Your Hope Center’s community stabilization program continues to grow

Two years ago, Your Hope Center created its community stabilization program to address a gap in local mental and behavioral health services.

“It really came out of a need for stabilization for people,” said Dr. Teresa Haynes, Your Hope Center’s clinical director.

Haynes, in collaboration with the Your Hope Center’s community partners, developed and implemented the program in November 2021.

One of these partners was Vail Health Behavioral Health, which gave the nonprofit the initial funding to pilot the program two years ago, said Carrie Benway, Your Hope Center’s executive director.

Now, the state’s Behavioral Health Administration is funding the program — something Benway said is only possible because it was able to prove to the state that it was already serving individuals with the program.

Support Local Journalism

Donate

Through this partnership, the nonprofit was also able to open a new location for its community stabilization program in Vail Health’s Edwards Community Health Campus. By offering this support in a central location that is near other local mental and behavioral health supports, the organization can decrease barriers and increase access to serving people, Haynes said.

The community stabilization program is now one of three service pillars that the nonprofit provides in Eagle County free of charge. The other two services are its mobile crisis co-response program and school-based services.

Since 2021, the community stabilization program has continued to grow to meet the needs of Eagle County. The program started with Haynes, one clinician and one crisis manager. Today, it is comprised of Haynes, two case managers, two full-time clinicians, a program manager, a doctoral intern and a postdoctoral fellow.

The program has led to a decrease in the need to write M-1 holds and transport individuals in crisis out of the community, an increase in stabilization and an increase in immediate access to wraparound care, Haynes said.

How it works

The program serves as a middle or stepping ground for community members in various stages of mental health crisis, providing them an alternative to being placed on an M-1 hold and transported out of the community to inpatient and psychiatric hospitals.

M-1 holds, while sometimes necessary, are “not always ideal,” Haynes said.

“It can be a traumatic experience. It can be a very costly experience in our community. Right now, when we place someone on a 72-hour hold they are transported out of our county two to three hours away. There’s just a lot of challenges that come with that.”

The community stabilization program provides another option, one that is closer to home.

“It gives our team and the community a lot more options versus just going to a hold, sending someone out of the community when they’re high risk,” Haynes said. “Research tells us that if possible, it’s best to support people and stabilize them in their homes, in their community, with their natural supports.”

It can also work inversely, providing care to individuals following a hold or inpatient care.

“We know that the time after hospitalization for individuals is a very vulnerable, high-risk time. So we can help wraparound immediate care once a person is discharged,” Haynes said.

Plus, given the high demand for outpatient services in Eagle County, it provides an intermediate option when someone is not necessarily stable enough to wait three weeks for an appointment.

“We’ve come a long way with increasing resources, and it’s still not always easy to get an immediate appointment with an outpatient provider,” Haynes said. “That’s where kind of the community stabilization program comes in, is that with that program, we can wrap around immediate support to provide short-term stabilization until an outpatient appointment can be made.”

Make staying informed the easiest part of your day.

Sign up for daily or weekly newsletters at VailDaily.com/newsletter

Stabilization means different things for different people. As such, while Your Hope Center has a set protocol for dealing with mental health crises, the community stabilization program leaves room for individualizing as well, Haynes said.

Once an individual is placed in the program, the case managers are tasked with assessing that person’s social determinants of health, identifying what other community resources are needed to address their needs in addition to connecting them with outpatient care.

“It’s really looking at that person as a human being and what is it about their life, their condition, their medical condition, their socioeconomic status, their housing status, their moods, their family history? What are all the things that could be going into that person to create instability?” Haynes said.

The goal of the program thus is figuring out: “How do we all work together, not only us but with other partners in our community, to address some of those things, to increase hope, to increase their desire to live?” she added.

Group support

Looking forward, the hope for the program is to continue providing this care as well as “continue to be flexible so that we can adapt as needed to meet the needs of the community,” Haynes said.

Part of this includes a new service within its community stabilization that the nonprofit is currently launching: group support.

Starting in the New Year, Your Hope Center is starting several group options: A SUD group to support individuals struggling with a substance use disorder; a DBT group to help provide individuals with skills to increase stabilization; a life skills group to provide day-to-day skills to individuals living with chronic, persistent mental illness; and a family group to support family caregivers supporting their loved ones.

The goal of these groups is two-fold. First, it extends the amount of support Your Hope Center can provide and second, it’s an “effective format to bring people together with some of those common struggles,” Haynes said.

Having the reassurance that you’re not alone is critical, Benway added.

“Whether you’re struggling with substance abuse, whether the family member that you love so much is struggling, being in that group, you’re like, ‘Wow, I’m not isolated, I’m not in a silo by myself. There are other people just like me.'”

If you are struggling or having thoughts of suicide, Your Hope Center’s crisis support line can be reached 24/7 at 970-306-4673.