News from Wheeler

From Beyblades to Barbies, books, crayons, and everything in between, employees from Farmington-based Mott Corporation are helping to make a joyful holiday for 40 youth in foster care in the Central Connecticut region.

Corporate and individual donations are helping to ensure that children and youth receive holiday gifts this year.

On Wednesday, September 15, more than 130 golfers, sponsors, and volunteers participated in Wheeler’s 36th Annual Golf Classic, presented by Mutual of America Financial Group, at the Country Club of Farmington, raising $52,000 to support individuals and families in care through Wheeler’s Basic Needs Fund.

Our dear partners at the Mott Corporation joined the Connecticut Clearinghouse, other Wheeler staff, the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and advocates from across the state to place 1,374 white flags along the south walkway of the State Capitol.

Some of the clearest ways that private philanthropy saves lives at Wheeler is at our community health centers.

Employees from the Mott Corporation prepared 1,000 bags of personal care items for Wheeler patients, which will be distributed at our four Family Health & Wellness Centers.

Wheeler staff and the local community commemorated International Overdose Awareness Day, remembering the lives lost to addiction and working toward a better future of recovery.

Teams from across Wheeler recently participated in two community events in Bristol, providing individuals and families with information about our many programs and services.

Wheeler’s Connecticut Clearinghouse hosted a community quilting event on Saturday, March 30 to honor the memory of those lost to substance use disorders, including opioid addiction. This event was part of a statewide Remembrance Quilt initiative—launched in 2017 by the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) —to honor loved ones who have died from substance use disorders or addiction.

Health and wellness is so much more than going to the doctor or getting prescriptions filled. If individuals and families leave the physician’s office and return home to environments that don’t promote or sustain healthy behaviors, treating diseases like asthma, depression or heart disease can become difficult or even impossible. The social determinants of health influence everything else in our health care system.

From the moment a group of community visionaries came together in the late 1960s to establish a center for treating children's mental health needs in Plainville, Wheeler has always been different.

Mott Corporation employees collected and wrapped nearly 100 gifts for children in Wheeler’s Foster Care programs on December 4 at the company’s headquarters in Farmington.

Community health outreach workers connect patients with care and resources in the community.

Through our five decades, side-by-side with our funders, donors, community leaders and friends, we’ve transformed from that vision of a center for children, to today delivering an array of integrated primary care and behavioral health services as diverse as everyone we serve.

On the 50th anniversary of Wheeler's creation, more than 125 community leaders, supporters and staff gathered yesterday to celebrate the opening of Wheeler’s Family Health & Wellness Center at 43 Woodland Street, Hartford.