The Fairfax Falls Church Community Services Board
recognizes and celebrates 50 years of providing care,
compassion and outstanding services to residents of
Fairfax County and the Cities of Fairfax and Falls Church
since 1969. Our staff, along with community partners have
served as catalysts towards a healthier community and
touched thousands of individuals and families over
the past five decades. Over the years, some of the major
changes that I have seen happen at the Community
Services Board is one, just the physical site, the
building of the Merrifield Center, the opening of the
Merrifeld Center. That has made a huge difference, it is
consolidated over 7 sites into one site, it has allowed us to
provide more dynamic mental health and substance use
services. Some of the other big changes is, in the past we
used to treat mental health and substance use issues
differently, we would treat individuals with a substance
use issue in one program and a mental health issue in another
program. But now, when the person comes, we make an
assessment of that entire individual and we treat both
conditions at once. You do not have to go through a second
door or a third door, you go to see one person and that
person is cross trained on how to treat both the mental
health issue and the substance use issue. The other big
change that has happened at the Community Services Board
is we are treating individuals, not just with
intellectual disabilities but also developmental
disabilities. As we recognize and celebrate 50 years of
services, we also celebrate the agency's key partnerships
that helped build the firm foundation from the early days
of the Community Services Board, all the way through
today's humanitarian approaches and philosophies of
treating the whole person with dignity, care, and respect.
The Woodburn Center for Community Health opened its
doors in 1973. In 1980, there was a historic visit to the
Woodburn Center by President Jimmy Carter who later signed
the Mental Health Systems Act, providing grants to community
mental health centers across the U.S. In the past, people
with mental illness, intellectual or developmental
disabilities were often housed in institutions with little or
nothing to do. Today, clients with developmental
disabilities served by the Community Services Board have
choices on how to spend their days. Some people work; some
volunteer, others take classes, start businesses or
work in groups. We celebrate how far we have come. With
milestones programs such as Diversion First and Jail
Diversion, more people are being steered away from
incarceration and instead are receiving clinical treatment
and community supports. My vision of the future for the
Community Services Board is to continue to expand the
treatment of the whole person as they come to receive care
from us. But the other thing is, I think we play a large
part in not just the health of the individuals that the CSB
is actively treating but also individuals just in the entire
county. Essentially, sending the message that we know that
there is not health without metal health and there is not
mental health without health, that they both collaborate and
they go together and we want to make sure that we are the
provider of choice, that if you need help, and if you need
services, you know that you can come to us and get the
care that you need. As we embark upon the next 50 years
of our journey, all are invited to get involved and
embrace our community's mental health and wellness. And
thanks to the generous support from the Fairfax County Board
of Supervisors, along with guidance, advocacy and
leadership from the Fairfax Falls Church Community
Services Board, we will build on the solid foundation
that has been established over the last 50 years, it
would not be possible without them.