About Us

Rhode Island's Leading Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Provider

The Providence Center is at the forefront of innovative approaches to behavioral health care designed to meet the changing needs of the more than 18,000 Rhode Islanders it serves each year. Since The Providence Center opened its doors in 1969, it has been a community resource, providing people from all walks of life with mental health and substance use services in their homes, schools and neighborhoods.

Through over 60 programs and wraparound services, including food and housing, job training, legal services, primary health care and wellness activities, The Providence Center is committed to meeting the community’s needs. In December 2014, The Providence Center became an affiliate of the Care New England Health System.

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Our Mission

To help adults, adolescents, and children affected by psychiatric illnesses, emotional problems, and addictions by providing treatment and supportive services within a community setting.

Our Vision

A behavioral health care system in which every individual who needs care will receive the broadest possible array of services, so that his or her unique needs are met.

Our Values
  • A broad continuum of quality care that is patient centered, recovery oriented and innovative
  • Recruitment and retention of caring, highly skilled staff
  • Meeting essential community behavioral health needs
  • Fiscal prudence and financial stability
  • Compliance with all ethical and regulatory standards
  • Sharing our behavioral health expertise through community collaborations and partnerships

Our Approach to Treatment - Recovery is Possible

This belief guides our approach to mental health and addiction treatment services. Our services are centered on clients and focused on their recovery journeys, helping them to achieve their goals, discover their strengths and identify what they need to make recovery a reality.

Recovery is possible when people are connected to supports after treatment—services that remove barriers that clients may face in achieving mental and physical wellness. These include peer recovery coaches who help people new to recovery navigate treatment, and wraparound services that provide assistance with finding safe and affordable housing, arranging consistent primary medical care or securing meaningful employment.

We believe that primary care and behavioral health care should be accessible to all who need it and that mental health should not be separate from physical health. The Providence Center has demonstrated a commitment to addressing the health needs of the community by introducing integrated primary and behavioral care to Rhode Island. Through partnerships and innovative wellness-based programs, we have ensured that there is no wrong door to accessing the care needed to achieve optimal outcomes. Integrating primary and behavioral health care treats the whole person, improving the quality of care and lowering overall health care costs.

The Providence Center believes people can and do recover. When we meet clients where they are in their recovery with the right kind of care at the right time, the results are a community that gets better and stays well, more cost-effective health care and a more sustainable health care system that benefits everyone.

Meet the Providence Center Leadership Teams

CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) Accreditation

The Providence Center is accredited by CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities). CARF's mission is to promote the quality, value, and optimal outcomes of services through a consultative accreditation process that centers on enhancing the lives of the persons served.

CARF assists organizations to improve the quality of their services, to demonstrate value, and to meet internationally recognized organizational and program standards.

If you have pertinent information to share, you may contact CARF at:

CARF International
4891 E. Grant Road,
Tucson, AZ 85712, USA
Phone: (520) 325-1044 or toll-free 888.281.6531 voice/TTY
Fax: (520) 318-1129

A Patient Story

In 2004, a bomb exploded outside of Vivian Nano’s home in Baghdad, Iraq, killing her husband and his entire family. Buried alive for days beneath rubble, Vivian’s face was shattered, and she had numerous broken bones, while she laid motionless, losing hope. Vivian’s injuries required her to undergo 12 surgeries in various countries including Iraq, Jordan, and the United States.

Eleven years ago, suffering with depression and PTSD, Vivian moved halfway across the world to Providence, RI, as a refugee. It was the first time, she said, she felt an inkling of hope, after working with staff at The Providence Center, who helped her with her PTSD, her overall health and well-being, as well as her education. 

“It has been a long journey, but the staff I worked with at The Providence Center was always there for me. They got me through one of the toughest times in my life,” said Vivian, now proud to have a new job, new friends, and loves her Rhode Island community and home.

Vivian Nano