By Lisa Wilcox
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — The Northern Lighthouse, a mental health services and treatment facility, held its grand opening at its new Caribou location on April 2.
The Northern Lighthouse got its start in 2001 when Linda and Melvin Guiggey, after working with the Department of Human Services for several years managing group homes and doing treatment foster care in their home, decided they wanted to do more for children that required out of home placement. Thus, the couple opened a six-bed residential facility in their hometown of Mars Hill with a staff of three.
Aroostook Republican photo/Lisa Wilcox
From left, Caribou Mayor Gary Aiken, The Northern Lighthouse founders Linda and Melvin Guiggey, and Caribou Area Chamber of Commerce Director William Tasker, led a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Northern Lighthouse facility located at 559 New Sweden Road in Caribou. Several members of the mental health treatment facility’s staff and representatives of the City of Caribou were present for the grand opening and open house.
In 2012, The Northern Lighthouse expanded and added an outpatient facility in Presque Isle and, in 2013, Caribou.
Located at 559 New Sweden Road, the building the new Caribou office is located in required extensive renovations.
“We brought it basically down to the frame,” Human Resources Director Scott Cray commented about the project.
The new facility includes outpatient services on one side of the building and a large room for group activities and life skills lessons such as cooking on the other.
The non-profit organization expanded its operation to Caribou in an effort to offer its services to northern Aroostook County, including the St. John Valley.
Currently The Northern Lighthouse employs a total staff of 85-90. The Caribou office will offer services including Section 28, which provides rehabilitation and community support services for children up to age 21 with cognitive impairments and functional limitations, HCT, which delivers in-home clinical and behavioral support services for children and adolescents up to 20 years old with a mental health diagnosis and who have Maine Care, individual adult and children’s therapy, family therapy, comprehensive and Vineland assessments, targeted case management, treatment groups, training opportunities and community outreach.
“It’s a real work of the heart and a dream come true, “ Program Administrator Linda Guiggey said about the expansion.
For more information about services offered by The Northern Lighthouse, contact them at 492-2011, or visit their website at www.tmlh.org.
