June 29, 2025 • 15 mins
Original Air Date: June 29, 2025
Regina Charles is the clinical services director of Center Path Wellness, which provides free in-person and telehealth mental health services for people in NJ who are not insured, or underinsured, including undocumented people.
Regina Charles is the clinical services director of Center Path Wellness, which provides free in-person and telehealth mental health services for people in NJ who are not insured, or underinsured, including undocumented people.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, Conversations about issues that matter.
Here's your host, three time GREASYE Award winner, Shelley.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Sunstein joining us now, Regina Charles. She is with the
Center Path Wellness program. Center Path Wellness is affiliated with
Easter Seals New Jersey and they are now partnering with
a state funded initiative which offers select no cost mental
(00:30):
health services to uninsured New Jersey residents. Yes, you heard
me right, no cost free mental health services. And to
make it even better, this is basically over a computer
or over your phone, right, Regina. It's not in person.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
No, we offer in person.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
However, we do offer telehealth services and there we kind
of just like meet the client where they're at. Whether
if it's just like a phone call where we're offering
psychiatric evaluations or mid management appointments, or if we're doing
individual therapy, then we'll do it either through Zoom or
a DOXY or something that would be able to accommodate
(01:20):
the client's needs.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
And these people who can get free mental health services,
they basically have to be uninsured, right.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yes, they're uninsured or underinsured?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
And be underinsured so being underinsured really just means you're
not really getting the full benefits of being fully insured.
So maybe mental health services may not be included in
that in your insurance, and so here we are just
offering those benefits of mental health services. That way we
(01:55):
are able to meet the.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Client where they are as well as just provides some
type of stability for the client and helping them achieve that.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
How can people reach you? Yeah, so you can either call.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
The front desk there you will speak to the clinical
administrative coordinator who would then facilitate a pre intake, or
you can contact us through our website or Psychology Today
and really just put in your information and someone will
contact you to get the ball rolling.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
What is the phone number?
Speaker 4 (02:31):
So the phone number is nine oh eight seven five
six six eight seven zero and the website and our
website is www dot dot my Centerpath dot org.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
My centerpath dot org. Yeahs, if you been doing this?
How long has Center Path Wellness been doing this free program? Regina?
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Yes, So Center Path Wellness has been a staple in
the community for over eighty years and we service clients
to surrounds Plainfield, Union County. We even service clients Mommouth
County as well and any other surrounding counties. Through our
telehealth services, we're able to reach people from a distance.
(03:21):
That way, it doesn't only have to be like within
the Plainfield or Union County area.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
But how long have you been doing this for free
for the under or uninsured, because it sounds like it's
a relatively new program. Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
It's really not that new. I would say more than
like twenty years.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Honestly.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Yeah, We've been in the community for quite some time,
and our mission has always been reaching, reaching the people
that are not that does not believe that mental health
is for them, Mental health care is not for them
based on what they heard, based on what their insurance
is providing.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
So we've been a stable for quite some time.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
But you have to live in you have to live
in New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Yes, you have to live in New Jersey.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Would you cover anyone in New Jersey or just those
counties that you mentioned.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
We can cover anyone in New Jersey. Again, because we
offer telehealth services, there are no limitations.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
There are no limitations when it comes to being in
New Jersey.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
How many people do you have room for? I mean,
it would seem to me that at some point you
would say, no, we have too many, we can't take anymore.
How many can you hold?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
We depending on our staff.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
I mean currently we are servicing more than seven hundred clients. Wow,
we are pretty big, and so we always have space
for more people and depending on the need that we'll
continue to grow our practice.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
But we have room. We have a lot of room.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Actually, and the reason why we're able to hold so
many rooms is because we also offer like a partial
care program as well for people with severe and persistent
mental illness. So that includes diagnosis such as like schizophrenia,
schizo effective bipolar one and two, depression in any other
(05:23):
type of like delusional disorders. And that program is a
partial care program where it runs four days out the
week and we offer structured groups throughout the day and
we provide lunch as well, just to make sure that
our clients are getting exactly what they need in order
to process some of the feelings and symptoms that they
(05:46):
are experiencing.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I'm speaking with Regina Charles of Center path Wellness and
in New Jersey. They provide free mental health services to
uninsured and underinsured New Jersey residents. You heard me write
three mental health services and you can reach them either
(06:11):
online at mycenterpath dot org or write down this number.
