State, regional and local officials gathered in Plattsburgh this week to celebrate the upcoming opening of one of the first Intensive Crisis Stabilization Centers in the state.
The Champlain Valley Family Center will lease space from MHAB, a residential recovery community on the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base. During an open house this week, Family Center Office Manager Maria Watson led a tour of the facility.
“Crisis centers they’re not out there and they’re needed," Watson asserted. "We’ll have resources available for anyone in crisis from children all the way up to adults. We accept everyone in here so if you’re struggling, mental health, substance abuse, having any type of issue at home you can come here and this is a safe space and we can get you to the resources you need.”
Director Ron “Buster” Garrow noted this is the second such facility in the state with a new concept for care and operating under a new set of regulations.
“The crisis center is a place where it is open 24/7, 365 days a year, staffed by trained professionals to deal with an individual who may be experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis. No referral needed. The doors are always open. There is medication available 24/7 meaning we have prescribers 24/7. So that’s different than your standard outpatient and it’s a little different than your typical longer-term inpatient. It’s supposed to fill a gap for 24 hours or less,” Garrow explained.
New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports provided some of the funding for the crisis center. OASAS Commissioner Dr. Chinazo Cunningham said while overdose deaths are down over 30 percent in the past year in New York, there is still a lot of harm reduction work to do to save lives.
“This work here with the Crisis Stabilization Center is a key way to improve access to services and to support people and community so we can prevent overdose deaths and we can improve people’s lives," Cunningham said. "OASAS along with the Office of Mental Health have provided $2.3 million in state funding to support the crisis stabilization centers. This work will address co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder, will reduce barriers and reduce stigma.”
Clinton County Director of Community Services Rachelle Gregory says this new intensive crisis center is a milestone In strengthening the network of care in the community.
“This center represents a crucial gap being filled. It’s a place where someone in crisis can walk in and be met with immediate trauma-informed support, no emergency waiting room, no police custody, no stigma, just care, just hope. But this is only the beginning. This center is a launching pad for our continued partnerships connecting individuals to long-term treatment, housing, peer-support and dignity of recovery," Gregory said. "Let us also remember that the success of this center will not be measured in the number of visits but the lives stabilized, the families reunited, the overdoses prevented and moments of clarity regained.”
United Way of the Adirondack Region CEO John Bernardi says the new facility highlights that when there is a crisis there is also opportunity
“It’s times of crisis and times of extreme emotional upset that often is the catalyst for change. It’s going to help people when they’re down and out and need that help desperately. But it’s also a platform, a springboard, for feeling better, for improving the quality of your life," Bernardi said.
Cunningham noted that potential federal funding cuts remain a key concern to continued crisis response.
“We need the support of the federal government to do this work. We receive money from the federal government so we can give money to you, to this community, to do this work.”
The crisis center will open by the end of September.
