CONTRIBUTED CONTENT — When you see a rock climbing wall, a full gym, a comfy bed and delicious food, you may not think of a psychiatric hospital, but that’s the safe space Vive Adolescent Care has created for local teens. With a goal to raise awareness and remove the stigma of mental health disorders, their dedicated team is working hard to help the youth of Washington County.
“I think a lot of parents have a stigma when they hear ‘psychiatric hospital,’” Marketing Director Carter Hogan said. “They come here, and it’s nothing like they pictured. Breaking the stigma around what a psychiatric hospital can be is what we’re doing.”
As a hospital, Vive Adolescent Care is helping the community by providing emergent inpatient stabilization for teens experiencing a mental health crisis. They also have the goal of educating parents and others who work with adolescents to see warning signs, which in turn will allow teens to receive help sooner.
In addition to emergent stabilization, Vive Adolescent Care also provides extended inpatient care by combining medical and therapeutic providers, case managers and recreational therapists for multiple levels of care tailored to each individual. Executive Administrator Danielle Squires said that means patients and their families no longer have to visit multiple places in order to receive the same combination of care.
While many parents think that a visit to the emergency room is the only option during a moment of crisis, Vive Adolescent Care wants the community to know they are not only an additional resource but a hospital themselves.
“People can come directly to us in a mental health crisis, and that’s something we want everyone to know,” Squires said. “We support and love the emergency room here, and we are really great partners, but you can also come directly to us for a place that also provides extended care.”
She said statistics show that after an emergency room visit related to suicidal ideation or a mental health crisis, the opportunity for the patient to follow through with suicide spikes up by about 300% because patients in crisis need more time, essentially pointing out the gap in treatment between the initial emergency room visit and the transfer to a long-term facility.
Vive Adolescent Care was started three years ago by a psychiatric provider, a licensed social worker and a professional marketer in hopes of bridging that treatment gap.
“They felt like there has to be something in between those two … a place where kids can stabilize and receive extended care in one continuous environment to then transition home in a safer way,” Squires said.
The average length of stay at Vive Adolescent Care is 21 days, and that stay includes the same provider and therapists who take them through various levels of stabilization. They also help safely transition teens back into the community. The full team includes psychiatric providers, licensed clinical social workers, therapists and recreational therapists, physical education coaches, activity directors and 24/7 nursing care.
While re-admission rates for the same level of care in other places average 49%, Squires said Vive Adolescent Care is sitting around 14%, and that’s something they are excited about.
“Our mission is to help them leave wanting to love living life again,” she added, “because a lot of them come in at their lowest of lows. Our whole staff has that underlining commitment, and I think that’s made a huge difference. The team working collaboratively and the relationships that are built in a short amount of time have really driven our outcomes.
“In fact, we just hit a major milestone of 1,000 kids helped here at Vive. There’s a lot of work to do moving forward, but it’s a great start.”
One thing that was important to Vive Adolescent Care’s founders was affordability for clients and their families. With that in mind, the program was built to be insurance-based. Over the last 12 months, the authorization rate for insurance providers has risen to 99%, something that greatly helps in making mental health care more affordable for families.
Those interested in learning about Vive Adolescent Care can fill out a free five-minute assessment online, call the facility directly or walk into the facility anytime, including during a time of mental health crisis.
Written by JESSI BANG for St. George News.
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Resources
- Vive Adolescent Care | Address: 120 W. 1470 South, St. George | Telephone: 435-703-6470 or 435-669-4106 | Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. | Website.
Mental health resources
If you or someone you know is in danger because of suicidal thoughts or actions, call 911 immediately. Suicide is an emergency that requires help by trained medical professionals and should always be treated seriously.
Nationwide suicide hotlines 988, 1-800-SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433) and 1-800-273-TALK (8255) have counselors available 24/7. The Southwest Behavioral Health Center also offers help for Southern Utah residents; call 800-574-6763 or 435-634-5600.
Other resources include Suicide.org, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the American Association of Suicidology. All provide comprehensive information and help on the issue of suicide, from prevention to treatment to coping with loss.
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