I'll give it to you twice. Nine oh eight seven
five six six eight seven zero. That's nine oh eight
seven five six six eight seven zero. What types of
(06:32):
mental health issues do you cover?
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Oh, so we cover all grounds.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
We talk about behaviors, we discuss trauma, we discuss or
health clients overcome some of their symptoms and maintain stability,
and also just providing education on what mental illness is
and the stigma that's attached, right, and so we encourage
people to kind of just like come in and overcome
(07:02):
some of those stigmas where it comes to.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
When you have mental health, maybe it's not something that you.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Should talk about, only communicate when there's a crisis, or
maybe when it comes to like being undocumented and maybe
you might not belong here. And so we try to
go out into the community and educate people, Hey, having
mental health is okay, it's normal, quote unquote. Everyone experience
(07:29):
it to some level or extent, and so we want
everyone to feel welcomed and safe. And so we've really
attacked those areas as well. And what comes with that again,
as I mentioned is trauma. Trauma is big. Everyone has
experienced some level of trauma as well, and so we
like to educate, We like to talk about some of
the symptoms and really just take that journey with the
(07:50):
client because it could be hindering just their functionality and
how they are able to build relationships, get into the
workforce and think of that nature.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
So you also serve undocumented people, Yes, we have you
had any fallout from that under in the last few months,
can you know?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:15):
We did have to do a lot of work on that, right,
So we do service undocumented people, and it became whether
if it was safe to even come in right, and
so then we some of our clients that preferred like
the in person interaction, we then had to move them
to telehealth. We never stopped serving them. We exactly what
I said before. We just meet them exactly where they are,
and we honor the feelings that they have and they're valid.
(08:39):
Right when it came to safety and security and oh
my gosh, what's going to happen if I step outside
of my house because a couple of you know, within
the past few months, all of those emotions heightened and
so we had to just like address it and offer
other alternatives and options. So whether it was like a
medication appointment, then we'll just do that over the phone.
(09:00):
We'll do it over the phone. That way, the client
still feel safe and we're not exacerbating some of their symptoms.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Do you have enough employees to serve everyone? And do
you need more? What do you need from us?
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Yes, well we are always taking clinicians, but yes, we
do have what we need to serve our population. We
have a Spanish speaking clinician we have she also speaks
Portuguese as well. We have a Haitian Creole speaking clinician,
and we also use a language line just in case
if we're not able to accommodate the language. We do
(09:39):
understand that the language line is needed because it's always
better to have a client communicate in their native tongue, right,
and so the interpreter would help, but we would also
see the client that way, not only as the interpreter
telling us what the client is saying, but we are
also able to pick up on emotions, right like okay,
so I see like you're feeling angry, you're frustrated, you
(10:01):
feel defeated, and so we would try to address that
and we would just go through the interpreter obviously to
communicate that. But part of like our telehealth services is
also seeing the client when we are offering individual therapy
or group therapy.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
How do people even find out that you exist? Because
I didn't know you existed someone, right, you know, a
publicist reached out to me and I'm looking and I'm thinking,
I didn't know this exists.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Yes, so we are actively in the community. We are
letting everybody know that we are here. So what we
do is we go out to schools, we go out
to doctor offices, health centers, urgent cares, like your local church,
(10:50):
and supermarkets.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
So just let them know that we are in the community.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Also, like we've really been just like working on just
like promoting ourselves outside of the community when it comes
to just letting them.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Know that we exist.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
Right, So we'll have like a psychology today, we'll kind
of like just like push our website out a little
bit more. That way, people just know that we are here.
Whether you have everything or not, we are here to
provide services in order to get you what you need.
We also promote like case management services as well, right
(11:25):
where we understand that satisfying or meeting the client at
their basic psychological needs, right, and so that's really just
addressing mass laws hierarchy of needs. We do understand that
shelter is important and food is important, and so we
also try to sell that as well, because we can't
(11:48):
have therapy or med management sessions without addressing the elephant
in the room. If we are not addressing the homelessness, security, food,
and secure. If we're not addressing those things, then really
therapy may not be as effective, right because I can't
talk to you about being your higher and better self
(12:12):
when I obviously see that you have no place to stay.
