Health Care Guide Press Releases

Carrier Clinic Awarded Church & Dwight Grant

Pictured are (left to right): Gilian D’Angelo, Donald Parker (Carrier Clinic President & CEO), Liz Nicoletti, Will Laohoo, Karen Sutton, Brent Leppo, Wendy Bishop, Gayle Bruney-Phillip, and Trish Toole (Carrier Clinic Vice President of Administrative Services).

(BELLE MEAD, NJ: March 1, 2018) Carrier Clinic, the Belle Mead, NJ-based nonprofit behavioral healthcare facility that specializes in mental health and addiction treatment, has been awarded a $9,000 Impact Grant from The Church & Dwight Employee Giving Fund to support a horticultural therapy initiative.

For over 20 years, Carrier Clinic has supplemented traditional medication therapy and talk therapies with other forms of evidence-based treatments, such as music therapy, art therapy, movement therapy, canine therapy, musical composition therapy, yoga, harp music therapy, and equine therapy. Carrier Clinic is now working to make horticulture therapy a part of the treatments available to patients.

“By offering horticultural therapy to our patients, we are giving them a unique approach to their own treatment, wellness, and healing,” said Donald J. Parker, President & CEO of Carrier Clinic. “Horticultural therapy provides sensory stimulation, environmental enhancement, unique activities that involve the body and mind, opportunities for improved concentration, motivation, work tolerance, and manual dexterity. Thanks to the grant from Church & Dwight, Carrier Clinic will be able to start to implement phase one of the horticulture therapy initiative.”

Phase one of the initiative includes hiring a Registered Horticultural Therapist (RHT) who will facilitate the horticulture therapeutic activities, three one-hour sessions per week, and ensure that the therapy occurs within the context of an established treatment plan. The RHT will be part of a treatment team and will be responsible for planning treatment, developing sessions, interacting with patients, and recording outcomes/results.

“Carrier Clinic applauds the Church & Dwight Employee Giving Fund for recognizing the importance of bringing therapeutic options to our patients,” continued Parker. “We believe that this horticultural therapy initiative will improve treatment outcomes for our patients. Studies show that horticultural therapy improves quality of life, increases self-esteem, improves sense of well-being, reduces stress, improves mood, decreases anxiety, alleviates depression, and so much more. Phase one is just the beginning of this important initiative.”

Those who are interested in donating to Carrier Clinic to bring horticulture therapy to patients, visit CarrierClinic.org/Donate.

About The Church & Dwight Employee Giving Fund

The Church & Dwight Employee Giving Fund, Inc. (“EGF”) is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization which supports charitable organizations primarily in New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania, the region where Church & Dwight’s corporate headquarters is located and where many of its employees reside. The EGF is a workplace giving program, supported by employee contributions, which are matched dollar for dollar by Church & Dwight Co., Inc. The EGF provides Church & Dwight employees with the means to financially assist those who are less fortunate, to actively support and participate in the good works of not-for-profit organizations dedicated to that end, and to direct their contributions to their preferred charitable organizations.

About Carrier Clinic

Carrier Clinic, an independent, nonprofit behavioral healthcare system located in Belle Mead, NJ, specializes in psychiatric and addiction treatment. Carrier Clinic’s system includes an inpatient psychiatric hospital, a detoxification and rehabilitation center, an adolescent residential facility, and a fully-accredited middle and high school for students classified as emotionally disturbed. For more information about Carrier Clinic, visit CarrierClinic.org.