VALPARAISO — Porter-Starke Services, a licensed community mental health center for adults, families, adolescents and children with mental health or substance abuse issues, was presented with a Best Practices Honor from the American Psychological Association (APA) at the annual Psychologically Healthy Workplace Awards ceremony held on March 8, 2014 in Washington, D.C. Porter-Starke Services was recognized for its work to forward their vision of inspiring people to advance the health, balance and hope of the community, through The Inspiration Project. The project, based on the This I Believe writing model, invites people to share a story from their own life that illustrates their core values or beliefs.

Porter-Starke Services has shown its commitment to employees through sponsorship of writing workshops that invite employees to share their work with each other and the public. The Inspiration Project has strengthened the organization by giving employees an opportunity to share what is important and meaningful to them with their colleagues. This practice, an example of employee involvement, is one component of a psychologically healthy workplace. Porter-Starke Services was one of three organizations to receive the Best Practices recognition in 2014. The organization is a previous winner of the Indiana Psychological Association’s state-level Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award, qualifying it to be nominated for APA’s Best Practices Honors.