The Pro Bono Counseling Project (PBCP) provides free mental health care to individuals, families and couples who live and/or work in Maryland who cannot receive care from any other source. PBCP offers an easy alternative option for mental health care by linking clients to mental health personnel.
Founded in 1991 PBCP accepts willing, uninsured or under insured, low income clients. Since their inception, they have helped over 14,000 clients. Last year alone, they serviced 850 clients.
Given the number of clients they serve, PBCP is justifiably proud that they never have a waiting list and each client receives prompt attention. A prospective client receives their initial phone consultation within 24 hours of their request for help. During that phone call, the client is screened to determine which of PBCP’s more than 1200 participating licensed and insured mental health professionals is a good match. The matching process takes into consideration the therapist’s training as well as the client’s physical location, job hours, need for transportation, and foreign language requirements. It takes no more than two weeks for the client to first see a therapist. The client is seen at the therapist’s office. There are therapist’s offices spread throughout the state. The therapist personalizes therapy for each individual client. Clients are usually seen once a week for as long as the need exists.
PBCP sees clients with a wide range of mental health issues. The situations addressed in therapy include, but are not limited to feelings of depression or anxiety, grief over the loss of a loved one, people in troubled relationships, victims or witnesses of crime, the military community and their loved ones, people overwhelmed with a diagnosis of a major physical illness, a single parent struggling with kids acting out, people facing problems at work or just about any other issue clients present. PCBP has developed the following special programs: Caring for the Caregivers , Healthy Howard County, The Jean Steirn Cancer Program , Parenting Alone: Building Healthy Families, Transition & Depression: Elderly & Underserved , Private Counseling for Public Service and Victims of Violence. These special programs will be addressed in detail in future columns
In addition to providing excellent service to its clients, PCBP also takes good care of its volunteering clinicians. It offers a variety of free and low cost continuing education opportunities and events throughout the year to participating pro bono counseling project clinicians. These CEUs provide clinical training and supplemental resources in different specialty areas which align with the agency programs.
For more information on the PCBP visit their website, http://www.probonocounseling.org/ . To find out if you qualify to receive treatment, call their Baltimore headquarters at 410.825.1001 or Toll Free: 877.323.5800.
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