BHS Gifts $400K for Brien Center’s North Adams Recovery Home
iBerkshires.com reports the Brien Center has announced the receipt of a nearly $400,000 gift from Berkshire Health Systems that will enable it to open the first recovery home in North Adams for those living with significant mental health and substance-use disorders.
Called Keenan House North, the recovery home will provide 16 individuals at a time with the housing and intensive services needed to overcome their behavioral health issues and resume lives as productive members of the community.
Berkshire Health Systems purchased the Victorian duplex for $138,000 and is investing another $250,000 to fully renovate the house for use as a recovery home, for a total donation to the Brien Center of nearly $400,000.
Keenan House North will be located at 42-44 Arnold Place and will add to the Brien Center's two existing recovery homes in Pittsfield — the 24-bed Keenan House for Men and the 17-bed Keenan House for Women. Keenan North will house both men and women.
Providing additional startup money for the initiative is the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Bureau of Substance and Addiction Services, which awarded the Brien Center a $445,000 contract as part of the commonwealth's promise to add 500 more recovery beds statewide and enhanced services for individuals with the co-occurring disorders of mental illness and addiction.
To meet the requirements of the BSAS contract, Keenan House North will have a more enhanced model of care than Brien's two recovery homes in Pittsfield, which provide housing and access to Brien Center services taking place in the community.
Located in the heart of North Adams, Keenan House North is within walking distance of many community resources, including the Beacon Community Recovery Center, Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, state and federal agencies, churches and local employers.