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This quarter, we spoke with Sara Haina, LCSW-C Program Director of the Calvert Center for Change and Clinical Director of Calvert Behavioral Health. Sara has been a State employee for 35 years, with the Calvert County Health Department for the past 7 years.
1. What makes the Calvert County community you serve special?
Calvert County has a small community feel, yet the Marine Museum with Drum Point Lighthouse, Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center, the historic One-Room Schoolhouse and Solomons Island with the Tiki Bar showcase so much more about us. With the beautiful Chesapeake Bay on one side and the Patuxent River on the other, water sports and crabbing are very popular. Calvert County has one of the lowest crime rates in Maryland. The county feels like one big community, coming together when difficult events occur offering resources and support. The Health Department, in which the Center for Change is located, is a strong and well-known agency and a trusted resource.
2. Tell us about the Calvert County current community prevention efforts.
Strong partnerships with local agencies ensure that the Center for Change is part of county wide prevention efforts. Many of our prevention efforts begin with our partnership with our schools, attending lunch and learns, mental health awareness days, and invitations to health classes and weekend events. Our local churches, grass roots organizations and local colleges often invite us to present at events and support our efforts to educate the community on safety, risk, and resources.
3. Why are you a member of MCASA?
I believe in and need the support of such a strong statewide coalition. Having only joined Center for Change relatively recently, the support and resources have held me up for many days as I learned as quickly as possible. As a state employee, the advocacy and policy work done by MCASA is invaluable to our ongoing work.
4. What called you to your work?
Having always been interested in people and their life stories definitely led me to Social Work. From there I have been fortunate to have had lots of experiences getting to be a part of people becoming their best selves. Faith has always put me just where I needed to be, allowing me to serve my community in small ways, from 30 years working in substance use and mental health and now at the Center for Change. So many of those I worked with in my first twenty years had a history of witnessing or experiencing violence, and now that is the primary focus of my work.
5. What are Calvert Center for Change’s biggest challenges?
Although we are rich with many resources, we lack adequate affordable housing. Wait lists are long and many have found that creating homes with multiple generations is their only option. We also have many who live outside the county but work and have created their lives within the county except for housing.
