Adult & Child Health’s southside Indianapolis clinic, located just north of the Johnson County line, will be the site of its new behavioral health crisis center. RYAN TRARES | DAILY JOURNAL
Indiana residents are in crisis.
The number of Hoosiers struggling with mental and behavioral health issues has skyrocketed. More than 264,000 adults in Indiana live with a serious mental illness, according to the National Alliance on Mental Health.
Nearly 1,080 lives were lost to suicide last year in the state, and 262,000 adults had thoughts of suicide in the last year. Drug overdose death rates have increased in Indiana from 15.3 deaths per 100,000 people in 2011 to 43 per 100,000 in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
For those in the most dire of circumstances, often their only immediate hope is the emergency room. They can end up in jail if the situation is serious enough.
“It just becomes this cycle, and then those individuals don’t get treatment,” said Lauran Canady, vice president of integrated health for Adult & Child Health.
But people will soon have a better option to treat the most serious of behavioral health problems. Adult & Child Health has announced the creation of a behavioral health crisis center on the southside of Indianapolis, just across the Johnson County line. This crisis stabilization program offers adults experiencing a mental crisis with a safe, comfortable, monitored care environment.
At the same time, they will have access to a variety of mental health, addictions and primary care services, including an on-site behavioral health prescriber.
“What it does is allow an in-between level of care between an outpatient clinic and emergency room or in-patient service,” said Dr. Christine Negendank, chief medical officer for Adult & Child. “For those people who are currently having a mental health crisis, there is no where to go other than the (emergency room). This will allow people to be diverted from the ER; these are people who don’t necessarily need that level of care, but they need something greater than what they have.”
Adult & Child has been a leading provider of behavioral health services in central Indiana since it was founded in 1949. The organization provides a wide array of services, from primary care to case management to therapeutic foster care services to homeless outreach.
With offices all over the region, including in Franklin, Whiteland and southside Indianapolis, Adult & Child has become a primary source for behavioral health care in seven Indiana counties.
The need for a crisis center has become very clear to Adult & Child.
Indiana health officials have focused on implementing community behavioral health center services certified by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, a federal agency focused on advancing behavioral health in the United States. This model of care places crisis centers in the community in a prominent role assuring individuals have timely access to services when urgent needs arise.
In that effort, Adult & Child Health was chosen by the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addictions as one of eight Indiana Community mental health centers to serve as a pilot site.
“Our hope is that this is a game-changer for those who need a safe, calming place to go, that will keep them out of the cycle of escalation into the ER, escalation to the point where the community doesn’t recognize what’s going on and they end up in the custody of law enforcement,” Canady said. “We’re excited to be ground-breakers in this.”
The behavioral health crisis center is being funded through a $500,000 Vitality Grant received from Mental Health America of Indiana.
Services will be available to immediate walk-ins, persons brought by family or friends, and those referred by healthcare providers, mobile crisis teams, and/or law enforcement officers, who are often first on the scene when a mental health crisis occurs. The center will be open during evenings and weekends when care is often needed most.
Historically, hospital emergency rooms have been the only available option for those experiencing a mental health crisis during those times.
“When you think of a behavioral health crisis, it can be a confusing topic to navigate. When you have a family member who’s in crisis, that’s not a great time to do the research, so people end up in the emergency room,” said Laura Barrett, director of behavioral health for Adult & Child. “Emergency rooms are wonderful resources, but not the best environment for someone in a behavioral health crisis.”
Organizers are taking a “living room” approach to the crisis center, where people who arrive will receive individualized support and services from a peer recovery specialist, a masters-level therapist and an advanced practice registered nurse, who can provide prescriptions for medications if needed.
“We want to make sure we have a place that’s available in the evenings, on weekends. Crisis doesn’t stop just because business hours are closed. We want to make sure we have an alternative place to go other than the ER that’s in that unique time frame,” said Alannah Rosenbalm, mobile crisis team leader for Adult & Child.
Patients will then have access to the scope of Adult & Child’s services, including after care — ensuring the person is taken care of even after discharge.
“That’s one of our big pieces that we’ll able to provide, because we have the time and the staff there to figure out — what does this person need as a next step?” Negendank said. “With our staff having that knowledge of not only the different types if mental health crises, but the resources available, we can connect them and follow-up to make sure that person made it to that appointment afterward.”
Adult & Child is reconfiguring its southside Indianapolis office to serve as the location. The hope is to open the center in March.
“It’s kind of a safety net between outpatient and inpatient to make sure the level of care is provided in that interim,” Barrett said. “Our medical systems have done an excellent job of offering different levels of acuity, but the behavioral health system hasn’t matched those levels of acuity — it’s just been outpatient and inpatient. This is a segway between that.”
AT A GLANCE
Behavioral Health Crisis Center
What: A crisis stabilization program will provide adults experiencing a mental crisis with a safe, comfortable, monitored care environment, and access to an array of mental health, addictions, and primary care services, including an on-site behavioral health prescriber.
Where: 8320 Madison Avenue, Indianapolis
When: Opens in March 2024
How: The center is being funded through a $500,000 Vitality Grant received from Mental Health America of Indiana.
Information: adultandchild.org
