Do They Have Mental Health Services In County Jail

How local mental health services span schools, jail, courts

April 8, 2022 Updated: April 11, 2022 ix:12 a.k.

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Karen Goodman, Chris Banicki
Courtesy photos

EDITOR'South NOTE: This is part three of a iii-part series looking at mental health in Manistee Canton court cases, how incidents impact residents, courts, police force and resources available in the area and in jail. Part three centers on the connections between handling in the area equally well as through the Manistee County Jail.

MANISTEE — From the Manistee County court organization to its jails and schools, mental health challenges are met with collaborations by leadership hoping to help people in means that are constantly morphing.

Challenges

Karen Goodman, Centra Wellness primary operating officer, has been in her career field for more than than thirty years.

Goodman said over the years, mental health care has improved but it is even so not the all-time.

She said looking from a organization-level view, "we all know the mental health arrangement does non work, but we haven't had the conversation of what would work."

Goodman said new mental health career field staff tend to have fewer years of job experience to pull from while trying to solve issues.

"Nosotros are losing a lot of our knowledge base," Goodman said. "A lot of that basic cognition of the by and where we've been and what we did and how we got through it is being depleted."

That is scary, she said.

She said the newer employees aren't as likely to stick around for twenty to 30 years in the career like their predecessors may take.

One other point that is an issue statewide and specially in the region is a lack of psychiatric beds and mental wellness intendance staff.

Goodman said another struggle is that at that place is currently a high level of national trauma being experienced during the pandemic with parents, teachers, students, health care workers and others, which leads to a high level of reactive, angry people.

That has also impacted staffing changes every bit workers leave their corresponding fields for other jobs instead.

To Goodman, at that place shouldn't be taboos nigh mental health topics and she says information technology should be only like going to see i'southward medical medico: accepted and encouraged.

One force these days that she noted is that medications are more effective than decades agone and are able to aid people manage certain conditions more than finer and reliably.

Withal while medications have improved, sometimes only taking medication is not enough to make a person better. That can be a procedure over time.

The whole person

Primal Wellness Network's mission is to serve people who have mental illness that is severe and persistent.

"The illness has to be enough that it is impairing their social skills, their community integration, their family. Those blazon of things starting time to pause down and so the illness builds to a signal where it tin can't be alleviated," Goodman said.

She noted that mental affliction can come in a diversity of levels.

For example, a person may have a low level of depression and they can run across their chief intendance md for medication. She said the md may advise therapy as well.

"In Manistee nosotros don't have a lot of private therapists providing outpatient therapy," she said, adding that it has been this way for "a long time."

Goodman also said there are a few private therapists but not enough in the surface area.

The cases that have more astringent illness go to Centra Wellness, she said.

But mental health impacts the person'southward life every bit a whole and information technology tin hit their concrete health, employment and other factors in their lives. And through Centra Wellness, they can take a holistic view to to help a person with things, noting whether they need therapy, unemployment applications or medical assist.

Centra Wellness has psychiatrists and nurse practitioners to aid people manage their medications, trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, example managers who tin can aid coordinate care and resources, nurses for health dwelling house supervision and peer support among other services.

Goodman noted that the Northwest Michigan Health Services facility is some other option in the area as it is prepare to open in Manistee this season.

The facility is located at 148 West. Parkdale. More than information on the facility tin be institute online at nmhsi.org/locations/manistee.

"They're the only other big organization that would provide behavioral health services like we do to all populations," Goodman said. "They're what'southward chosen a federally qualified health intendance. … Whoever needs behavioral health services, they'll be able to provide that."

Youth and adults

Mental health assistance tin can too take place in school systems. Centra Health works with the Manistee Intermediate School Commune to help students admission behavioral health therapists.

"We got therapists put together and put them into the school system so that they can have that kind of foundation to build on," Goodman said. "They are are currently providing some behavioral wellness services in the school for kids."

Some other aspect of mental wellness ties in with the court system, including the juvenile system.

"Between the schools, ourselves, law enforcement and the juvenile court we're constantly trying to put a internet effectually all the kids that we (can)," she said. "Sometimes it's the environment that they're living in is chaos, sometimes kids don't have homes (and) families that are burrow surfing."

Goodman pointed out that Centra Wellness sometimes works with youth services in Manistee Canton through the director of the Manistee and Benzie counties' 19th Circuit Courtroom's Youth Services, Cameron Clark.

"There are occasions where we may share a case where a kid may have such pregnant disease that they've been in our system and then they kind of got in the legal system. And so, we collaborate and piece of work together," Goodman said.

Goodman credited Clark with being innovative and focusing on handling or intervention.

"He'southward always making an effort to try to build something for the kids who have significant legal bug and take broken the law. He doesn't want them to sit down in that system — that'south the erstwhile way of doing it," she said. "He tries to provide some sort of treatment or supportive services."

Clark could not be reached for additional details on the juvenile court system and mental wellness topics past electronic mail or phone past Thursday afternoon.

Goodman also noted that adults may exist sent to Centra Wellness for services as well, and that is sometimes tied to addiction.

"People who have addictions, y'all take to e'er look for what else is going on," she said.

That means asking if the person may accept had underlying struggles like housing instability or mental illness before the addiction was formed.

She said anyone tin help someone they think is struggling in the area. She said the person will demand to exist able to tell their story which tin can be discouraging merely it is required.

"We try to encourage anybody to help somebody make that phone call," she said.

Centra Wellness can be reached by phone at 877-398-2013 and more information on its services can exist found online at centrawellness.org.

Manistee County Jail

One of the places in Manistee that relies on Centra Health' services is the Manistee County Jail.

Chris Banicki, Manistee County Jail ambassador, said a key benefit for the jail to have a clinician is that they are able to even out and accept away some of the stress and responsibilities from jail staff.

This is partly because the clinician specializes in recognizing disorders and mental wellness bug.

"When someone's going through a crisis ... that initial (incident, they may) lash out at staff or try to harm themselves," Banicki said.

Centra Wellness' jail services come in a variety of formats. The jail has a clinician who is at the jail on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The clinician is in Benzie Canton on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Banicki said the clinician does evaluations and diagnosis with things like depression, anxiety, relationship and family bug, drug and booze assessments, patient education, pre-booking and post-booking jail diversion and a list of other services.

"And our big fear is recognizing if nosotros take a suicidal person in our jail. We for certain don't desire to miss that," he said.

He pointed out that well-nigh inmates take some form of trauma in their lives and that having Centra Wellness in the jail helps inmates while helping jail staff.

Banicki said he values the shut relationship with Centra Wellness and the work it does in the jail. The jail also is partnered with Catholic Man Services that offers addiction help at the jail.

"Mental health has been a struggle and some jails don't have the services like we exercise," he said.