CARMEL – The United States is facing a behavioral health crisis and Putnam County is not immune.
At Wednesday’s meeting of the county Legislature’s Health, Social, Educational and Environmental Committee meeting, Commissioner of Social Services and Mental Health Sara Servadio was joined by County Executive Kevin Byrne in announcing a location for a crisis stabilization center where those in mental hygiene crisi0s, be it substance abuse or mental health, can voluntarily visit at a “welcoming, warm one-stop shop” served by trained staff consisting of nurses, social workers and peer advocates.
The center will be located at 1071 Stoneleigh Avenue in Carmel.
The center will provide whole health assessments in addition to motivational interviewing and de-escalation.
Peer support will be offered as will crisis counseling, person-centered care planning, health and wellness education, direct connections to outside services, follow-up to ensure quality outcomes, mobile outreach and care management.
The benefits of such a program for Putnam County were also outlined: Significant reduced preventable hospital ER visits, inpatient admissions and re-admissions; reduction in preventable criminal justice involvement; reductions in overall healthcare spending while creating what Servadio called a “welcoming gateway to Putnam County’s broader health and human services system.”
Servadio said increasing rates of mental health issues, the opioid epidemic, crisis, social isolation, economic stress, housing instability, suicide and the trauma created by lives lost due to COVID had placed a tremendous burden on the department.
“America’s mental and behavioral health care system was falling behind. Hospitals have become over utilized while jails have become treatment centers. Healthcare costs keep rising and people are not receiving the type of quality care they need and want,” Servadio said.
Last year in the midst of the nationwide behavioral health crisis efforts to create a stabilization center were stalled when plans fell through to create the center at Putnam Hospital Center and later on in an office located in a strip mall off Route 6 and Drewville Road in Brewster.
Servadio told the lawmakers, “After the Southeast location did not work out, we immediately began seeking a new space in the county which was not easy to do. The Stoneleigh Avenue building was located which is a perfect scenario.”
No date was set as to when the new center will open.
