“I didn’t know Coastal Horizons Center did that.”

That’s the response I frequently get when I tell people about Coastal Horizons Center, Inc. (CHC). In fact, some of you reading now may never have even heard of CHC. And that’s OK, too.

In part that’s because we’re located a little off the beaten path – off of Shipyard Boulevard, close to Carolina Beach Road – in a series of brick buildings in the Willie Stargell Office Park. That we are sometimes unseen or passed by seems no small irony considering the work we do and the people we serve.

As southeastern North Carolina’s leading provider of evidence-based professional services for people suffering from a wide range of physical, sexual, mental and behavioral health conditions and diseases, CHC serves those with wounds and injuries sometimes not easily seen or noticed. They’re often wounds of the mind and soul resulting from past physical/sexual abuse or mental/behavioral health issues which are just as deserving and responsive to treatment as someone with a broken arm, appendicitis or cancer.  

Still, persons afflicted with these kinds of wounds often face stigmatization and marginalization because they or their conditions are wrongly considered untreatable. That’s simply not the truth; data and evidence bear that out.
So, what is CHC?

CHC is:

• A private, non-profit service delivery corporation servicing Eastern North Carolina and Durham specializing in treating persons with various physical, sexual, mental and behavioral health conditions and diseases.
• A provider of professional services, including substance abuse and mental health, crisis intervention, family preservation and criminal justice.
• Governed by a board of trustees representing a cross-section of residents from the area with services provided by a qualified staff of credentialed, trained clinical professionals.
• Headquartered on Shipyard Boulevard and includes an outpatient substance use disorder and mental health treatment program, Rape Crisis Center, Emergency Youth Shelter, a statewide service delivery TASC Training Institute, and CHC administrative offices.

As a nonprofit entity, we receive federal and state funding, in addition to generous corporate and individual donations. One of the great challenges for all nonprofits, however, is showing donors the faces of the lives they help shape, change and improve.

That’s why in months to come we’ll share with you – in a very unique and memorable way – some of the faces of the people we serve, their stories of struggle and healing, and their return to wholeness. In between, we’ll also share more about CHC, from its founding in 1970 to CHC’s long-term vision for the future.

Thank you for your time, and welcome to Coastal Horizons Center, Inc.

Coastal Horizons Center, Inc. is a local private non-profit agency lead by President and CEO, Margaret Weller-Stargell that promotes choices for healthier lives and safer communities by providing a continuum of professional services for crisis intervention, sexual assault survivors, criminal justice alternatives, and prevention and treatment of substance use and mental health disorders. Coastal Horizons Center is the largest private, non-profit human services agency headquartered in Wilmington and serves the 53 counties of Eastern North Carolina. For more information, please call 910-790-0187 or email [email protected].