Happy New Year!

While we’re excited to head into 2026, we also firmly believe in the power of reflection and wanted to share many of the incredible things PDG was able to achieve over the last year. Here were some of our highlights from 2025:

Awards and Accreditations

CARF International, an independent nonprofit accreditor of health and human services, renewed our accreditation. We are proud to say that since receiving this accreditation in 2016, PDG has consistently achieved the highest rating possible! Over the past year, we streamlined the enrollment process to ensure that all consumers have easy access to both measurement-based care as well as the health and wellness programs. We are honored to be recognized for the excellence and integrity that defines PDG’s work, services, and programs. 

PDG was also honored to be awarded the Platinum Bell Seal Award for Workplace Mental Health. Our ongoing commitment to building a mentally healthy workplace has earned us the Bell Seal Award for the third consecutive year. This prestigious honor is a reflection of our ongoing commitment to the high standard of mental well-being of our workforce, and maintaining a healthy workplace that allows our staff to thrive. 

Staff

PDG wouldn’t be able to do the work we do without our amazing staff. In the 2025 Staff Feedback Survey it was evident that staff support was one of PDG’s key strengths, with staff  “consistently described as supportive, understanding, accessible, and empowering”. We’re so proud of the incredible people we get to work with, and how they continue to uphold our mission to help improve the mental health of our community. 

Becca McCoy was one of our stand-out leaders this year, receiving the Shining Star Award at the 5th Annual NAMI Anne Arundel County Mental Health Gala. This award recognizes those making exceptional contributions to the mental health community. Starting as a Community Support Specialist in our Case Management Program in December of 2021, Becca rose to a leadership role in less than a year. We are thankful for the empathy and knowledge she brings to our programs and the community. 

We would also like to congratulate the staff members who completed their masters’ programs through employment-based field placements, as well as those who achieved their counseling licenses! This includes Kendall Ecker, who completed her Masters in Social Work degree. She had been with PDG since 2018, and continues to be an invaluable member of the team.

With this star studded staff, we were able to spend 2025 offering the highest level of care to our clients and building partnerships that will last a lifetime.

Partnerships

We are excited to be partnering with John Hopkins University as part of the DECIPHeR Program, where we are helping collect data to address the connection between those living with mental illness and their increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. We are optimistic for this new chapter in collaborative research, since the reasons for the increased risk are complex and multifaceted. This is more than just a research opportunity: it’s an opportunity to address health equity and bring about better outcomes for our patients.

Expanding Our Reach

In 2025 we were thrilled to grow our operations to serve more Marylanders! We are excited to announce that we expanded the Montgomery County office in Gaithersburg, and added an office in Millersville. 

Events

Thank you to attendees, sponsors, partners and staff for making our 14th Annual Crab Feast fundraiser a success! We sold a record 160+ tickets, ate 14 bushels of crabs, and sold 600+ raffle tickets! We’re thrilled to have raised $15,000 in donations, which will go to Maryland behavioral health services and will allow us to further support our neighbors with mental illness. 

We like getting out into the community, so we had a blast sponsoring a trunk for Thrive Behavioral Health’s “Trunk or Treat”. We still can’t decide the sweetest part: the cotton candy machine, or meeting all of you!

Our 2025 Consumer Thanksgiving Meal and Talent Show had treats baked with love and performances full of heart. Fifty people came together for genuine connection and a delicious feast catered by Mission BBQ. A huge thank you to our Mental Health Care Coordinators for making this event possible and for baking dessert. 

This year’s food drive helped more than 127 individuals, including 37 children. We are very thankful for the support of so many businesses, donors, and staff for making it possible to feed those in need.

And finally, we said goodbye to 2025 with a holiday staff party to celebrate a year of hard work. As always, getting together was a blast. Clad in fabulously ugly sweaters, party goers were treated to rousing games of holiday Pictionary and a festive white elephant. Fun was had by all! 

Our Supporters

As always, thank you for your unending support of PDG and our services. We thought our Employee Survey captured it best when they described PDG as “a supportive, welcoming culture with strong collegial relationships.” That extends to everyone who supports our work, and we couldn’t be more grateful. With your help, we’ll continue to provide superior services across Maryland, in 2026 and beyond.