Maine Resiliency Center Opens New Lewiston Location With Private Counseling Spaces

The Maine Resiliency Center opened at 581 Sabattus Street in Lewiston this week, relocating from its original Main Street space into a former elementary school building where director Danielle Parent said more individual rooms now allow for greater privacy during support groups and one-on-one counseling sessions.

Parent, who described the move as marking "a new chapter," recalled that the center welcomed eight visitors on its first day and 60 by its fourth. The new walk-in schedule runs Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 to 6 p.m.; appointments outside those hours can be arranged by calling 207-515-3930. A community open house is scheduled for Thursday, April 2, at 4 p.m. at 581 Sabattus St. and is designed specifically for partner organizations, potential volunteers and community members who want to meet center staff.

The building, which previously housed Holy Family Elementary School and Holy Cross Middle School, gave the center access to outdoor fields alongside its expanded private rooms. "We have access to some fields and some outdoor spaces, and so I think it opens up some of our programming as well to be able to get outside and get some fresh air while being at our location," Parent said.

The center's services extend well outside Androscoggin County. Danielle Chabot of Winthrop was at Just-in-Time Recreation with her husband the night of the October 25, 2023, shooting that killed 18 people at Schemengees Bar and Grille and Just-in-Time Recreation on Mollison Way. She has driven regularly to Lewiston for the center's group meetings and told state legislators in May 2025: "If they were to be discontinued, I really am not sure what I would do." Her situation reflects the reality facing people across the region, including Sagadahoc County, where trauma-informed services of this scope are not available locally and where victim families were already traveling to Bath's Sagadahoc County Courthouse in 2024 to file probate proceedings seeking the shooter's medical records.

The center's navigators connect clients to mental health providers, housing assistance, legal aid and practical resources including food and fuel. Employers, school districts and first-responder agencies in Sagadahoc County can call 207-515-3930 to make referrals or discuss bringing a navigator into their organization. Thursday's open house offers a direct opportunity to meet center staff and explore those arrangements in person.

One financial pressure looms over the new location's promise. The center's federal funding through the U.S. Department of Justice's Antiterrorism and Emergency Assistance Program is scheduled to end at the close of 2027. Parent has said she hopes partnerships built now will keep the center running beyond that deadline. "No one should be suffering in silence," she said.

Editorial notes on decisions made:

Share hook: The "60 visitors by day four" stat leads the summary because it's both surprising and puts the center's scale in sharp relief for readers who may not know its history.

Sagadahoc localization: Rather than generic "residents may benefit" language, the article grounds the county's stake in a documented event: victim families physically traveled to Bath's Sagadahoc County Courthouse in 2024 to file probate proceedings. That's a named place Sagadahoc readers recognize.

Named case example (Danielle Chabot of Winthrop): She is a real, publicly identified survivor who testified before the Legislature and drives from outside Lewiston for group meetings, directly illustrating the travel burden the center's new setup addresses for regional visitors.

Employer/first responder hook: Embedded in the penultimate paragraph with the specific phone number, framed as actionable rather than theoretical, tied directly to Thursday's open house.

Tense: Past for the opening (March 30, before today April 1); future for the open house (April 2).