BROOKINGS – Mental health is a hot topic in the political arena, but for some families, it’s an ongoing ordeal that’s made worse by the unavailability of treatment options.
Craig Pahl, chair of the Brookings Empowerment Project and president of its board, wants to reverse the trend of sending young people with mental health issues out of the community by establishing a house in Brookings for them to live in, both for their best interest and that of their families.
There’s two things he’d like the public to understand about this endeavor.
“First off, it’s a pilot (project),” he said. “And we’re going to learn an awful lot about this stuff.
“The No. 2 thing is to really understand the difficulties of challenged individuals in our community in getting and obtaining and keeping housing of some kind,” he said.
“Mental illness is so wide and so varied, from depression to schizophrenia, from PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) for veterans to PTSD for non-veterans, from bipolar, and the terms are changing,” Pahl said of the difficulty in keeping up.
BEP grew out of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) organization about 2009 to look at long-term care and patient care. It has three main focuses: education, crisis management, and housing.
Pahl and other local parents were having a real problem finding housing options for their adult children who were coming out of in-patient treatment centers like the Human Services Center in Yankton or Avera Behavioral Center in Sioux Falls. It’s a big leap for the patients to go from a center, where many things are regulated by someone else, to living all on their own.
“They need some way to transition back into our community,” Pahl said.
Programs do exist, but they are elsewhere – one BEP member’s adult child is in transitional housing in Huron. It’s a good place, Pahl said, but it’s not in the Brookings community, and it’s a hardship for her parents to visit.
Pahl’s two children both have mental health issues, and one lives in Florida – “not an easy drive,” he said.
“So by default, we’re shipping people out and they aren’t getting into our community, they’re getting into other communities,” Pahl said.
The parents would like options where they can drive minutes to visit their child, instead of hours.
So, they created a pilot program for Brookings. They plan to sign a lease by April for a building that they would sub-lease to a maximum of six women in a dorm-like setting for as long as 12 months. The residents would live on their own with no staff, but would have services provided from various agencies, as determined by their case manager with East Central Behavioral Health.
The residents will all be able to take care of themselves, and only those with non-violent, non-criminal behavior will be accepted. They would be referred from Avera in Sioux Falls or Human Services in Yankton.
The plan is for the residents to get help from service organizations such as Independent Living Choices, Social Services, VoRehab, Inter-Lakes Community Action Partnership, NAMI, churches, therapy, and other appropriate services, so they can learn the skills to adjust to life on their own while still surrounded by people until they are ready to move on from the BEP house.
Pahl believes all the services needed are already in the community; they just lack coordination of services. BEP members think East Central Behavioral Health can provide that coordination and get them all working together for the benefit of the clients who need them.
Residents at the house would have to have an exit plan, either for them to transition back into living on their own, or if they can’t acquire those skills in 12 months, somewhere else for them to go.
“Our model is totally unique; we’ve never found anything like it in the country,” Pahl said.
They are in negotiations for a house, but they need Memorandums of Understanding from the agencies they want to work with, and they need to raise the money to pay for it.
“If we don’t have those, we can’t go forward. We’re just not going to attempt to build it and expect them to come,” Pahl said.
BEP is estimating it needs $35,000 to get started. It is partially funded through the United Way, and MetaBank is donating office space. They are asking for financial help from the city, county and state – Pahl and others made a presentation to the Brookings City Council last month – and for private donations, which can be made through the website at empowerbrookings.org or mail checks made out to Brookings Empowerment Project; c/o MetaBank; 600 Main Ave.; Brookings, SD 57006.
That amount is a lot of money, Pahl admits, but it pales in comparison to other costs.
“If I can stop one relapse – in other words, going back to Yankton for another stay – that pays for everything for a year on this pilot (house). It’s that expensive. Because if they have a relapse, they go back for a month or they go back for a couple of months. It’s just a lot of money,” Pahl said.
Aside from educating people about mental health and BEP’s attempt to set up this transitional housing, Pahl wants people to know that BEP is there to help.
There is a monthly support group for caregivers of those with mental health issues on the third Sunday of every month from 6-7:30 p.m. at Faith Reformed Church, 1330 Main Ave. S. in Brookings. The structured support group has four facilitators, all nationally NAMI-certified.
One of the most difficult parts for him and his wife of being parents of adult children with mental health issues is what Pahl calls “the grieving and loss process,” the giving up of your expectations for your child. He doesn’t expect to walk his daughter down the aisle, or that they will ever have grandchildren.
It can be difficult to hear friends speak about their children reaching those milestones.
“It’s tough. And sometimes, you just don’t even want to have that conversation, so you don’t show up (at gatherings with friends),” he said. “That’s why this support group is such a wonderful thing. They’re on a journey with you.”
Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.
