Parents who bring their children to the emergency room of a local hospital when a mental health crisis occurs have often been burdened with long waits for clinical evaluations.
A new community-based partnership has formed to shine a light on the issue of mental illness. As a result, families are finding some relief from the tension they experience during times of crisis.
The Shine Initiative is a project of Fidelity Bank, which is raising awareness of mental health issues and funds to address some of those issues. The United Way of North Central Massachusetts has also made a major contribution of funds to help Community Healthlink, Inc. establish a “Family Crisis Support Service.”
Since last winter individuals trained by Community Healthlink, Inc. have been on-call to meet families in the emergency room of HealthAlliance Hospital, Leominster, when a son or daughter is brought there for evaluation and referral. With nearly 450 emergency mental health cases involving 5 to 18 year-olds during 2005, the Family Crisis Support Service addresses a dire need in Central Massachusetts.
Since March, 65 children and teens and their families have been assisted by the Family Crisis Support worker during emergency mental health visits at HealthAlliance Hospital.
The crisis support workers provide parents with an explanation of the process, resources available to the chid and family, and general support such as watching a child while the parent arranges child care for other children in the family. A grant from The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts’ Activation Fund funded the cost of recruiting and training the crisis support workers. |
