Centerstone the nation’s largest nonprofit behavioral health system, recently hosted a celebration of an effort to make behavioral health care feel safer and more empowering for children. A celebration at the Centerstone clinic on Sawyer Road marked the completion of a $109,000 renovation funded through a grant from Impact 100 SRQ.

Centerstone provides a variety of services at its Sawyer Road clinic in Sarasota to more than 600 children each year.

Two underutilized offices have been renovated to create a therapeutic sensory room. The room will be used during intake, assessments and therapy sessions to create a safe and calming environment for Centerstone’s young patients and their caregivers. The room will help children who struggle with sensory processing issues, have behavioral concerns or have experienced a recent traumatic event.

Centerstone Florida Market CEO Lisa Williams says the renovation will allow Centerstone’s team of therapists to provide the newest and best evidence-based therapies to improve quality of care for vulnerable patients and their families.

“Every day across Florida, our teams meet individuals at some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives — a parent who doesn’t know how to help their child anymore, a teenager carrying trauma no one else can see, a family trying to hold everything together while navigating mental health challenges, financial strain and uncertainty about the future,” Williams said. “And behind every diagnosis or statistic is a person with a story — a child who wants to feel safe, a caregiver who wants to feel hopeful again.”

Centerstone’s clinic lobby and restrooms have been refreshed and made child-friendly in order to provide a trauma–informed experience for patients from the moment they walk into the building until they leave.

“Our work comes down to moments — small, powerful moments of connection between a clinician and a child, a parent and their family, a community and its most vulnerable members.

Additionally, Centerstone team members will continuously train in two evidence-based therapies: Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP).

Impact 100 SRQ awarded the grant for the renovation in 2024. At least 100 women each give a $1,000 tax deductible donation to Impact 100.  Together, they award grants to southwest Florida nonprofits in five focus areas: arts, culture and history; education; environment, recreation and animal welfare; family; and health and wellness.