Youth in crisis to have a new alternative from Family & Children’s Services
An initiative designed to reduce long-term residential placements for children facing a mental health crisis has resulted in a $250,000 grant to the Kalamazoo Community Foundation for the opening of a new residential alternative offered by Family & Children Services.
An initiative designed to reduce long-term residential placements for children facing a mental health crisis has resulted in a $250,000 grant to the Kalamazoo Community Foundation for the opening of a new residential alternative offered by Family & Children Services.
The grant will also support Family & Children Services’ Children’s Trauma Treatment program for children in foster care.
Kalamazoo Community Foundation is one of 29 community foundations in Michigan to receive a Michigan Health Endowment Fund (MHEF) grant during the 2015/2016 funding cycle.
Funding will support two, six-bedroom facilities on Family & Children Services’ campus at 1608 Lake Street where children will receive temporary, overnight care. Psychiatric evaluation, nursing care, and coordination of community-based treatments will be available for those from across an eight-county region.
“Families whose child or teen is suffering a mental health crisis will now have a continuum of care from immediate crisis response, through the Mobile Crisis Response program, to short-term crisis residential support focused on stabilization – close to home,” says Rosemary Gardiner, CEO of Family & Children Services.
Gardiner says the new residential option is something that has been needed for some time. “Our human services and medical partners have needed this resource for many years. They encouraged Family & Children Services to step forward and create a local crisis residential solution. Children and youth with more acute needs simply do better in a smaller, home-like setting that can provide psychiatric evaluation, nursing care, and an individualized program for stabilization.”
Carrie Pickett-Erway, president/CEO of the Community Foundation, says, “This is a powerful example of collaboration toward a common goal, with creative alignment among state, community foundation and local nonprofit agency resources.”
Source: Kalamazoo Community Foundation
Related Articles
Fewer options, fuller ERs: The behavioral health fallout of Medicaid cuts
MHA advocates for state funding that preserves behavioral health care and keeps rural hospitals open.
Kalamazoo Cookie Exchange to celebrate Women’s History Month and support Black women-owned businesses
Community members will gather March 28 at Urban Exposure Garden for the Kalamazoo Cookie Exchange, a Women’s History Month event celebrating baking, neighborhood connection and three Black women-owned local businesses.
Battle Creek turns housing into a benefit for early childhood educators
A new initiative in Battle Creek will provide rent-free housing and a pathway to homeownership for early childhood educators, aiming to boost compensation, stabilize the workforce, and address the financial challenges facing one of the lowest-paid professions.
