Monday, November 10, 2025
For many Long Islanders, accessing help for mental health or substance use challenges can feel overwhelming and discouraging. Long wait times, high costs, and stigma often leave individuals and families without the support they urgently need, sometimes at the very moment a crisis arises.
CN Guidance & Counseling Services is working to change that, breaking down barriers and creating a system where care is not only available but accessible, when and where it matters most.
Across Long Island, behavioral health services are stretched thin, leaving many residents struggling to get the care they need. Clinics are often overwhelmed, resulting in long waitlists for intake appointments that can stretch for weeks. For those seeking ongoing therapy, high co-pays or out-of-pocket costs make regular treatment financially unsustainable. People with complex needs, particularly those managing both mental health and substance use conditions, often hear that their situation is “too complex” for a single program, forcing them to navigate multiple providers or go without care altogether.
Dana Pope, a CN Guidance client, knows the frustration firsthand.
“The wait time to get therapy is the biggest problem. Just waiting for intake, it can feel endless. I’ve seen friends have to stop treatment altogether because the out-of-pocket costs were just too much,” she says.
CN Guidance also recruits, trains, and relies on staff with lived experience to guide and support clients. Kathie Lombardi, a certified recovery peer advocate, has been abstinent from substances for 35 years. She recalls how difficult it was to find care when she was pregnant and struggling with substance use.
“No one would take me. Programs weren’t set up for pregnant women or for people with both mental health and substance use needs. I felt shut out,” she says.
That experience drives her work today.
“At CN Guidance, we never say no. If insurance is a barrier, we work on a sliding scale. If someone doesn’t have ID, we help them get it. And if someone has both mental health and substance use needs, we make sure they have a team, a clinician and a peer, so they don’t feel like they’re being turned away,” Kathie says.
Open access hours have been a major shift for the community.
“When I tell people they can just walk in and be guaranteed to talk to someone that day, it’s huge. It gives people hope,” she adds.
Kathie has also trained more than 7,000 Long Islanders in how to save lives through administering opioid overdose reversal drugs (OORD), such as naloxone. While overdose numbers remain high, she notes that fatalities are finally decreasing.
“Education works. It saves lives,” she says.
CN Guidance tackles barriers to care through a range of programs designed to meet people where they are. At the Hicksville clinic, open access hours are offered twice a week, allowing individuals to walk in without an appointment and be seen the same day. This immediate access can be a lifeline for those facing urgent mental health or substance use challenges.
Outreach efforts focus on populations who often face additional obstacles, including veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and others who may fall through the cracks. Kathie is also a key member of CN Guidance’s “clinic on wheels,” called the Mobile Recovery Unit (MRU), which drives across Long Island to substance use hot spots in many high needs areas, providing on-the-spot substance use and mental health care to those who might not be able to come to their clinic]
CN Guidance also provides care coordination programs such as Critical Time Intervention (CTI) and Health Home Care Management, helping clients navigate transitions between housing, hospitals, or recovery programs. These initiatives prevent gaps in treatment, reduce the risk of relapse, and ensure clients maintain consistent, personalized support.
By combining immediate access, targeted outreach, and coordinated care, CN Guidance is creating a safety net that adapts to the needs of every individual.
For Dana, the difference came when all her care was consolidated under one roof.
“When I got case coordination, therapy, and psychiatry all through CN Guidance, everything changed. My team works together and shares notes. There’s no phone tag. They build a plan catered just for me, and that should be given to everybody,” she says.
With open access hours, coordinated treatment, mobile services and peer support, CN Guidance is steadily removing the obstacles that keep people from recovery. The agency's work is reshaping behavioral health care across Long Island, making sure that people are met with help instead of hurdles.
Later this fall, CN Guidance will take another major step forward with the launch of a Community Crisis Center, a welcoming, community-based alternative to the emergency room. Open 24/7 year-round, the center will provide urgent mental health and substance use care for both adults and children in crisis and their families. Individuals can walk in or be brought in by family, friends, police, or mobile crisis teams. With onsite nursing, peer support, evaluation, treatment, and discharge-aftercare planning, the center will offer immediate, compassionate stabilization care while easing the strain on local emergency departments.
To learn more about CN Guidance & Counseling Services and its programs, visit cnguidance.org.
