 Who
We Are:
Welcome to Community Connections, a private, not-for-profit
mental health agency in Washington, D.C. Since 1984, Community
Connections has worked with people who have been marginalized
to assist them toward stable, integrated community living. Clinical
programs, residential and supportive services, and research
projects play mutually supportive roles in achieving this goal.
For more information please contact us at info@ccdc1.org or (202) 546-1512.
Mission:
To provide comprehensive, respectful and effective mental health
and residential services to residents of the District of Columbia
and Montgomery County, Maryland.
Trauma Training and Consultation Services:
Visit our Consultation and Training page for our areas
of expertise, and see our Trauma Training and Consultation Services Schedule of
Events. Contact Rebecca Wolfson Berley, MSW, Director of Trauma Education at
rwolfson@ccdc1.org or (202) 608-4735 for further details.
TREM Bulletin
Please email Rebecca Wolfson Berley, MSW, Director of Trauma
Education at rwolfson@ccdc1.org
with any questions about using the Trauma Recovery and Empowerment
Model of group work with women, men or adolescents, or with
any questions about the use of other group modules we've developed.
We will post questions and answers in our TREM bulletin page
in the Training and Consultation area of this website. Thanks
for your interest!
Virtual
Tour
Community Connections is proud of its properties, which include
group homes, independent living houses, and apartment buildings.
Visitors Notebook
Enjoy our website and give us feedback to improve the information
we have for you. Just click
here to send us an email!
Community Connections Bookstore
Books, videos, and group leader manuals written and produced
at Community Connections. Click
here to visit our Bookstore
 Mainstream Housing Choice Voucher Program
Community Connections provides subsidized housing for persons with a disability who meet all eligibility requirements
within the Mainstream Housing Choice Voucher Program.
More information about HUD and its programs is available
at www.hud.gov. Click
here for more information on how to apply. |
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 What's
New At CC
West Institute for Co-Occurring Disorders Study (West Program) (November 2007)
Community Connections has partnered with the Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center in implementing the West Institute Study for Co-Occurring Disorders. This is a multi-level project testing psychosocial and pharmaceutical interventions for substance abuse among people with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. Read more...
Young Adult Program, serving 18-24 year olds (November 2007)
Our Young Adult treatment team works specifically with people ages 18-24, who have serious and pervasive mental illness, to help them make the best possible adjustment to adult life. Services are designed with an eye to understanding psychiatric vulnerabilities in the context of age-appropriate challenges and strengths. The treatment encompasses the following core concerns: psychiatric/behavioral functioning; living situation, including support around budgeting and developing activities of daily living; educational and vocational services; substance abuse; and familial and peer relationships.
The mission of our Young Adult team is to help young people with mental illness gradually establish their identity as adults in the least restrictive way possible. We hope to accomplish this by serving the unique needs people in this population have; being sensitive to their developmental stage, culture, familial relationships and thoughts about the future. Our team also strives to provide a safe environment for young adults to develop their independence while accepting and receiving support from staff and peers; and to empower the individuals using a strengths based orientation.
“Options Plus Project” Funded by SAMHSA (October 2007)
Options Plus, a jail diversion program sponsored by SAMHSA (TI17912) has entered its second year after an exciting and successful kick off year. In year one, we enrolled over 60 people and sustained contact with 80% of original referrals. Options Plus continues to develop a new intervention – FICM, or Forensic Intensive Case Management. FICM integrates intensive case management with active housing referral and support, supported employment, trauma recovery services and intensive dual diagnosis treatment. Our primary goal is to engage and house people with a dual disorder who have often felt disenfranchised and distrustful of service providers. We continue to develop productive relationships with the Pretrial Service Agency, attorneys, judges and criminal justice service providers. We are very excited about our second year. We have an active Consumer Advisory Board and an enthusiastic staff who are all interested in reaching out to people who want help. We will be participating in presentations organized by the Public Defender Service, the Department of Mental Health, and the Public Defender Service which emphasize the importance of integrating mental health and criminal justice services. For more information please contact David Freeman, PsyD at Community Connections DFreeman@CCDC1.org. For a full program description please click here.
“The Isis Program” Funded by SAMHSA (December 2007)
In October 2007 the Isis Program, a mental health services program for women who are HIV positive sponsored by SAMHSA (SM57654), entered its second of five years. In our exciting and successful first year we enrolled 82 women in the Isis Program’s services and evaluation, and sustained service provision with over 95% of the enrolled women. Isis Program staff performed a range of community outreach and liaison activities, provided integrated mental health support services within a newly developed Wellness Intensive Case Management Team, and initiated additional specialty mental health services. In our second year we will continue to provide and expand upon these services. We developed a strong and active eight member Consumer Advisory Board which consulted to the program on a variety of issues. The CAB and its staff liaisons, which just coordinated a first year anniversary celebration for program participants and planned the agency-wide day of events in recognition of World AIDS Day, will expand to up to 11 members and meet monthly in year two. The Isis Program was proud to be featured as the local site at the MHHSC annual grantee meeting in October. For more information please contact Rebecca Wolfson Berley, MSW at Community Connections rwolfson@ccdc1.org. For a full program description please click here.
TREM Study Funded by NIMH (July 2004)
Community Connections is pleased to announce that the National Institute of Mental Health has funded a four-year study of the Trauma Recovery and Empowerment Model (TREM) groups for women. This study is an important next step that builds on the positive findings regarding TREM in the recently completed District of Columbia Trauma Collaboration Study. Click here for a description of the project.
The Twenty-Four Carat Buddha is a collection of original fairy tales set in imaginary space and time but with a piercing relevance for modern life. Each story follows a hero or heroine on a quest of self-discovery, a quest that sometimes ends with a new challenge, sometimes with a hopeful awakening, and sometimes with a painful and unanticipated realization.
The stories explore themes with relevance to all of us: coming of age and learning to trust in our own judgment and intuition; dealing with experiences of profound loss; coming to terms with the demons of past abuses and traumas; and confronting the choices that we all must make as we try to figure out how to live a meaningful life. Although the fables are easy reading, the themes they deal with resonate at the deepest spiritual and philosophical levels of the soul. To see more of this unique collection of stories, please visit our website www.24caratbuddha.com
This book may also be purchased from the Community Connections Bookstore or at www.sidran.org
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