Youngsters with extreme psychological well being or drug points can keep away from psychiatric emergency rooms or hospitalization underneath a brand new Nassau program that brings providers into their properties and colleges.
The Youth Assertive Group Remedy program goals to scale back the trauma younger individuals can expertise with ER visits or stays in psychiatric hospitals, stated Jeffrey Friedman, CEO of the nonprofit Central Nassau Steerage & Counseling Providers in Hicksville, which runs the trouble.
The round the clock program is offered to individuals ages 10 to 21, and comes as psychological well being points together with despair, anxiousness and suicide are rising amongst that age group, partly as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, he stated.
The brand new strategy “will save lives not solely by stopping suicides and drug overdoses, however it is going to ship the very best doable normal of care to younger individuals,” Friedman stated.
The thought is to offer intensive providers for younger individuals with essentially the most extreme psychological well being points and whose issues haven’t been resolved by visits to psychiatric emergency rooms or stays in hospitals or residential packages, in response to Friedman.
Some younger individuals who have by no means been to these services can even qualify, he stated.
Psychiatrists, licensed psychological well being therapists, case managers and peer advocates will meet with the younger individuals and their households of their properties, colleges or different areas, together with social providers and legal justice system buildings, Friedman stated.
“It’s very traumatizing to be pulled out of your house” and “within the midst of a disaster to be in a wierd setting that may be very sterile,” he stated. “To have strangers ask you questions and probe you and medicate you.”
He added {that a} lack of beds for teens in psychiatric hospitals on Lengthy Island means many are despatched out of state.
“It will probably break up a household, particularly if the kid has to go away for lengthy durations of time they usually’re there alone,” he stated. “Our aim is to maintain the kids in the neighborhood, to maintain them intact with their household.”
This system is funded by about $1.5 million from the New York State Workplace of Psychological Well being, in addition to different public funds, he stated.
Suffolk County began the state’s first such program final April, and they’re spreading round New York, officers stated.
On the Amityville-based nonprofit Hope for Youth, this system has been acquired “very favorably,” stated Paul Hirsch, who heads the group’s youth ACT staff.
“The youngsters admire the immediacy with which we are able to attempt to resolve points,” he stated.
This system provides another for younger individuals who haven’t seen success with conventional approaches, Hirsch stated. Discuss remedy classes, for example, as an alternative of going down in an workplace might occur in properties and even as a consumer and therapist stroll round a mall.
The Suffolk program has assisted 24 younger individuals thus far, and because it ramps up has a capability to assist 36 at a time.
The Nassau program has a capability to assist 48 younger individuals at a time, Friedman stated.
In Nassau, households can contact Friedman’s group at 516-822-6111 to get related. In Suffolk, the quantity for the SPOA (Single Level of Contact) that handles the circumstances is 631-853-8513.
Psychological well being officers stated that if younger individuals are in instant hazard of committing extreme hurt to themselves or others, or having suicidal ideations, they need to name 911 or be taken to an emergency room. The brand new nationwide suicide hotline is 988.
