The Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center, a contracted Network Service Provider with LSF Health Systems, is the recipient of the 1ˢᵗ place Organization Sapphire Award, awarded by the Florida Blue Foundation. The Florida Blue Foundation announced the winners at its annual Sapphire Awards ceremony on April 12, 2023 in Orlando, Florida. As the first place honoree, The Policy Center received $100,000 to continue efforts to provide innovative, girl-centered care to girls and young women. Pictured above are Dr. Vicky Basra, President and CEO of Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center accepting the award from Pat Geraghty, President and CEO of GuideWell and Florida Blue. The Policy Center was recognized along with other Florida organizations that provide mental health support to underserved communities. The Florida Blue Foundation highlighted the Policy Center’s work as “an organization whose services are distinguished by exemplary leadership, innovation, and documented impacts in mental well-being.”

Since the Policy Center’s inception in 2013, it has served more than 3,000 girls and trained more than 3,000 professionals (including: teachers, school resource officers, counselors, attorneys, mental health counselors) in gender responsive, trauma informed care. The Policy Center is dedicated to creating better outcomes for girls, increasing public safety, and decreasing state cost savings by preventing initial or deeper involvement in the juvenile justice system. Read the full story here.

The 2023 Rural Mental Health & Substance Misuse Summit took place May 18 in Ocala, FL at the Church of the Springs. This year’s summit was met with great anticipation, with over 300 pre-registered for the all day event! Dr. Christine Cauffield, LSF Health Systems CEO, opened the summit with welcome remarks and introduced national keynote speaker Kevin Hines, who shared his story of survival and wellness while living with a mental illness. The event also included breakout sessions throughout the day on topics like Hydroponic Gardening, Healthy Living, Mindfulness, the Opioid Epidemic, Challenges for Services in Rural Communities, and a panel discussion on the jail bridge programs. Thanks to our sponsors, the event was free to those attending and included lunch and goodies. We are looking forward to hosting our next Summit in 2025!

The 2023 Recovery Leadership Summit took place May 15-16 in St. Petersburg Beach, FL. This event brings together Florida's Recovery Leaders to create a unified recovery message and set priorities to promote the voice of recovery across Florida. The summit is a collaboration with the Recovery Advocacy Project, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Building Communities of Recovery. Floridians for Recovery is the statewide Recovery Community Organization established to support advocacy in the recovery movement.

On April 26, 2023 the Clay County Chamber of Commerce Florida enjoyed cutting the ribbon at Clay Behavioral Health Center to celebrate the opening of their renovated building and 40 years of service to our community! Learn more here about the services Clay Behavioral Health Center offers.

LSF Health Systems is one of seven behavioral health Managing Entities (ME) contracted by the Florida Department of Children and Families to manage the state-funded system of behavioral health care for people who face poverty and are without insurance. We serve a 23-county region in Northeast and North Central Florida. We are an arm of Lutheran Services Florida (LSF), a private 501(c)(3) human services agency with more than 35 years of experience helping people in need, regardless of religious affiliation, age or national origin. LSF is accredited by the Council on Accreditation, an international and independent human services accrediting body founded in 1977. To learn more about LSF Health Systems, click here.