A Lasting Hope: Nebraska Continues to Move Forward on the Path to Mental Health Transformation

This year consumers, family members, and various professionals who touch the lives of individuals with mental illness will have a new hope of recovery. The Lasting Hope Recovery Center is scheduled to open in November of 2007. Located in the former Richard Young Hospital, Lasting Hope Recovery Center will primarily serve residents of Douglas, Sarpy, Cass, Dodge and Washington Counties but is available to residents across Nebraska.

The Center will bring together a number of behavioral health services and serve as a referral point for many more. Since the passage of the Behavioral Health Reform Act (LB1083) in 2004, individuals and organizations throughout the state have worked to provide a seamless array of services for individuals and family members affected by mental illness, a system focused on recovery. The Lasting Hope Recovery Center is just that.

Recovery, as defined by President Bush’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, is the process by which people are able to live, work, learn, and participate fully in their communities. Through the new
Center individuals will be welcomed into recovery at their stage of readiness. Various levels of care will be available including Crisis Assessment and Triage, Intensive Care, Acute Care and Sub-Acute Care. The treatment model will be co-occurring capable, meaning that patients with both a mental illness and a substance abuse diagnosis will have both needs addressed in treatment.

The Lasting Hope Recovery Center will also provide education and research opportunities for behavioral health professionals and provide a base for consultations over a “telehealth” network that links sites across the state. Law enforcement officers will be able to take individuals experiencing a mental health crisis to the Center where they will have access to services specific to their needs.

Other services being considered for the facility include emergency community support, through which Salvation Army staff would follow-up with consumers as they return to their community; urgent outpatient care, through which Lutheran Family Services would provide referrals for immediate, short-term access to mental health professionals; and peer support, through which people who don’t meet admission criteria could come into a relaxed, living-room-like area and meet with well trained peers.

Recovery from mental illness is a real possibility. The Kim Foundation congratulates the Lasting Hope Recovery Center for their efforts in transforming mental health care in our community and across the state.