Safety is a concern, and so we try to address
that as well, right, So we push that just so
that people know that we are in the community as
well as serving everyone outside of Union County as well
as long as you are in New Jersey. So we
really try to like just promote ourselves a little bit
(12:35):
more in the services that we provide.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
We only have a couple of minutes left. What have
we not touched on Regina that you want our audience
to know?
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Yeah, So really it's just I also just want everyone
to understand what the underserved and marginalized communities look like
and really that are those are people that are living
right at the margins, that feel as if like they
might not belong due to what society is telling them,
(13:05):
due to certain cultural beliefs or things of that nature.
But just understanding that you belong here and you are
entitled to services no matter what stigma is attached to
mental health, and that you shouldn't only just cry out
when there is a crisis, but when something just doesn't
feel right, or when everything feels okay, right, you can
(13:28):
still seek out services because it is for you.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
How did you get involved, Regina?
Speaker 3 (13:36):
How did I get involved?
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Well, I am the clinical services director and I've always
believed that it has been my purpose to serve the
underserved population just due to what I see in the
messages that society and this world might communicate. And just
let everyone know that you are seeing and you belong here,
and though we might go through like certain iles and tribulations,
(14:01):
that doesn't mean that you are not a part of society.
That doesn't mean that you shouldn't cry out for health.
And so I'm very passionate about that, just letting everyone
know that, hey, you have a place in this world
no matter what obstacles no matter how you were born
into this world, but you have a place, and so
I it's just a passion right because I feel that
(14:23):
way too. I am part of the underserved and marginalized groups,
and so I also want to be a voice for
the people that I represent as well.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Thank you so much, Regina Charles. And again what Center
Path Wellness does. If you live in New Jersey and
you are uninsured or underinsured, they provide no cost mental
health services in person or by telehealth. And here's the
(14:55):
contact information again, my Center path dot org. That's online
my centerpath dot org, or you can call nine oh
eight seven five six six eight seven zero nine oh
eight seven five six six eight seven zero.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
You've been listening to Sunsteen sessions on iHeartRadio, a production
of New York's classic rock Q one O four point
three
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, Conversations about issues that matter.
Here's your host, three time GREASYE Award winner, Shelley.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Sunstein joining us now, Regina Charles. She is with the
Center Path Wellness program. Center Path Wellness is affiliated with
Easter Seals New Jersey and they are now partnering with
a state funded initiative which offers select no cost mental
(00:30):
health services to uninsured New Jersey residents. Yes, you heard
me right, no cost free mental health services. And to
make it even better, this is basically over a computer
or over your phone, right, Regina. It's not in person.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
No, we offer in person.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
However, we do offer telehealth services and there we kind
of just like meet the client where they're at. Whether
if it's just like a phone call where we're offering
psychiatric evaluations or mid management appointments, or if we're doing
individual therapy, then we'll do it either through Zoom or
a DOXY or something that would be able to accommodate
(01:20):
the client's needs.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
And these people who can get free mental health services,
they basically have to be uninsured, right.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yes, they're uninsured or underinsured?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
And be underinsured so being underinsured really just means you're
not really getting the full benefits of being fully insured.
So maybe mental health services may not be included in
that in your insurance, and so here we are just
offering those benefits of mental health services. That way we
(01:55):
are able to meet the.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Client where they are as well as just provides some
type of stability for the client and helping them achieve that.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
How can people reach you? Yeah, so you can either call.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
The front desk there you will speak to the clinical
administrative coordinator who would then facilitate a pre intake, or
you can contact us through our website or Psychology Today
and really just put in your information and someone will
contact you to get the ball rolling.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
What is the phone number?
Speaker 4 (02:31):
So the phone number is nine oh eight seven five
six six eight seven zero and the website and our
website is www dot dot my Centerpath dot org.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
My centerpath dot org. Yeahs, if you been doing this?
How long has Center Path Wellness been doing this free program? Regina?
