For immediate release                         

Contact: Anne Gallagher

December 2007                                                                                             330-653-3522

PLAN Recognized Among Top Three Local Mental Health Programs     .

CLEVELAND, OH – Three local mental health agencies, including Planned Lifetime Assistance of Northeast Ohio (PLAN), received special recognition at the 17^th Annual Community Issues Luncheon, hosted recently by the Woodruff Foundation at Windows on the River in Cleveland. The Foundation holds the event each year in an effort to heighten community awareness and encourage dialogue on critical issues facing the behavioral healthcare system.

            The winner of the Woodruff Prize Award, which is the only mental health award in Northeast Ohio and one of just a few in the entire nation, was the children’s program at The Gathering Place, a nonprofit community-based cancer support center that serves the social, emotional, physical and spiritual needs of cancer patients and their support network. PLAN was recognized as one of two finalists for the services it offers adults facing mental illness.

            “We are honored that our program is considered to be one of the top three mental health programs in the Cleveland area,” says Ray Gonzalez, executive director of PLAN. “We thank the Woodruff Foundation for their recognition of our efforts in achieving our mission, which is to help people challenged by mental illness to advance in their recovery by providing them with individualized and innovative treatments and services in a supportive community of families, friends and specially trained professionals.”

            Currently based in Cleveland Heights, PLAN provides services for approximately 120 members (or clients) in the Greater Cleveland area. These individuals suffer from such disorders as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, mild mental retardation, obsessive compulsive disorder, personality disorder and debilitating depression. In order to bring about both cognitive and emotional growth, PLAN offers family advocacy, holistic recovery program, vocational counseling, volunteer opportunities, art therapy, a supportive housing program, and cognitive enhancement therapy, an innovative program the combines therapy with computer software that is specially designed to increase an individual’s attention, memory and problem-solving abilities.

The Woodruff Foundation was established in Cleveland in 1986 to enhance, through financial support, the development and delivery of mental health services. In addition to their traditional grant making, the trustees of the foundation have sought to recognize and honor those organizations and individuals doing superior work in the fields of mental health and chemical dependency. Toward this end, the foundation established two Woodruff Prize Awards, each totaling $10,000, which are granted to one nonprofit, tax-exempt mental health or substance abuse organization and to one individual (either a volunteer or professional) in Cuyahoga County each year.

Prize winners are selected by an advisory committee comprised of foundation trustees, community leaders and experts in the fields of mental health and substance abuse, who review and judge nominations based on:

• consistent and superior work in the treatment of mental health and/or chemical dependency
• innovation and/or high achievement
• significant impact on the community
• collaboration or partnership with others in the community to advance program goals and objectives

For more information on PLAN – including becoming a member or making a donation – please contact PLAN’s main office at 216-321-3611.

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