For the past 19 years Dr. Robert Canosa, has been making a difference at the Villa Maria Continuum. For the past 10 years, as director of Community Resources and Psychology Services, he has managed an array of twenty-five Villa Maria programs. They span eleven jurisdictions and interface with other programs within the Child & Family Services and Community Services Divisions. The programs are offered at ten sites which house behavioral health clinics, in-home intervention services, home-based respite, Head Start consultation, school mental health and Mobile crisis response services.
“No three hours are the same. It’s a very busy and challenging job, but rewarding,” Robert says.
Throughout his tenure, he has moved from working as a staff psychologist for Villa Maria Residential Treatment Center and St. Vincent’s Center, to helping improve and expand Catholic Charities and Villa Maria’s presence around the state within the public mental health system. He has seen the Department of Community Resources grow from one location with 48 clients to ten sites with programs that serve more than 5,000 individuals and families each year.
“One of my main goals is to help position our Division as a leader in community behavioral health with a focus on a true consumer-provider partnership and with the ability to demonstrate measurable improvement for those we serve. At each of our sites and programs, we try to demonstrate a culture where our individual consumers and families are respected and play an integral role in their care,” he says.
“Dr. Canosa has been an extraordinary asset to our agency for the past 19 years. He has been an indispensable resource in helping us to expand our mental health services throughout central and western Maryland. Thanks to his leadership, Catholic Charities is now responding to the mental health needs of thousands of individuals and families who turn to us for help,” says Mark Greenberg, Administrator of the Villa Maria Continuum.
Recently, Robert was elected President of the Board of the Community Behavioral Health Association of Maryland (CBH). Villa Maria is a member of CBH, which is the professional association for Maryland’s network of community behavioral health programs operating in the public sector. Through his position on the Board, he has been involved with other member agencies’ representatives and the Mental Hygiene Administration in the state’s efforts to improve adult, child and family services as well as develop a state-wide system that can measure functional outcomes.
Jack Pumphrey, associate administrator of the Villa Maria Continuum says, “Dr. Canosa, Rob to us, is not only extremely knowledgeable about the work that we do – but is very dedicated to ensuring that the children, their families and the adults that we work with receive the very best care and service. His election as the next President of CBH is simply a logical testament to those facts. We at Villa Maria are very proud of him for this recognition and accomplishment.”