Clifford Beers and the Child Guidance Center of Mid-Fairfield County Join Forces to Expand Community Access to High-Quality, Affordable Behavioral Health Services in Southern Connecticut.

Child Guidance Center of Mid-Fairfield to operate as an affiliate of Clifford Beers but
retain status as a separate nonprofit corporation.  Agencies will share resources to reduce operating costs and help expand the scale and scope of their behavioral health services.

They will also work together to introduce innovative technologies to broaden
community access to their services.

NEW HAVEN & NORWALK CT – May 7, 2018 — Clifford Beers, the leading provider of affordable behavioral health services in the greater New Haven, CT, area, and The Child Guidance Center of Mid-Fairfield (Mid-Fairfield), the leading provider of children’s mental health services in the greater Norwalk, CT, area, today announced an Affiliation Agreement under which Mid-Fairfield will operate as an affiliate of Clifford Beers.

Under the Agreement, Clifford Beers will serve as the corporate parent and Mid-Fairfield will continue to operate as a separate 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation in its current location and will continue to offer, without interruption, all of the clinical services it currently provides to children and families in Norwalk and surrounding communities. Both agencies will be governed by their own board of directors and no merging of assets or liabilities will occur.

“We couldn’t be more excited that the Child Guidance Center of Mid-Fairfield, known for its innovation and exceptional commitment to community service, will be joining the Clifford Beers family,” said Dr. Alice Forrester, the CEO of Clifford Beers.  “Joining forces with other agencies that share our passion for helping children and families in need will help both agencies streamline operations, reduce operating costs, and will take full advantage of our combined knowledge and expertise. Most important, it will help ensure the continuity of the behavioral health services we offer that so many in our community depend on.”

On July 1, 2018, the effective date of the Affiliate Agreement, Roy Berger, who currently serves as Mid-Fairfield’s interim CEO will step down and rejoin Mid-Fairfield’s board of directors. Dr. Gail Melanson, currently serving as Mid-Fairfield’s Clinical Director, will be promoted to the position of Executive Director and will report to Dr. Forrester who will serve as the CEO for both agencies.

“Affiliating with a strong, best-in-class agency like Clifford Beers has long been our focus,” said Roy Berger, CEO of the Child Guidance Center of Mid-Fairfield. “As in any enterprise, scale matters, and by joining the Clifford Beers family, we’ll be able to take full advantage of the combined size and resources of our two agencies. Helping children and families in need of behavioral health services is the sole reason we exist, so we are thrilled that our affiliation with Clifford Beers will enable us to help even more children and families, in more ways, and at less cost than ever before.”

Tom Sansone, president of the Clifford Beers Board of Directors, notes that the uncertainty of state and federal funding makes consolidation a particularly smart move. “Nonprofit funding tends to be unpredictable and policy shifts in Hartford and D.C. could bring serious challenges to both agencies. This arrangement will allow all concerned to better weather any cyclical downturns and help ensure that the children and families we both serve will have future access to the behavioral health services they need.”

Both agencies are partially funded by the State of Connecticut and continue to operate only through the generosity of the individual donors and foundations that support their mission of providing critical behavioral health services to children and families in need. Under the Affiliation Agreement, both agencies will remain responsible for their own funding requirements.

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About the Child Guidance Center of Mid-Fairfield County

For over 60 years, the nonprofit Child Guidance Center has served as the safety net for families who cannot afford private behavioral health services for their children. In 2016, the Center provided outpatient clinical mental health services to over 600 children and 1,500 family members from Norwalk, Westport, Weston, Wilton, New Canaan, Darien, and Stamford. To learn more about the Child Guidance Center of Mid-Fairfield County, visit www.childguidancemfct.org.

About Clifford Beers

Clifford Beers has a respected century-plus tradition of bringing leading-edge mental health solutions to children and families. Today, Clifford Beers continues to develop and implement community-based systems of care programming in clinic offices, schools, and homes.  Among other things, Clifford Beers offers trauma-informed outpatient care, services for children and their families facing autism or intellectual/developmental disabilities, care coordination that considers the full family dynamic, trauma training for child-serving organizations (schools, camps), and emergency crisis care.  Last year, Clifford Beers served over 6,300 children/caregivers and provided professional development training to over 3,300 in Connecticut and beyond.  Clifford Beers also maintains a policy presence to protect and expand funding that supports critical human services.  Visit www.cliffordbeers.org to learn more.