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JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – A new walk-in mental health crisis center in downtown Johnstown may be the first peer-support-driven center in the state, co-founder Dr. Larry Nulton said.
The REACH Crisis Walk-in Center will open Nov. 1 in the Central Park Complex building, 110 Franklin St., as a joint project of Nulton Diagnostic & Treatment Center and the Breaking the Barriers nonprofit. It is funded by Behavioral Health of Cambria County.
“This has been a long time coming,” Nulton said on Wednesday during a preview open house.
He said the drop-in center began with a request from Tracy Selak, Cambria County behavioral health/intellectual disabilities/early intervention administrator.
Tanya Kvarta, executive director at Behavioral Health of Cambria County, said that agencies involved with mental health services came forward to help develop the walk-in center and its program.
“This was a labor of love,” Kvarta said. “It took a lot of time and energy, but we did it for you; we did it for the community.”
‘Provide whatever services they need’
Breaking the Barriers CEO Paula Miller said the center, which will operate from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, will provide an option to help those in crisis de-escalate and be connected with therapy or other resources to help continue daily living.
Anyone facing a crisis can come to the center or have police bring them to the center, where they will receive a psychological assessment and meet with a peer support specialist.
“They will provide whatever services they need to get them where they are at,” Miller said.
Jenn Town, a peer support specialist, said that she and her colleagues are trained, but that life experience is at the heart of the service.
“You have to have a mental health diagnosis to become a peer support specialist,” she said. “We are someone to talk to who is very empathetic. At some point in our lives, we were just like them.”
Town has worked with the county’s mobile crisis team, operated by Breaking the Barriers. The team provides assistance to police when they encounter a person in crisis.
“Everybody reacts differently when they are in crisis,” Town said. “Some people are very frantic; some get angry.”
Others may become suicidal or violent to the point of being homicidal, she added, admitting that the situations can be scary at times.
“My job is to remain calm,” Town said. “If you stay calm, usually they calm down.”
Currently, when someone is having a mental health crisis, they either go to the emergency room or encounter police, who bring in the crisis team to help get the person to the hospital.
“We want to get them before they’re escalating,” Town said.
Cambria County President Commissioner Thomas Chernisky said the REACH Crisis Walk-in Center provides a better alternative.
“If we can get a person one day of intervention, they can avoid three days in the hospital,” he said during the program.”
A second drop-in center is being planned for a location north of Ebensburg, Chernisky added.
Center Director Brandy Castel, of Nulton Diagnostic & Treatment Center, said that those coming to the center will be connected with urgent care, medical management, outpatient therapy, peer support or other resources to help. Nulton will be offering group therapy at the center.
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