This recently completed mental health clinic for Community Counseling and Mediation (CCM), provides a warm and welcoming contemporary environment for disadvantaged families and individuals seeking treatment during difficult periods in their lives.

We believe this project makes a significant improvement to the neighborhood and city by providing a high-quality interior environment that’s a safe and calming place for disadvantaged people seeking treatment during difficult periods in their lives. CCM’s methodology for treatment confronts the troubled past of their clients to create a better future – literally “looking back to look forward” and the new Clinton Ave clinic creates a conducive environment for this to occur.

We set three primary goals for ourselves with this project:

• To create a calming contemporary environment that would be conducive to the therapeutic process.
• To provide the highest level of design possible for CCM’s clients within the same limited budget as the other facilities.
• To develop a clean and flowing plan that fit all the needs of CCM, and requirements needed by the State, while navigating the dozens of columns haphazardly scattered around the space.

This 5,600sf facility in Clinton Hill is the newest satellite clinic opened & run by CCM, one of the largest non-profit providers of mental health services in Brooklyn five clinics. CCM has helped over 60,000 clients obtain culturally sensitive mental health treatment over the past 30 years by building community-based clinics in some of the most impoverished minority populated areas of Brooklyn.

The Clinton Ave clinic is designed to house two different programs – a licensed outpatient mental health and substance abuse clinic (known as an Article 31 program) with 8 treatment rooms, and a Preventative Services program for youth and families with 10 offices. Because these programs are required by New York State law to be separated, we’ve created a central core between them where staff can come together for meetings, lunch or to take a break. To distinguish this core area, it’s been painted green and features key words and phrases that celebrate CCM’s mission, purpose and process. To access each program, one must pass this core, providing an opportunity for clients to see and engage with CCM’s vision and mission.

The clinic is located on the second floor of a new mixed-use residential development. As the first tenant, the space was raw and open with dozens of exposed concrete columns, sheer-walls slabs. We embraced the texture and character of these existing conditions by creating opportunities to incorporate exposed concrete ceilings and walls into the design. To keep costs down, we used simple material and furnishings throughout, but spent considerable time on developing the finish palette and lighting design to create the desired warm and calming environment.

The Clinton Ave clinic has been well received by the community and CCM staff. We have received feedback from CCM that the design has in fact created the calm, warm and safe environment they were seeking. CCM is so happy with the design, value and sense of branding at their new clinic, they have engaged this firm to design other facilities using the same design concepts, finishes and lighting.