History
Green Door’s intensive program provides psychiatric and counseling services coupled with case management and includes supportive education, housing, day treatment programs, supported employment, and a host of necessary programs that many of our clients have never before been able to access. Green Door assists 1800 clients, and is consistently rated among the top behavioral health care service providers in the District of Columbia.
WHO WE SERVE
Since 1976, Green Door has worked to break down barriers created by poverty, ignorance and intolerance, and to reduce the stigma associated with mental health conditions. More than 90% of our clients live at or below the federal poverty line; 85% are African-American; and nearly 56% are over the age of 50. Nearly all live with, or are at risk for, one or more co-occurring chronic medical conditions. In addition to traditional clinic services such as psychiatric evaluation, medication management, individual and group counseling, Green Door provides community support, Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), comprehensive care management, rehabilitation day services, supported education, supported employment and housing stabilization services.
GREEN DOOR HISTORY
Green Door Behavioral Health was founded in 1976, primarily to serve the large numbers of people who were being discharged from St. Elizabeths Hospital. Many of these people had spent much of their lives in that institutional setting and were ill-equipped to live outside its walls. Too many ended up on the streets with no skills, money or housing. They were often re-hospitalized, continuing a cycle of institutionalization. Green Door became a source of hope and comfort as it strove to help these former patients to live and prosper in the community. Green Door’s first home was in the basement of All Souls Unitarian Church. Two years later, after becoming an accredited Clubhouse — a practice of community-based mental health care — Green Door moved into the historic Denman-Werlich mansion on 16th St., NW in Dupont Circle.
Under the guidance of Judith Johnson, Green Door’s President & CEO from 1985 to 2011, the building was purchased and renovated in 1987. Clubhouse members, as Green Door clients were called, participated in all aspects of program development and implementation. The Green Door Clubhouse provided pre-vocational and hands-on training in food services, administrative and clerical skills, as well as education and employment programs. In 2003, Green Door expanded its services by establishing a community-based mental health center in the Petworth neighborhood of DC, our current home on Taylor St., NW. As with the Clubhouse on 16th St., NW, the remodeled former warehouse received several awards of excellence for architecture and its green features. The new space allowed Green Door to expand to provide a complete array of psychiatric and support services, including medication management, case management by community support workers, counseling and day programs.
In December 2010, the Clubhouse building was closed and its primary programs, Education and Supported Employment, were relocated to Taylor Street, which is Green Door’s permanent home. Today, we serve more than 1,600 clients organized under six umbrella categories — Psychiatric Services and Support; Supportive Housing; Health and Wellness; Next Step Group Counseling Program; Supported Employment and Education; and Our Door Community Wellness Center, our new peer center located offsite near the Navy Yard Metro Station. Green Door Behavioral Health has grown and expanded since our founding in 1976, as we celebrate our 40th anniversary we are poised to continue serving the ever-changing behavioral health needs of the DC community. Our focus has been and will always remain ensuring that those who require help have access to the resources necessary to stabilize their lives and meet their needs. At Green Door, our aim is to open doors and transform lives.
MBI Health Services will assume operational control of Green Door’s programs and contracts with the DC Department of Behavioral Health.