FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                     
May 28, 2014                                                                                    

MEDIA CONTACT:
Christopher Loh
(617) 727-2543

**MEDIA ALERT**

AG COAKLEY TO DISCUSS NEW BEHAVIORAL HEALTH INITIATIVE AND TOUR WHITTIER STREET HEALTH CENTER

Center Received $250,000 Grant from AG’s Office to Expand Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services

WHEN: TODAY, Wednesday, May 28, 2014

TIME: 12 p.m.

WHERE: Whittier Street Health Center, 1290 Tremont St., Boston

WHO:

• Attorney General Martha Coakley
• Frederica Williams, President and CEO of Whittier Street Health Center

WHAT:

AG Coakley will tour the Whittier Street Health Center to discuss firsthand how the organization will use its $250,000 Behavioral Health Grant to improve its delivery of mental health and substance abuse services to underserved populations by developing a Behavioral Health Urgent Care component within its existing Urgent Care Clinic. The new service will treat same-day behavioral health emergencies that do not require the emergency department. The center services Roxbury, Dorchester, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, the South End and Mattapan.

Earlier this month, the AG’s Office awarded 22 organizations across the state with more than $8 million in grant funding in an effort to increase access for mental illness and substance abuse health services. The Increasing Access to and Measuring the Benefits of Providing Behavioral Health Services in Massachusetts grant program (Behavioral Health Grant) supports new projects that improve the delivery of mental health and substance abuse services in Massachusetts in order to improve public health, welfare, and safety.