Service Groups and Faith Alliance
9/23/24
In attendance: Noelle Marino, St Andrew; Katie Forunato, St Andrew; Jillian Bohinc, St Andrew; Phil Welch, Housing Advisory Board; Ginger Bradley, Just Serve; George Bradley, Just Serve; Derwin Warren, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity; Danica Coleman, Apex PD; Danny Berrer, Apex UMC; Boudewin “BP” Hanrath, Jordan Lutheran Church; Mike Merker, Jordan Lutheran Church; Jimmy Torres, Town of Apex; Michael Noel, Cornerstone Fellowship Church; Crystal Byrd, Apex PD; Cyndi Aragon, Shield NC; Karen Morant, Wake Co Health & Human Services; Kenneth Ragland, Apex PD; Niki Miller, Shield NC; Alexis Christein, Sheild NC; Victoria Carter, Apex PD; Michele Chassner, Kids Peace; Deputy Chief Trevor Materasso, Apex PD
Speaker: Michele Chassner – Customer Relations Liaison of KidsPeace, 516-819-4323, michele.chassner@kidspeace.org
The meeting opened with everyone introducing themselves and their organization/church/position and answering any questions about their organizations.
The speaker introduced herself and described the mission of KidsPeace as serving behavioral and mental health needs of children, family, and communities. One of the ways KidsPeace is expanding to better serve the Wake County community is through The Hope Center for Youth and Family Crisis. Partnering with Alliance Health, KidsPeace opened a Behavioral Health Urgent Care (BHUC) and Facility Based Crisis (FBC) center in Fuquay-Varina. The Hope Center offers timely, specialized care to youths experiencing psychiatric crisis. There is no Involuntary Commitment at the Hope Center. If IVC is necessary, they can start the process and refer to an approved IVC facility.
Michelle gave a presentation on the three-pronged services provided by The Hope Center: Mobile Outreach Response Engagement and Stabilization (MORES), Behavioral Health Urgent Care (BHUC), and Facility Based Crisis (FBC). The MORES team is composed of trained crisis responders that goes to meet families where they are to address immediate psychiatric, developmental, and behavioral crises while also connecting families to case management and referrals for ongoing care. BHUC acts as an alternative to a hospital emergency department for youth seeking urgent behavioral or mental healthcare services. Patients receive the same physician contact they would in a hospital emergency department but are connected to behavioral health specialists. Patients are allowed to stay at the BHUC for 23 hours and 59 minutes. FBC is a 16-bed mental and behavioral health inpatient crisis service that provides a staff-secure, therapeutic setting that allows for patient stabilization. If your organization would like additional information on resources for distribution, contact Michelle at the email address above.