Through the generosity of the Farris Foundation, Spurwink has been able to stay at the forefront of trauma-informed behavioral health care with the ability to attend key national conferences and increase advanced training in trauma focused evidence-based practices.
The Farris Foundation, a family foundation with ties to Maine, Florida, and New York, is expanding their support of behavioral health services in Maine. Last year, they supported participation in the annual National Council on Behavioral Services conference in Nashville. The conference is the largest behavioral health conference in health care, according to their website. They are repeating that grant this year by supporting leaders from 3 organizations in Maine to attend the conference, including Amy Cohan, Spurwink’s Vice President of Outpatient and Community Services. After the conference, the leaders participate in a post conference forum to share learnings and discuss statewide community needs.
In addition, this year, the foundation has awarded grants to further professional development of clinical providers in the area of trauma informed care. Spurwink received a grant to support training clinicians in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral therapy (TFCBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). This will allow for increased training in these trauma focused evidence-based practices, including the costs of required post-training consultation and certification. Nearly thirty clinicians across the agency are expected to receive this advanced training.