The Lourie Center Receives $2 Million Grant to Advance Mental Health Care for Children

Adventist HealthCare’s The Lourie Center for Children’s Social & Emotional Wellness has received a five-year, $2 million grant to implement FASTT, its Family Attachment-focused Services, Treatment & Training program, in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. The University of Maryland School of Social Work in Baltimore is the evaluation and training partner in the program.

The grant from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will increase access to critical early childhood mental healthcare by supporting workforce development in the field. With the funding, The Lourie Center will train its own team members, graduate students and community practitioners in best practices for early childhood mental healthcare. More trained professionals will make it possible to serve more at-risk children and families, improve the quality of care and reduce assessment wait times, which now can be as long as one year. Earlier intervention also will reduce the number of emergency room visits by children in crisis and help lessen family stress that often comes with socioeconomic challenges.

The FASTT program will serve children from birth to 12 years old with significant mental health complications. The children will benefit from The Lourie Center’s unique model, which provides care from a specialized team using attachment-centered, trauma-informed and equity-advancing principles. A national leader in early childhood mental and behavioral health interventions, The Lourie Center has Maryland’s only therapeutic nursery program focused on preschool children with mental health complications.

The Lourie Center also will become part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative, a network of U.S. service providers who share best practices, research results, training and strategies. “We’re proud of the work we do at The Lourie Center,” said Jimmy Venza, executive director. “The grant will allow us to extend our reach and impact.”