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Yes, So Center Path Wellness has been a staple in
the community for over eighty years and we service clients
to surrounds Plainfield, Union County. We even service clients Mommouth
County as well and any other surrounding counties. Through our
telehealth services, we're able to reach people from a distance.
(03:21):
That way, it doesn't only have to be like within
the Plainfield or Union County area.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
But how long have you been doing this for free
for the under or uninsured, because it sounds like it's
a relatively new program. Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
It's really not that new. I would say more than
like twenty years.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Honestly.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Yeah, We've been in the community for quite some time,
and our mission has always been reaching, reaching the people
that are not that does not believe that mental health
is for them, Mental health care is not for them
based on what they heard, based on what their insurance
is providing.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
So we've been a stable for quite some time.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
But you have to live in you have to live
in New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Yes, you have to live in New Jersey.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Would you cover anyone in New Jersey or just those
counties that you mentioned.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
We can cover anyone in New Jersey. Again, because we
offer telehealth services, there are no limitations.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
There are no limitations when it comes to being in
New Jersey.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
How many people do you have room for? I mean,
it would seem to me that at some point you
would say, no, we have too many, we can't take anymore.
How many can you hold?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
We depending on our staff.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
I mean currently we are servicing more than seven hundred clients. Wow,
we are pretty big, and so we always have space
for more people and depending on the need that we'll
continue to grow our practice.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
But we have room. We have a lot of room.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Actually, and the reason why we're able to hold so
many rooms is because we also offer like a partial
care program as well for people with severe and persistent
mental illness. So that includes diagnosis such as like schizophrenia,
schizo effective bipolar one and two, depression in any other
(05:23):
type of like delusional disorders. And that program is a
partial care program where it runs four days out the
week and we offer structured groups throughout the day and
we provide lunch as well, just to make sure that
our clients are getting exactly what they need in order
to process some of the feelings and symptoms that they
(05:46):
are experiencing.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I'm speaking with Regina Charles of Center path Wellness and
in New Jersey. They provide free mental health services to
uninsured and underinsured New Jersey residents. You heard me write
three mental health services and you can reach them either
(06:11):
online at mycenterpath dot org or write down this number.
I'll give it to you twice. Nine oh eight seven
five six six eight seven zero. That's nine oh eight
seven five six six eight seven zero. What types of
(06:32):
mental health issues do you cover?
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Oh, so we cover all grounds.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
We talk about behaviors, we discuss trauma, we discuss or
health clients overcome some of their symptoms and maintain stability,
and also just providing education on what mental illness is
and the stigma that's attached, right, and so we encourage
people to kind of just like come in and overcome
(07:02):
some of those stigmas where it comes to.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
When you have mental health, maybe it's not something that you.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Should talk about, only communicate when there's a crisis, or
maybe when it comes to like being undocumented and maybe
you might not belong here. And so we try to
go out into the community and educate people, Hey, having
mental health is okay, it's normal, quote unquote. Everyone experience
(07:29):
it to some level or extent, and so we want
everyone to feel welcomed and safe. And so we've really
attacked those areas as well. And what comes with that again,
as I mentioned is trauma. Trauma is big. Everyone has
experienced some level of trauma as well, and so we
like to educate, We like to talk about some of
the symptoms and really just take that journey with the
(07:50):
client because it could be hindering just their functionality and
how they are able to build relationships, get into the
workforce and think of that nature.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
So you also serve undocumented people, Yes, we have you
had any fallout from that under in the last few months,
can you know?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:15):
We did have to do a lot of work on that, right,
So we do service undocumented people, and it became whether
if it was safe to even come in right, and
so then we some of our clients that preferred like
the in person interaction, we then had to move them
to telehealth. We never stopped serving them. We exactly what
I said before. We just meet them exactly where they are,
and we honor the feelings that they have and they're valid.
(08:39):
Right when it came to safety and security and oh
my gosh, what's going to happen if I step outside
of my house because a couple of you know, within
the past few months, all of those emotions heightened and
so we had to just like address it and offer
other alternatives and options. So whether it was like a
medication appointment, then we'll just do that over the phone.
(09:00):
We'll do it over the phone. That way, the client
still feel safe and we're not exacerbating some of their symptoms.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Do you have enough employees to serve everyone? And do
you need more? What do you need from us?
