PITTSBURG, Kan. — Children and teenagers in the area now can have more convenient mental health care at Crawford County Mental Health Center (CCMHC).
At the beginning of May, CCMHC was able to add Same Day Access to its Children’s Services location at 710 N. Broadway Street, Pittsburg. This service allows children in crisis to walk in with their family, enroll in services and meet with a therapist without being put on a wait list.
Walk-in assessments and referrals for new clients are accessible from 8 to 11 a.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.
“The whole idea is we want to reduce the number of hindrances or reduce any obstacles for kids to get services and families get services,” CCMHC Director of Children’s Services Bill Howell said.
The addition of Same-Day Access for Children was possible because of Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Stacey Bacon’s decision to shift her focus from adult care to pediatric psychiatric services.
“Having Stacey Bacon is so instrumental in providing that extra help and extra support for kids,” Howell said. “Not every kid needs medication management, but she'll assess and determine whether or not they do. And so now, families don't have to go to another place and or be on a long wait list.”
Howell said that because crises don’t come on a schedule, this Same-Day Access is important for families.
“When a family is in crisis, or children are going through a mental health crisis, I think the last thing a parent wants, and as a parent, I can certainly attest to that, is to put my name on a list and wait,” he said. “And it might be one of those things where I wait a little bit and that crisis may pass, but the root cause of that crisis hasn't, and it's really hard to address that when you know I have to wait a long time.”
CCMHC has recently expanded its staffing with added case managers and nurse practitioners. Howell said in the past several years the need for children’s mental health services has increased.
In the coming months, CCMHC plans to implement services specifically for children with an autism diagnosis and mental health diagnosis. The organization also is working on a 4-bed crisis stabilization unit. This will help kids stay in the community and reduce hospitalizations and residential stays, Howell said.
Children will be able to stay in the crisis stabilization unit for up to three days.
Most families that needed access to these services previously had to travel to Kansas City or other areas to get the help they needed.
“Transportation is a big obstacle for a lot of our families,” Howell said. “And us providing local resources eliminates that. We have a sliding fee scale. We take Medicaid and all those things. So, if finances are an obstacle, we can help with that as well. So, all these things, just being a local resource for families, so they don't have to travel from two or three different places or out of town, that I think is going to be a big impact.”
In addition to providing outpatient therapy, CCMHC Children’s Services offers a therapeutic preschool, case management both at home and in schools and a program called Challenger, which is an after-school and summer psychosocial group that addresses the behavioral and social challenges of children and teenagers. The organization also has Severe Emotional Disturbance (SED) Waiver services, which gives a more intensive level of care provided for children at risk of being removed from the home or hospitalized because of severe behaviors.
These are just a glimpse of the many services CCMHC provides for children. CCMHC has more than 500 children enrolled in its services.
“We see a lot more clients than we did just a few years ago,” Howell said, “and it just continues to grow.”
This reporting is made possible, in part, by the Support Local Journalism Project Fund. Learn more at: southeastkansas.org/Localnews
