As appeared in the Westfield News 1-8-2013 by Carl Hartdegen, Staff Writer
The Carson Center has been a source for social services in the city and the nearby communities for decades. Staff and clients of the agency will celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary of the center with "Fifty Faces of Carson", a series of 50 columns to be published in The Westfield News throughout the year, illustrating the center's programs and successes.
The agency was born shortly after President John F. Kennedy signed into law the Community Mental Health Act in 1963. The legislation, the last signed by Kennedy, enabled the birth of The Westfield Area Child Guidance Clinic which, after almost 50 years, has grown into a diversified social service agency providing help to both children and adults in a wide variety of arenas.
Known after 1973 as the Westfield Area Mental Health Clinic, the name was changed to The Carson Center in 1996 to honor a dynamic director, Peg Carson.
The Center's mission statement states that the agency "helps people achieve greater health and well-being in everyday life" and brings "compassionate expertise to behavioral health, wellness and education services for people of all ages and abilities."
The current CEO, Susan West, said in a recent interview that the weekly columns will, with details disguised to preserve confidentiality, "tell the community more about our work in a very personal way" by relat...
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