HEATH — Thanks to a $100,000 three-year grant from the Mosaic Opioid Recovery Partnership, Hilltown Youth Recovery Theatre, which is now at capacity, will be able to increase its staffing to provide its mental health arts programming to area youths.

Hilltown Youth Recovery Theatre, founded by Jonathan Diamond in 2010, focuses on supporting youth mental health through the arts. Diamond, who has a Ph.D. in social work from Smith College and has been working with children with addiction and mental health issues for more than 30 years, said the program is a “strength-based, holistic model” that creates change for area youth.

Through theater and the arts, Diamond and his team give kids a space to unplug and step away from their troubles. Participants spend their time outdoors, immersed in nature while learning acting skills, set and costume design, script writing and more. By putting down their phones and other devices and picking up paint brushes, pens and notebooks, Diamond said the program gives participants a chance to slow down while stepping away from reality and into their imaginations.

“I’ve never seen anything quite like it,” Diamond said, speaking to the powerful healing aspect of art.

The program has continued to grow and has attracted young performers who return year after year. For the annual summer workshop, which this year entailed a performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Diamond said two-thirds of the cohort typically consists of returning pupils while the remaining participants are joining the program for the first time.

However, given its success, the program and its limited staff are at capacity.

“Our capacity is maxed out,” Diamond explained. “We have more work than we can handle and we just need more people.”

Hilltown Youth Recovery Theatre has received plenty of support over the years, Diamond said, including through smaller grants from various cultural councils, Greenfield Savings Bank and other community partners. However, Diamond said the Mosaic Opioid Recovery Partnership grant will be a huge help.

Mosaic Opioid Recovery Partnership is a new grant program created this year between the Department of Public Health’s Bureau of Substance Addiction Services and RIZE Massachusetts to support community-based organizations and municipalities that often face significant obstacles and barriers to accessing more traditional funding opportunities. The main goal of the funding is to help organizations deepen their impact, bring their work to scale, and build a strong, sustainable infrastructure to meet the needs of the populations they serve.

“Our efforts are focused on reducing barriers to access in communities and among populations hardest hit by substance use disorder and overdose deaths,” Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Robert Goldstein said in a statement. “Those working at the grassroots level, who know their communities best, need this support to provide culturally responsive services for those struggling with addiction and families that have suffered devastating losses to overdose.”

Hilltown Youth Recovery Theatre was one of 18 organizations selected from more than 100 applicants to receive a slice of the total $3.75 million in funding. Each organization is receiving between $16,000 and $150,000 annually over the three-year period to focus on one or all of the following areas: prevention, harm reduction, connections to care, recovery supports, trauma, grief and family supports.

Diamond said the Mosaic Opioid Recovery Partnership grant will allow him to hire some extra staff, potentially a grant writer, researcher or another program director. The grant will also allow Hilltown Youth Recovery Theatre to increase pay for its teaching artists and student staff.

The program is primarily student-led, Diamond noted. Many students who attend the recovery programs and summer camps return as staff, and many of the program leaders are artists in their late teens or early 20s. Some students as young as high school freshmen are given stipends for their work with the program.

“We’re basically paying kids to be artists and to help them be their sparkly creative selves,” Diamond.

As the program continues to grow, Diamond said he would like to purchase some land to create a proper sleepaway camp to fully immerse students in the arts.

Reach Madison Schofield at 413-930-4579 or mschofield@recorder.com.