Please go to Seacoast Online to read the full article.  ~~Excerpt SANFORD -- Partners Bank is proud to announce that Crossroads behavioral health and addiction treatment center has been awarded a gift of $500 as the October recipient of the Bank’s monthly Employee Donation Program. Since the program’s inception in 2015, Maine organizations have received more than $21,000 in support. ... Read More ›

Please go to The County to read the full article.  Lorraine Chamberlain (Courtesy of Aroostook Mental Health Center) By: Contributed ~~Excerpt CARIBOU, Maine — Aroostook Mental Health Center has been selected to serve on a national Advancing Health Equity Learning Collaborative, a component of the Advancing Health Equity: Leading Care, Payment, and Systems Transformation program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Lorraine Chamberlain, program director ... Read More ›

Please go to the Portland Press Herald to read the full article.  A new report from the agency's Office of Child and Family Services recommends 33 additional caseworkers, on top of 33 already funded by the Legislature, to handle a growing volume of abuse and neglect reports. By: Joe Lawlor, Staff Writer ~~Excerpt Maine’s child welfare agency said Tuesday that the state needs to double the number of new caseworkers to handle an increasing number of abuse and neglect ... Read More ›

Please go to the Portland Press Herald to read the full article.  Jessica Pollard, who has been teaching at the Yale University School of Medicine, returns to her native state to lead an office that plays a key role in responding to the opioid crisis. By: Eric Russell, Staff Writer ~~Excerpt A Maine native who spent the last six years as a psychiatry professor at the Yale University School of Medicine has been named director of Maine’s Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health ... Read More ›

Thursday, October 3, 8:30AM – 3:30PM Augusta Civic Center, Augusta Maine This year’s conference, A New Day for Health Care in Maine, is designed to blend celebration with resolve and commitment. Progress being made to improve access to quality and affordable health care in Maine will be celebrated.  At the same time, we will highlight the need to protect, preserve and build on gains made to expand access to affordable coverage, preventative care and other health care including prescription ... Read More ›

Please go to the Boothbay Register to read the full article.  By: Gina Hamilton ~~Excerpt Two Bridges Regional Jail is about seven weeks into its Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) program with ENSO Recovery, as part of a grant by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, with funding from the federal government, to combat opioid abuse in jail and after inmates leave. As of Sept. 19, the MAT program had 10 inmates, all ... Read More ›

Please go to Maine Public to read the full article.  By: Patty Wight ~~Excerpt A statewide phone support line for people with mental health issues will be reduced from a 24-hour service to a seven hour daily service next year under a proposed new state contract. The proposed change is drawing criticism and concern from the mental health community. The Intentional Warm Line offers peer-to-peer phone support for people facing non-crisis mental health situations. Simonne Maline of ... Read More ›

Please go to the Bangor Daily News to read the full article.  By: Erin Rhoda, BDN Staff ~~Excerpt Maine’s government will open up a pool of money in the coming months to help people with addiction find a safe place to live. It will be the first time the state has devoted funding to so-called recovery homes, after years of rising death tolls from the opioid crisis. But the state won’t be able to support any existing recovery homes in the Bangor area as they stand now because not one ... Read More ›

Please go to Maine Public to read the full article.  Researchers surveyed people about their happy childhood memories and found that those who had more were much less likely to experience depression later in life. By: Selena Simmons-Duffin ~~Excerpt Plenty of research shows that adverse childhood experiences can lead to depression and other health problems later in life. But researcher Christina Bethell wondered whether positive experiences in childhood could counter that. Her ... Read More ›