By Ivan Pereira
Two of the borough’s longest-running centers for substance abuse victims are now joining forces to help a larger group of patients.
Briarwood-based Samaritan Village and Richmond Hill-based Outreach announced a partnership that will create a bigger network for individuals looking for a way to fight drug and alcohol abuse.
The two nonprofits have always worked together in the past, but Outreach’s co-founder and chief executive officer, Kathleen Riddle, said she and Samaritan’s CEO, Tino Hernandez, wanted to make a formal coalition that would serve their mutual goals.
“We will be working together to establish new programs, but the alliance was set up to enable an individual seeking help to go to either agency and receive a full continuum of care,” she said.
Samaritan Village, headquartered at 138-02 Queens Blvd., was established more than 50 years ago and offers various programs for adults, including substance abuse counseling, primary health care, mental health services, employment and training. In addition, it also offers assistance support to veterans and their families.
Outreach, created in 1980 and headquartered at 117-11 Myrtle Ave., began out of a Glendale office where it made referrals for teen clients and quickly expanded its services to include in-house counseling and treatment.
Today it has several offices in Queens as well as Long Island and has rehabilitated thousands of teens who were falling through the cracks. It is also one of the leading institutions for training behavioral health professionals.
As part of the partnership, both agencies will refer clients to whichever organization has the best service to meet the client’s needs.
“This partnership is based on a careful analysis of the value and strengths of our respective agencies. We are especially excited about the potential of this initiative to enhance the outstanding work currently being done by both agencies’ staff,” Hernandez said in a statement.
Riddle said the staffs at both agencies have already been trained on how to refer their clients to Samaritan and how to handle the teens who are referred to them from the Briarwood group.
“These are two agencies that are long-running, well-known and financially stable, so it was easy to form a partnership,” she said.
Riddle added that the two groups would also work together to create new programs that would take advantage of their shared staff and experiences.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4546.
