Sally E. Bahner Photo
On Friday night the town honored an organization that has helped its residents through thick and thin for 40 years, including the worst economic times since the Great Depression.
Starting out as the Drug Use Committee and Help Line housed in the basement of the First Congregational Church, the Branford Counseling Center has become a lifeline to the community and that lifeline was acknowledged Friday night as supporters packed the Blackstone Memorial Library.
Current director, Pat Andriole mingled with well-wishers and accepted the thanks of a grateful community. She was appointed chair of the original Drug Use Committee by the late First Selectman John B. Sliney and now oversees a staff that includes an assistant director, 10 full-time clinicians, four part-time clinicians, six part-time psychiatrists, plus three full-time and three part-time clerical staff.
“People don’t know how fortunate they are with that extra caring,” said First Selectman Anthony “Unk” DaRos. He read a proclamation declaring Friday Branford Counseling Center Appreciation Day and presented a citation from the state legislature also honoring the Counseling Center.(See photo above.)
“The measure of a community is by how they take care of its people,” DaRos said.
Over the past three years that staff has been challenged with helping residents through the devastating effects of the recession. Andriole has said many times that people have been seeking help from the Counseling Center who never thought they would need its services. The center currently has an open caseload of 460, including children. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of kids seeking help.
She said recently that people are still dealing with the recession’s effects. Often people who had made donations in the past (a town agency, the center relies heavily on grants, fees and donations) found themselves on the receiving end. Andriole and her staff do all they can to help their clients through difficult times by helping with utility and rent payments, giving them supermarket cards, and providing counseling.
“People are still in dire, dire straights. We’ve had $30,000 in request for utilities. When winter protection comes off, it will be absolutely terrible.”
No one is turned away because an inability to pay. The Counseling Center accepts most insurance plans and state plans and allows payment on a sliding scale.
Lynch, Gailey, Andriole.
Brian Lynch was the first director of the Counseling Center. He initially worked on a part-time basis as a counselor, then because its full-time director in 1979 before resigning to become director of the Children’s Center in Hamden.
Barbara Gailey then took over and orchestrated the move to the former Harbor Street School on Harbor Street. She described having to walk over planks in the water-filled basement to access the lavatories. Gailey was director for 18 years, but she also was active with the state Department of Children and Youth Services and Harbor Health Services, which offers substance and mental health counseling. At that time, Gailey said, the Counseling Center’s budget was $750,000; it started out at $4,000 and is now at $1.2 million.
Andriole said at the end of the program that the Counseling Center is “an example of what people can accomplish.
“What a ride!” she added. “Thank you for getting on the bus!”
Jane Corwin, volunteer coordinator, then presented Andriole with roses, describing her as “tenacious, an unflappable force, who has left an indelible mark on the community.”
The Branford Counseling Center is located at 342 Harbor S., 203 – 481-4248 (there’s a 24-hour answering service).
