McClendon Center Stories of Impact
Our team works tirelessly to ensure the most vulnerable populations are reached along with everyone else. It’s what we do. We have been putting clients first for more than 40 years. Here is just a sampling of the individuals’ lives our work has touched.
40 years of meeting DC residents where they are, ensuring no one is forgotten.
4,500+ of the most vulnerable in our community served, regardless of their means, every year.
20,000+ annual community support visits, connecting our clients to quality care when and where they need it.
Our Complex Clinical Care
Mending broken relationships and returning home.
SE had a long history of failed suicide attempts in combination with chronic medical illness. Without housing and utilizing local emergency rooms for shelter, the PDC team met with him every other day on average for 6 months. In this timeframe, SE was able to obtain medical housing, maintain daily medication compliance, complete medical appointments independently, and locate employment.
He mended broken relationships with family and eventually met his final goal- to return to his hometown in North Carolina to live closer to family and friends.
Finding a safe space to begin long term recovery.
EV was referred to McClendon Center after a failed suicide attempt. She recently turned 18 years old and was discharged from an out-of-state behavioral health inpatient facility for minors and reported command audio hallucinations that tell her to harm herself. EV was not linked with outpatient mental health care and required daily contact from the PDC team to advocate for her care. The PDC team immediately linked EV to McClendon Center’s Core Service agency and began her case management services and psychiatric services in combination with inpatient services.
McClendon Center met with EV each day to develop rapport with her while she was on the units. The PDC team advocated for her needs with DC Department of Behavioral Health, Metropolitan Police Department, Adult Protective Services, and transitioned her onto an Assertive Community Treatment team. PDC initiated conversations with the DC Department of Behavioral Health to admit EV to Saint Elizabeth Hospital for long-term treatment. The PDC team discussed this treatment option with EV who was enthusiastic to enter a safe space to begin long-term recovery. This Saint Elizabeth Hospital admission was approved and PDC facilitated EV’s transfer to this next level of care.
Our Day Programs in Action
Whether it’s dance, art, or horticulture, we have so many options for our clients to express themselves at our Day Program.
Check out the programs in action and see the magic happen for yourself!
Frank P.
“Coming to McClendon makes me whole. To be an inspiration to my peers… to come here and take the saddest person at the table and make them laugh and smile, that’s what I want. I’m always going to make you laugh. That’s just me. I’ve got to keep laughing in here [pointing to his heart].”
Tonya O.
Tonya O’Neal loves to create art so when she learned about our Art of Transformation event, she jumped at the opportunity to submit her work.
At our 2018 show, Tonya was our guest speaker and shared “… I was reluctant [to attend our Day Program] at first, but I was desperate. I had too much idle time and I was isolating. I kept falling backwards, so I gave it a try…. I sat in on a group and realized I had found a home.”
LaTishea Green
LaTishea Green may be petite but she packs a punch of personality, energy, and emotion – especially in her art. Like many of our artists, art is a way for her to express herself in a way words can’t.
In the last year, Tishea has been pushing herself to use new art mediums and try new styles.
She’s never felt confident enough to talk about her art at our annual Art of Transformation event, but she says “This year I’m going to suck it up and stand up beside my artwork and express, with my words, what each piece means to me.”
Crystal Chapman
Crystal is an accomplished and dedicated artist, who has big goals and dreams.
“I want to be like the artists I heard about and saw when I was growing up — how their lives spoke of art and how they’re the masters of their craft.”
Like many of our clients, she’s faced many challenges and obstacles — none of which are going to keep her from reaching for the stars.
Read Crystal’s full story here.
