Like so many programs that have made a positive impact on individuals in the community, the Meridian Behavioral Health Services Patient Assistance Program (PAP) grew out of one staff person just wanting to assist someone in need. About four years ago Kyler Robbins, a counselor with Meridian, was assisting a woman in the Recovery Education Center in Haywood County.

She was prescribed a costly antidepressant medication that she was unable to afford on her fixed income. Robbins knew that this particular medication was crucial to her recovery and assisted her with the volume of paperwork necessary to obtain the needed medication through the pharmaceutical company. The PAP, once provided by a different agency, fell victim to the ever-changing reforms that are impacting mental health, substance ...