Local primary care practice expands health care services for LGBTQ+ community, tackles substance abuse

DOVER, Del. – A Peaceful Place is more than just a name. Psychiatric and Family Nurse Practitioner Ericka Daniel tells 47ABC, the primary care office takes a holistic approach to addressing health care needs. “When trying to come up with a name for it I thought I want my place to be a place people can come comfortably. So a peaceful place made absolute sense to me,” Daniel said.

“My own visual of it is a person who comes in, has a challenge, and they can lay that challenge out bare and we can work on every part of it in this place.”

Thanks to federal grant funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the practice will expand its behavioral health programming aimed at providing support for the LGBTQ+ community. Those funds will be used to hire additional staff trained to treat substance abuse disorders and mental health issues.

“Delaware was one of 4 states where the increase in opioids deaths actually slowed,”  Director of the Division of Substance Abuse & Mental Health for the Delaware Department of Health and Social Service’s Joanna Champney said. “We still have a lot of work to do to insure that we are screening people, identifying people for services, and assuring that there’s no wrong door for getting people into life saving treatment.”

This expansion in services will be catered towards members of the LGBTQ community, as health experts say those individuals experience higher rates of trauma, leading to substance misuse and self-medication.  “Due to discrimination they may have faced, or being alienated, excluded, experiencing physical abuse or rejection,” Champney said.

“We’re still treating the same disease processes, but being mindful that there are other social determinants and other psychological determinants,” Daniel said.

Not only is A Peaceful Place LGBTQ+ friendly, its gender-affirming atmosphere allows patients to be seen for their specific needs such as hormone therapy for transgender individuals.  Daniel says after receiving training on health care needs specific to that population, she realized only few services providers in Delaware had the knowledge needed to help.

“Almost everyday in practice you see somebody and be like well why didn’t you deal with this? They say I didn’t know where to go,” Daniels said.

Daniel also says that trust in a critical component in the process of providing care as it allows patients to be comfortable expressing all their health care needs.

The Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health says partnerships like this are important for providing more support to those down state who could have less resources available to them.

To find out more about A Peaceful Place and the services offered, click here