New crisis center in Papillion aimed at keeping people out of jail, hospitals
PAPILLION, Neb. (WOWT) - The Crisis Stabilization and Resource Center opened Aug. 1 in Papillion.
Heartland Family Service runs the facility.
It serves five counties, including Sarpy and Douglas, and cares for people they said have been pushed toward the edge.
“They’re struggling with being alone, they’re struggling managing their emotions,” said director Jenny Stewart. “They’re having those passive suicidal thoughts and they don’t have anybody there to help monitor or help keep them safe. This gives them the option to be around someone and to get that support that they’re craving.”
Sarpy County Administrator Bonnie Moore said people experiencing mental health crises who don’t receive proper treatment are more likely to have encounters with law enforcement.
They hope this facility will help keep more of them out of the criminal justice system.
Heartland Family Service said it will also help keep them from going into inpatient hospital care.
“People don’t always qualify for inpatient hospitalization,” Stewart said. “What they really needed was a place to go to feel safe, to be around people, to help them refocus on their coping skills, their self care, and really get them back to their baseline of functioning.”
One of its services is mental health triage, where someone can stay for a day.
“Really work through their emotional dysregulation, talk to a navigator, focus on their coping skills and self-care, and be able to, hopefully, self-regulate and return back to the community,” Stewart said.
They can also work with a case manager after they’re released.
Stewart told 6 News Region 6 Behavioral Healthcare awarded more than $3 million in state funds to get the facility where it is today. She said when they get enough to remodel the building, they’ll add a medication management service and around 15 residential beds.
“Those residential beds will give them the option to stay for three to five days where they will meet with a therapist every day. There will be a psychiatric practitioner on staff, a nurse on staff, and some of those beds will also allow them to stay up to 30 days for mental health respite, if needed.”
Right now, they’re only taking patients who law enforcement or crisis response teams refer. Before opening the crisis center’s assistance to the wider public, Heartland Family Service said it wants to see how much it fills up from first responders referring people.
Copyright 2024 WOWT. All rights reserved.
