphic titled “Disability Rights Fun Fact” features four circular photos arranged around centered text. The top-left photo shows Disabled activists gathered at the base of the U.S. Capitol steps. The top-right photo shows several people beginning to crawl up the stone staircase. The bottom-left photo shows a larger group of activists moving up the steps on their hands and knees. The bottom-right photo shows a crowd of Disabled protesters assembled near the Capitol. Centered black text reads: “March 12, 1990, over 1,000 people marched from the White House to the U.S. Capitol to demand that Congress pass the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Casting their wheelchairs and mobility aids aside, they crawled up the Capitol stairs.”]

03/12/2026

During Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, we’re celebrating the voices of the staff who walk alongside the people we support every day.

Roxy, a Community Support Worker, reminds us that this work is about connection as much as it is about care. The relationships built through this work are powerful and life-changing for the individuals we support and our own staff.

Their stories, resilience, and joy shape the people we become.