Main Street Community Foundation Grant Supports Wheeler’s Walk With Me Program 

Posted By: Jack Krampitz September 28, 2022

The Wheeler Clinic recently received a $5,000 grant from the Bristol Brass General Grant Fund at the Main Street Community Foundation to support its Walk With Me program. The grant will be used to support the work of a peer support specialist and enhance and expand parent/caregiver services for LGBTQIA+ families.

From l to r: Kate Kerchaert, director of grants & programs, Main Street Community Foundation; Katie Singh, LCSW, site director, Wheeler Family Health & Wellness Center, Plainville; Susan Sadecki, MBA, president and chief executive officer, Main Street Community Foundation; and also from Wheeler, Sabrina Trocchi, PhD, MPA, president and chief executive officer, Kimberly Pepice, LPC, director of behavioral health, and Brittany Diorio, LCSW, senior integrated healthcare clinician.

Walk With Me is a specialized outpatient treatment track for LGBTQIA+-identifying people of all ages who are seeking therapeutic and/or peer support to address their specific needs. The Walk With Me track is designed to create a safe, affirming, and inclusive array of services for LGBTQIA+ people and their loved ones where they can be validated, explore their identities, reduce feelings of isolation, strengthen their support system, and develop skills to cope with stress and stigma.

With an emphasis on treating the whole person, this track includes a dedicated team of behavioral health, medical, and peer support staff to provide robust wrap-around services that are tailored to meet the needs of each unique patient, wherever they are on their journey.

The grant will expand Walk With Me program services to:

  • Provide parents and caregivers with guidance and strategies to navigate their child’s and family’s journey
  • Identify and inform youth, parents, and caregivers of existing online and other community resources
  • Connect parents and caregivers with available community resources and opportunities, including linkages to needed health services when identified
  • Encourage intra-and inter-family support networks
  • Broaden community outreach and education

For information about Wheeler’s Walk With Me program, call 888.793.3500 or 860.793.3500, or visitWheelerHealth.org/WalkWithMe.

All TBE readers, supporters and donors

The Bristol Edition will be limiting the number of stories non-members and free readers may access each week. This decision is based on our financial projections and, most certainly, to remind people that TBE is serious about providing accurate, timely and thorough reporting for Bristol. To do this we have devised a financial support structure that makes unlimited access extremely affordable, beginning with a $6 monthly donation.

  • Non-members will be able to access eight (8) articles per week.
  • Free readers and people who have subscribed by email will be able to access eight (8) articles per week.
  • Donors and financial supporters will have unlimited access as long as they log in.

Note: Donors may have to contact TBE if they find they are being limited, since we will need to set up a membership account for you. Email editor@bristoledition.org for instructions. Sorry for any inconvenience. People with financial difficulties may write editor@bristoledition.org to be considered for free access.