On October 27, in partnership with the City of Fairfax, George Mason University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences and Department of Psychology celebrated the grand opening of its new facility for the Center for Community Mental Health and Center for Evidence-Based Behavioral Health, two centers whose research and community services are deeply connected to strengthening our communities.
City of Fairfax Mayor and Mason alum Catherine Read and Christopher Bruno, CEO of Fairfax City Economic Development, joined Mason faculty, staff, and supporters for the festivities.
“I could not be more proud of my alma mater right now,” Mayor Read said in her opening remarks at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Mental health and behavioral health are health care. We need to change the conversation to remove both the stigma and the barriers to these critical services. George Mason University is taking a leadership role in developing a model for quality affordable mental health services while training the next generation of mental healthcare providers. Fairfax City is the beneficiary of this groundbreaking effort to invest in the holistic well-being of an entire community. We are fortunate in our proximity and partnership with Mason.”
The new City of Fairfax location at 9900 Main Street is optimally located to enable community members’ easy access to critical mental health services, while also providing space to advance research and train the next generation of behavioral health providers.
The Center for Community Mental Health serves as the main training clinic for Mason doctoral candidates in clinical psychology, as well as students in other behavioral health disciplines such as counseling and social work. The Center provides affordable and culturally sensitive therapy and testing services to those in need, regardless of income. It is one of the only sites in the mid-Atlantic to offer therapies and testing on a sliding scale, which enables access to care for as low as $5 per session. The Center for Community Mental Health sees children as young as age 5, and works with community members across the lifespan, including addressing the mental health needs of veterans.
“The Center for Community Mental Health firmly believes that mental health services should be available to everyone, regardless of ability to pay,” said Robyn Mehlenbeck, Center for Community Mental Health director. “We also believe you should receive help when you need it and not be told you’ll need to wait three or four months. Thus, we have developed and expanded our emotional support lines, which are staffed 12 hours/day, seven days/week in English and Spanish. In addition, we offer three session skills treatment that has little to no waitlist, to help bridge care until longer term services are available,” she said.
Last year, the Center for Community Mental Health provided more than 2,100 therapy sessions, completed 118 evaluations and more than 315 evaluation sessions, and helped train 77 undergraduates and 57 graduate students—all with a commitment to the community.
“We have celebrated several partnerships with Mason this year, but the Centers for Community Mental Health and Evidence-Based Behavioral Health—and their decision to locate in our City—may be the most impactful to our community,” Bruno said. “In addition to the meaningful services and research being done at this new facility, the presence of these programs in Fairfax only deepens our close bond with our longest and strongest partner and will benefit residents, businesses, and visitors alike. I am grateful to the University for selecting a Fairfax City location for these critical programs.”
Like the Center for Community Mental Health, the Center for Evidence-Based Behavioral Health is committed to decreasing barriers to accessing high-quality mental health care. Serving as a critical bridge between research on the best therapies and real-life applications, it offers training and consultation to the community’s behavioral health workforce in culturally responsive, research-based, behavioral health treatments. The Center for Evidence-Based Behavioral Health has trained approximately 430 clinicians and clinical supervisors, who represent eight local county-based organizations and 38 private behavioral health organizations, over the last year alone.
“The Center for Evidence-Based Behavioral Health brings together Mason faculty, with different areas of expertise, to partner with and train behavioral health providers in research-based therapies,” said Christy Esposito-Smythers, CEBBH Director. “This helps our current workforce address gaps in training, learn new treatment techniques, and further enhance their ability to effectively treat clients with a variety of behavioral health concerns,” she said.
“The behavioral health needs in our community are acute, as are the behavioral health workforce development needs in the region,” said Ann Ardis, Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. “This new facility will provide Mason faculty and students with a state-of-the-art environment in which to pursue research-to-practice activities in service to our communities.”
October 30, 2023