DOVER — A Peaceful Place Integrated Care is using federal grant money to add a certified drug and alcohol counselor, a licensed clinical social worker, and a peer navigator to their staff. The funds also support the use of telehealth to help patients continue accessing treatment.

A Peaceful Place is a minority-owned, woman-owned primary care office run by Ericka Daniel, a psychiatric nurse practitioner and family nurse practitioner. She created her Dover practice after completing training in transgender health and non-binary gender education and realized there are very few service providers that foster an LGBTQ-affirming environment.

Dr. Daniel’s practice provides primary care and wraparound behavioral health support services but is targeted to support LGBTQ people with services like gender-affirming hormones for transgender individuals. The practice also welcomes those who have substance use disorders and those diagnosed with hepatitis C.

The federal grant money comes from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Dr. Daniel noted that mental health and substance use disorders in the LGBTQ community often go hand-in-hand, which led to her decision to add staff to address those needs.