40 Years of Service

Our 40 Year Anniversary Celebration

On November 4th, 2010, staff, supporters, and friends of CCBC gathered together at our Open House to celebrate CCBC's 40 years of service to the community.

In the past 40 years much has changed in the scope of care that the agency provides and the number of people that our programs reach. This growth has been made possible through the dedicated and consistent efforts of our experienced staff responding to the needs of children, adults, elders, and families in our community. What has not changed over these 40 years is CCBC's commitment to the community we serve, our continuous efforts to enhance access to care for those that need it, and our sustained efforts to overcome the barriers that interfere with individuals getting the care they need.

To celebrate this length of service, CCBC held an Open House in the atrium at Mill River Place, and those who turned out for food and fellowship also learned about CCBC's beginnings and history over 40 years.

Events included:

  • Tours of the Mill River Place Facility.
  • 13th Annual Client Art Show Milestones, which was on display in the atrium. The art work is produced by clients from our day treatment, partial hospital, and children's programs. Opening night of the Art Show occurred earlier in the week and was well attended by both clients and staff.
  • A recorded history of CCBC was continually playing near the atrium for guests and staff to view. Through a series of taped interviews conducted by producer Alex Schubert, agency history was provided by President Phil Shea, former Executive Director of Central City Community Center, Jim Isidorio, and other long-time retired and current staff.
  • The public access show The Other Side produced by CCBC, was running in a nearby conference room. Produced collaboratively with peers and mental health workers, for 15 years the goal of this television show has been to reduce the stigma that often accompanies mental illness or addiction.
  • On Sunday, November 6th, CCBC held a Wellness Walk that began at Taunton Green and ended at Mill River Place. Family and friends were encouraged to participate with our team walkers, and over 300 participants joined in the walk, which was followed by refreshments and fellowship at the Mill River Place atrium.


CCBC's Open House was highlighted by remarks from President Phil Shea, who spoke concerning how far we have come and how far we have to go, both as an agency and within the entire system of care that serves the mental health needs in our community and across our country. Phil's remarks were well received and present a challenge to all of us; a challenge that can only be accomplished by reducing the stigma that so often accompanies mental illness; by providing the same level of access to quality treatment and rehabilitation for those with serious mental illness as those requiring other medical care for other illnesses; and by listening to our clients and developing systems of care that reflect the needs, preferences, and goals on their individual paths of recovery.

(click to enlarge)Event Photos


Excerpts from President's Remarks

My name is Philip Shea and I am President of Community Counseling of Bristol County.

I would just like to take a couple of minutes to briefly reflect on the past 40 years. I would like to begin by referencing President Kennedy's historic legislative proposal he sent to Congress in 1963. This vision created much of the structural framework for what we have tried to build over the past 40 years. As I recently re-read his comments from more than 40 years ago, I am at once struck by how far we have come and also struck by how far we have to go.

The mentally ill need no longer be alien to our affections or beyond the help of our communities. - John F. Kennedy

We need a new type of health facilities, one which will return mental healthcare to the mainstream of American medicine. - John F. Kennedy

On February 5, 1963, President Kennedy sent a special message to Congress. In it he stated:

Mental illness and mental retardation are among our most critical health problems... Every year nearly 1,500,000 such persons receive treatment in institutions for the mentally ill and mentally retarded. Most of them are confined and compressed within an antiquated, vastly overcrowded chain of custodial institutions... This situation has been tolerated for far too long. It has troubled our national conscience – but only as a problem unpleasant to mention, easy to postpone, and despairing of solution... The time has come for a bold new approach.

I have sent to the Congress today a series of proposals to help fight mental illness and mental retardation. These two afflictions have been long neglected. They occur more frequently, affect more people, require more prolonged treatment, and cause more individual and family suffering than any other condition in American life. It has been tolerated too long. The time has come for a great national effort. New medical, scientific, and social tools and insights are now available.

First, we must seek out the causes of mental illness and of mental retardation and eradicate them.

Second, we must strengthen the underlying resources of knowledge and, above all, of skilled manpower which are necessary to mount and sustain our attack on mental disability for many years to come.

Third, we must strengthen and improve the programs and facilities serving the mentally ill and the mentally retarded. The emphasis should be upon timely and intensive diagnosis, treatment, training, and rehabilitation so that the mentally afflicted can be cured or their functions restored to the extent possible. Services to both the mentally ill and to the mentally retarded must be community based and provide a range of services to meet community needs.

We as a Nation have long neglected the mentally ill and the mentally retarded. This neglect must end, if our nation is to live up to its own standards of compassion and dignity and achieve the maximum use of its manpower.

We need to reinforce the will and capacity of our communities to meet these problems, in order that the communities, in turn, can reinforce the will and capacity of individuals and individual families.

We must promote—to the best of our ability and by all possible and appropriate means—the mental and physical health of all our citizens.

It is not difficult to see how substantial progress has been made as we look around.
  • About the time Kennedy delivered his message there were approximately 2,000 people across the street at Taunton State Hospital. Today there are about 150 individuals receiving intermediate care.
  • Emergency and Inpatient Psychiatric services are available at our affiliate Morton Hospital.
  • Patients are no longer sent to the State Hospital but to Brockton Hospital, Pembroke, Norwood, Fuller and South Coast.
  • At CCBC we have:
    • 3 Partial Hospital Program sites with day treatment.
    • 24 Hour Psychiatric Services.
    • Residential and Supported Housing.
    • Community Support Services throughout Southeastern Massachusetts.
    • School-based Counseling Services in over 55 schools.
    • All of our clients with serious mental illness have a primary care physician in the community.
    • Annually providing care and treatment to 10,000 individuals.
    • An emphasis on job placement in our CBFS program.
    • PACT Teams in Taunton/Attleboro, and Brockton.
    • An outpatient staff of 80 psychiatrists, nurses, licensed counselors, and social workers.
  • Services and activities that were not imagined at that time.
    • Recovery Learning Community that utilizes the lived experience of staff with mental illness to provide inspiration and light the path of recovery for others.
    • Dual Recovery Anonymous – A self-help group for those who struggle with both mental illness and addiction. CCBC started the first Chapter in Massachusetts.
    • Cable TV Show, The Other Side produced by our day treatment program that has produced over 75 episodes aimed at community education and reducing stigma.


These accomplishments are visible, real and substantial and should be celebrated. Yet I am also aware of the extent to which we have fallen short of Kennedy's vision or to put another way, how far we have to go. Recall JFK's cry to return mental health to the mainstream of American Medicine. Much has been accomplished yes, but I am reminded of last week when a client in need of hospital level of care remained at a local Emergency Department for more than two weeks. Hospital beds were promised, then those promises withdrawn and the client eventually went home without receiving the care they needed. This would not happen in the mainstream of American medicine. If someone is treated at a local Emergency Department subsequent to an automobile accident and needs the care of a trauma center, they are medivacced to a trauma center. If someone in the Emergency Room is diagnosed with leukemia they are likely referred to a cancer treatment center and seen immediately. This often does not occur with those with serious mental illness, and individuals sit a day or even weeks, often with serious and acute treatment needs.

I am reminded of a quote by Reinhold Niebuhr: Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in a lifetime... I believe our task here is indeed worth doing and we have not been at this quite a lifetime yet – so perhaps with your help and commitment we will move closer to the vision.