KIRKSVILLE, Mo. — Preferred Family Healthcare (PFH) in Kirksville, along with state and local leaders, recently celebrated the opening of Adair County’s first Behavioral Health Crisis Center.
Mental health is a battle millions of Americans struggle with on a daily basis.
PFH worked with Mark Twain Behavioral Health, multiple first responders, the Northeast Missouri Crisis Intervention Team (NEMO CIT) and other local entities to come up with a facility to help the community.
Over the years, first responders and emergency rooms have handled most cases that deal with individuals who are struggling with a mental battle.
Now the crisis center is here to help.
“They can bring someone here, they can leave them with us, and we will take care of them from that point,” said Kathy Hoppe, the VP of Integrated Healthcare at PFH. “And they can get back out in the community and on the streets and serve in the other ways that we desperately need first responders to be serving.”
When a person is brought in, they’ll be greeted at the door and be screened to assure the safety of the client and the medical staff.
After that, they’ll get a medical screening.
Crisis center staff members will try to find a safe place for these people to go to.
“We need to get people in the right place as soon as possible or they end up in ERs, jails or prisons,” Hoppe added. “That doesn’t benefit anyone, and it’s really costly to taxpayers.”
Mental health experts have seen an uptick in cases since the Covid-19 pandemic.
There are a lot of stigmas associated with getting help.
Stacie Whitaker, the program director with PFH, wants all community members to understand that asking for help could save lives.
“There’s absolutely no shame in mental health,” Whitaker said. “We all have physical health, and we all have mental health. And there’s a lot of things that cause that via genetics and environmental stressors that we go through. We just want everyone to know that there is no shame in seeking assistance or seeking stabilization.”
One of the most intense scenarios for first responders is when they get called to a scene with a person who’s in a crisis.
KTVO asked Whitaker if they’ll have mental health experts go to these calls to help first responders.
She told us she’s very confident in the training Northeast Missouri officers and EMS personnel have received in recent years.
“The CIT training that most of our individuals in law enforcement and EMS have been through or going through teaches them de-escalation techniques and how to work with those individuals in the field,” Whitaker added. “Right now, generally, they’re able to do all of that in the field and then give us give us a call and say, ‘hey, we’re coming that way.’”
Right now, the Behavioral Health Crisis Center is at PFH’s facility on La Harpe Street.
It’s open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The facility is also open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the weekends.
Services are open only to adults right now.
The center hopes to eventually become a 24/7 facility that also serves the area’s youth.