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Yes, well we are always taking clinicians, but yes, we
do have what we need to serve our population. We
have a Spanish speaking clinician we have she also speaks
Portuguese as well. We have a Haitian Creole speaking clinician,
and we also use a language line just in case
if we're not able to accommodate the language. We do
(09:39):
understand that the language line is needed because it's always
better to have a client communicate in their native tongue, right,
and so the interpreter would help, but we would also
see the client that way, not only as the interpreter
telling us what the client is saying, but we are
also able to pick up on emotions, right like okay,
so I see like you're feeling angry, you're frustrated, you
(10:01):
feel defeated, and so we would try to address that
and we would just go through the interpreter obviously to
communicate that. But part of like our telehealth services is
also seeing the client when we are offering individual therapy
or group therapy.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
How do people even find out that you exist? Because
I didn't know you existed someone, right, you know, a
publicist reached out to me and I'm looking and I'm thinking,
I didn't know this exists.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Yes, so we are actively in the community. We are
letting everybody know that we are here. So what we
do is we go out to schools, we go out
to doctor offices, health centers, urgent cares, like your local church,
(10:50):
and supermarkets.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
So just let them know that we are in the community.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Also, like we've really been just like working on just
like promoting ourselves outside of the community when it comes
to just letting them.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Know that we exist.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
Right, So we'll have like a psychology today, we'll kind
of like just like push our website out a little
bit more. That way, people just know that we are here.
Whether you have everything or not, we are here to
provide services in order to get you what you need.
We also promote like case management services as well, right
(11:25):
where we understand that satisfying or meeting the client at
their basic psychological needs, right, and so that's really just
addressing mass laws hierarchy of needs. We do understand that
shelter is important and food is important, and so we
also try to sell that as well, because we can't
(11:48):
have therapy or med management sessions without addressing the elephant
in the room. If we are not addressing the homelessness, security, food,
and secure. If we're not addressing those things, then really
therapy may not be as effective, right because I can't
talk to you about being your higher and better self
(12:12):
when I obviously see that you have no place to stay.
Safety is a concern, and so we try to address
that as well, right, So we push that just so
that people know that we are in the community as
well as serving everyone outside of Union County as well
as long as you are in New Jersey. So we
really try to like just promote ourselves a little bit
(12:35):
more in the services that we provide.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
We only have a couple of minutes left. What have
we not touched on Regina that you want our audience
to know?
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Yeah, So really it's just I also just want everyone
to understand what the underserved and marginalized communities look like
and really that are those are people that are living
right at the margins, that feel as if like they
might not belong due to what society is telling them,
(13:05):
due to certain cultural beliefs or things of that nature.
But just understanding that you belong here and you are
entitled to services no matter what stigma is attached to
mental health, and that you shouldn't only just cry out
when there is a crisis, but when something just doesn't
feel right, or when everything feels okay, right, you can
(13:28):
still seek out services because it is for you.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
How did you get involved, Regina?
Speaker 3 (13:36):
How did I get involved?
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Well, I am the clinical services director and I've always
believed that it has been my purpose to serve the
underserved population just due to what I see in the
messages that society and this world might communicate. And just
let everyone know that you are seeing and you belong here,
and though we might go through like certain iles and tribulations,
(14:01):
that doesn't mean that you are not a part of society.
That doesn't mean that you shouldn't cry out for health.
And so I'm very passionate about that, just letting everyone
know that, hey, you have a place in this world
no matter what obstacles no matter how you were born
into this world, but you have a place, and so
I it's just a passion right because I feel that
(14:23):
way too. I am part of the underserved and marginalized groups,
and so I also want to be a voice for
the people that I represent as well.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Thank you so much, Regina Charles. And again what Center
Path Wellness does. If you live in New Jersey and
you are uninsured or underinsured, they provide no cost mental
health services in person or by telehealth. And here's the
(14:55):
contact information again, my Center path dot org. That's online
my centerpath dot org, or you can call nine oh
eight seven five six six eight seven zero nine oh
eight seven five six six eight seven zero.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
You've been listening to Sunsteen sessions on iHeartRadio, a production
of New York's classic rock Q one O four point
three
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.