Peers provide resources, non-clinical services weekly
TILGHMAN
Residents of Tilghman Island can find local behavioral peer support each Wednesday at Tilghman Methodist Church Annex via a new partnership between Grace Street of Easton and “Healthy Tilghman,” a community outreach of the Tilghman Methodist Church.
Healthy Tilghman seeks to improve the health and well-being of people in the Bay Hundred area. Its services are generally free. Healthy Tilghman works alongside other church outreach programs including weekly exercise classes and regular food distributions from the church’s Helping Hands Outreach. This past Summer the church and community held a very successful first 5k/1K Run/Walk on Tilghman in support of Healthy Tilghman. The new collaboration with Grace Street will add additional opportunities for community members to find personal assistance, outreach and mental health/substance use treatment and services connectivity, including beyond Tilghman.
“We are thrilled to bring Grace Street into our community,” said Michael Flaherty, head of Healthy Tilghman for the Church and community. “Their enthusiasm, personal experience and knowledge of broader health resources will greatly aid our neighbors and assist them in accessing the services so often scarce or non-existent here. The personal experience they bring will be priceless. We are so grateful to have them.”
The Tilghman Methodist Church began Healthy Tilghman in 2017. It quickly expanded to include mental health and substance use support groups, on-site counseling, and community outreach and education, including Naloxone training and distribution. The new community collaboration with Grace Street will bring trained peer support to Tilghman. Peers are people with lived experience in recovery who support others seeking or sustaining that recovery.
“The Tilghman Methodist Church is pleased to support this new partnership for the health and welfare of all in our community,” said Pastor David Kelley. “Healthy Tilghman can make a difference for all.”
Anyone seeking mental health and/or substance use resources and support can come to the Church Annex on Wednesdays from 2 to 4 p.m. A Grace Street trained peer will offer non-clinical, free support, resource information and connection, including facilitating transporation to inpatient treatment. Grace Street itself does not provide counseling but can be the one person or call to connect people with necessary services.
Grace Street opened in Easton in August 2023 as the sole recovery community organization (RCO) on the Mid-Shore. An RCO is a non-profit organization that is driven by people with direct lived experience with substance use challenges and recovery.
As an RCO, Grace Street provides peer-based and other recovery support services; operates the region’s only harm reduction vending machine that includes Narcan, Fentanyl and Xylazine test strips; offers free harm reduction materials and services, including wound care; conducts weekly street outreach; provides resource connection and supports; provides life skills and workforce development, including peer recovery support training for certification; hosts support groups and fosters recovery-focused community awareness and education.
Grace Street serves people across the Mid-Shore. Referrals are not necessary, and services are free. Visit www.gracestreetrecovery.org for information or contact 443-439-1820 to connect with a peer.
Grace Street is a component fund of Chesapeake Charities, a community foundation based in Stevensville. All donations are tax deductible.
Grace Street is supported by the Maryland’s Office of Overdose Response and the Center for Harm Reduction Services of the Maryland Department of Health’s Behavioral Health Administration. The views presented here are those of the grantee organization and not necessarily those of MOOR, its Executive Director, or its staff; or of MDH, BHA, CHRS or its staff.
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