Highland Rivers now offering Home Again program for mental health treatment in Calhoun
With a history of serving Northwest Georgia by providing comprehensive mental health treatment and support for adults, children and families, Highland Rivers Health has opened a facility in Calhoun to serve the needs of Gordon County and is currently accepting referrals for the Home Again program, a two-week treatment program to help families solve problems, overcome behavioral and mental health issues and stay together as a family unit.
According to Highland Rivers Health Community Relations Director Michael Mullet, the Home Again program is an intensive program to help those aged eight to 18, along with their families, to receive help for emotional crises, mental health and other behavioral health problems.
The goal is to intervene earlier during a family crisis to prevent events like hospitalizations, or foster case situations. Children who become unruly, such as yelling, swearing and hitting family members or pets; along with those who get in trouble at school, get bad grades, skip school or talk about hurting themselves are the aim of this program, along with families who deal with someone in the home that has addiction issues.
In the program, which is offered in addition to other behavioral treatments and therapies, families are taught how to solve problems. Children learn helpful ways to handle stress and other problems that cause them to act out. Parents, in turn, learn ways to work with their children to help them at home and school. Besides teaching families to solve problems in a positive way, Home Again will help family members recover from mental illness or addiction issues. Families will also learn where to get help with other things like food, housing, transportation, child care, utilities, school or other problems.
“Home Again doesn’t take the place of original behavioral treatment,” said Mullet, “What it does is give more intensive treatment to stabilizing families during a crisis.”
In the Home Again program, every person in the family seeking treatment receives a behavioral health assessment – every person receiving services is seen by a psychiatrist; receives crisis intervention, individual and group counseling for youth, separate individual and group counseling for parents, family counseling and parenting education.
Referrals are being accepted now, and anyone can refer a family to the program, including Division of Family and Children Services, a community member, a physician, a teacher, juvenile or truancy court or a behavioral health provider. The Home Again program has a quick referral process, according to Mullet. In some cases, families can often be seen the next day.
Mullet said students who are having problems with behavioral problems, extreme withdrawal signs and absence issues at school are a good fit for the program. “Someone with the school would talk to the child’s parent, offer the service and get their permission to refer the child to Home Again,” said Mullet.
The program is intensive, lasting six hours per day, six days per week ( Monday - Saturday) for two weeks. The program is customized- to a family’s needs and preferences. Most services will be performed at the Home Again house, located at 419 North Wall Street in downtown Calhoun, but some services can be provided at home or at school.