Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously said, “A person’s mind, every now and then, is stretched by a new idea, and never returns to its former size.”

I’m paraphrasing that slightly, but it remains a timeless truth—there are some things we cannot unsee and others that once introduced into our lives make us wonder what we did without them. The latter is especially true when thinking about our growth and the progress Citizen Advocates and its affiliates achieved in 2023. 

Last year, we expanded our presence by launching programs in North Country communities to fill long-standing, unmet needs. These are programs we believe will transform and revolutionize access to care, not only for Northern New York, but also the rest of New York State. We also built new partnerships and ramped up services curtailed by COVID across a region called home by upwards of 500,000 people.

The fact that this organization and our affiliates now serve thousands of people in Northern New York and locations  in seven upstate counties is stunning, especially when compared to our humble beginnings in 1975, when an innovative group of community leaders in Franklin County established Citizen Advocates. The same is true now that was true then; people with disabilities have a right to thrive and access services in the community, as much as those living without disabilities. 

Since day one, this organization has been a trailblazer in advocating for vulnerable people and in the delivery of person-centered care. Whether that means quality clinical services for mental health and addiction, or supports that promote individual health through stable housing, job training, food security and transportation. 

But what does it mean to be a trailblazer? For Citizen Advocates and our partners at St. Joseph’s Addiction Treatment & Recovery Centers, Fieldstone Foundation and Harison Place it means the ability to tackle the large health and social challenges our region has grappled with over the years.

These include an unprecedented mental health and addiction crisis accelerated by the COVID pandemic, and extend to the basic needs we sometimes take for granted: Food security, safe, stable housing or the barriers an individual with a disability faces when seeking employment. 

These are complex issues, and eliminating the obstacles to quality clinical care and social supports requires the bold solutions we’ve implemented in just the past year alone. Consider the following milestones:

• Expanded the availability of 24/7 behavioral health urgent care for adults and children seeking immediate access to mental health and addiction services by removing the red tape—no appointment or referral needed.

  » Doubled the capacity of our flagship Malone Behavioral Health Urgent Care Center.

  » Opened our newest behavioral health urgent care center in Watertown.

• Created safe, stable and affordable housing through the Harison Place project.

• Partnered with St. Joseph’s Addiction Treatment & Recovery Centers.

• Closed more gaps for people seeking access to healthy food, and financial support for basic life necessities through the Fieldstone Foundation.

But our work is not complete—in fact, we’re just warming up. I’m deeply proud of the collective effort of our team to make 2023 such a high-water year. It meant stepping out of their comfort zones and into new communities, re-imagining affordable housing, engaging in philanthropic endeavors and building new partnerships.  

We’ve made great strides in the past several months, and we are more excited than ever to be in a position to support the entire Northern New York region—and beyond.

James Button