Center for Psychological Services receives $300,000 to assist Prince William County residents

Prince William County, Va., has announced that it has partnered with the Human Services Alliance of Greater Prince William to award more than $6 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), as part of an effort to administer more than $10 million of ARPA funding by 2024. 

George Mason University was awarded $300,000 to provide free mental health support in English and Spanish to Prince William County residents through an emotional support phone line, intervention screening, referrals, and counseling through the George Mason University Center for Psychological Services (GMUCPS). 

“As we move into this next phase of recovery from the pandemic, we are hoping to address some of the lasting impacts on our community,” said Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chair-At-Large Ann Wheeler. Many of the recipients chosen by the Greater Prince William Alliance address these impacts as well as continue to support our community into the future.“ 

“While our previous grant programs have focused on COVID-19 relief, we are eager to shift our focus to addressing our community’s longer-term needs by investing in more lasting interventions,” said Chelsi Conaway, the executive director of the alliance. 

GMUCPS has long served the Northern Virginia community through a range of treatment services: primarily therapy, psychoeducational testing, and mental health evaluations. The center is the primary training clinic for doctoral students in clinical psychology as well as masters' students in counseling, school psychology and social work. The center provides affordable, accessible care, utilizing a sliding scale fee for clients demonstrating financial need. 

The clinic’s Emotional Support Line offers free confidential and anonymous emotional support to our community and three skills-based therapy intervention sessions free or at very low cost. “This grant will allow us to develop a Spanish language emotional support telephone line and offer the three therapy sessions to Prince William County residents in Spanish or English for free,” said Robin Mehlenbeck, the center’s director. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Prince William County and ARPA to make emotional support and evidence-based mental health services more accessible to many more members of our community.”