Highlights from Your Comp Care Center:
Regional Community Mental Health, Behavioral Health and Developmental Services

March 2008

Our Mission: To build healthy communities by helping individuals and families who are affected by mental illness, developmental disabilities, addictions and abuse realize their potential.

Meeting our Mission

Persons with developmental disabilities who are on the brink of a psychiatric or behavioral crisis (or in a full-blown crisis) often begin their search for help at emergency rooms - where hospital staffs are ill-equipped and ill-prepared to manage such situations. Many may go to an inpatient treatment center or state hospital. Last year, SCS received a state grant to create a Crisis Prevention Program for persons with developmental disabilities. We believe that a crisis program focused on prevention and community-based services will reduce hospitalizations and the accompanying higher public costs. Since the program began last March, we've responded to 114 requests for service. Prevention and crisis intervention costs are running approximately $250 per person. By comparison, these are average per day costs for institutional treatment:

While the statistics reveal the clear cost-benefit of the new services, the numbers alone do not reveal the dedication of the team or the positive outcomes generated as a result of the team's intervention. Each crisis situation is unique; every response from the crisis team is person-centered.

A Successful Response

A recent example of crisis response involved “Michael”, a 22 year-old man and a recent high school graduate. Michael has a dual diagnosis of a mental illness along with moderate mental retardation. Our crisis team intervened after incidents of self-cutting resulted in multiple hospitalizations. The team found that Michael wanted to work and that he had a great affection for turtles. In fact, he would spend hours at the river observing them.

The crisis team helped find Michael a part-time job at a restaurant within walking distance of his home. Then, much to Michael's joy, they were able to help him land a volunteer position at the Louisville Zoo! On Michael's first day at the zoo, his supervisor introduced him to two large turtles that he will care for during his volunteer service. Upon leaving his shift, Michael confided to a crisis team staff member, “I pinky swear that I will never cut myself again.”

Michael now has a job, a greater sense of confidence, and a reduced chance of hospitalization - and he gets to play with turtles.

Representative Yarmuth Visits LANSAT Clubhouse

Staff and members of the LANSAT Clubhouse on Preston Highway were delighted to welcome U.S. Representative John Yarmuth in February (pictured with members and volunteers). The Clubhouse, which serves as the only setting in greater Louisville where youth in recovery from alcohol and drug addictions can socialize together and find positive peer support, is in jeopardy of closing unless new funding is secured.

Some thoughts that Representative Yarmuth shared with us after his visit:

“By providing a fun, free place for young people to recover from alcohol and drug problems, LANSAT gives positive alternatives to youth throughout our community by empowering them to overcome addiction and build healthy, productive lives. Adolescents who are lost, and often feel that crime is their only means of subsistence, find their way at the clubhouse and develop into responsible, contributing citizens in our community. As a result, the value of the Clubhouse cannot be overstated; it pays dividends all throughout Louisville.”

Seven Counties Services, Inc., a private, non-profit corporation, is the state-designated regional behavioral health center for Bullitt, Henry, Jefferson, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer, and Trimble counties of Kentucky. The mission of Seven Counties is to build healthy communities by helping individuals and families who are affected by mental illness, developmental disabilities, addictions and abuse realize their potential. Seven Counties is nationally recognized for its innovative and effective programming and fully accredited by the Joint Commission. The organization is the largest non-profit, non-hospital organization and one of the top forty employers in the Louisville metro area. More than 1,400 clinical and administrative staff members and 400 volunteers create and deliver quality services to approximately 32,000 persons each year. For more information, visit www.sevencounties.org.