Highland Rivers Behavioral Health receives $750,000 grant to help prevent suicide in Cherokee, Pickens counties

Highland Rivers Behavioral HealthA three-year renewable grant for suicide prevention for veterans and their families in Cherokee and Pickens counties, which provides behavioral and mental health services to Cobb and other counties in Georgia, has released the following news.

CANTON, Georgia – September 28, 2022 – Highland Rivers Behavioral Health has been awarded a $750,000 grant to enhance suicide prevention efforts among veterans and their families in Cherokee and Pickens counties. Awarded by the Veterans Administration (VA), the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program (SSG Fox SPGP) at that rate is renewable for three years.

We know that suicide prevention is a community effort, a community priority, and we recognize that VA’s strong local partnerships — such as with Cherokee County’s Homeless Veterans Program — help us not only be more effective, but also more accessible. some of the most at-risk veterans in our community,” said Melanie Dallas, CEO of Highland Rivers Behavioral Health. “We can’t let veterans in our community die by suicide because they don’t have the resources and help they need.”

Highland Rivers Behavioral Health, along with Cherokee Veterans Mental Health Coalition partners — the Cherokee County Homeless Veterans Program, the Marietta Vet Center and the Military and Emergency Services Research Center at Kennesaw State University — are creating a coordinated and rapid response. For veterans in need in Cherokee and Pickens counties.

Through the SSG Fox SPGP Grant, the coalition will focus on developing an integrated support package for soldiers at risk of suicide by creating a multidisciplinary rapid response team that focuses on their behavioral health, housing, employment and other needs. This includes providing immediate community-based crisis support and transitioning veterans to lower levels of care once their emergency needs are met. Referrals can come from community partners and service providers, veterans and military organizations, family members, law enforcement, self-referrals, or emergency departments for rapid response. The grant provides funding for education and outreach activities, support services and welfare arrangements.

“We’ve been working with Dr. Matthew Miller, director of the VA’s Suicide Prevention Program, for the past year to address how more than 100,000 North Georgia veterans can access mental health and suicide prevention programs,” said Jim Lindenmayer. Director of the Cherokee County Homeless Veteran Program. “Sgt. Fox Grant’s team approach with targeted clinical excellence and veteran community support will allow us to better serve our community and local veterans.”

The need for community-based mental health services and resources in Georgia has received increasing support from the Georgia General Assembly, which passed two key mental health bills earlier this year – one focused on community response programs and another for mental health insurance equity services in the state; The latter passed both chambers unanimously. Loans from the General Assembly to the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities provided more than $164,000 in services to uninsured or underinsured veterans in Highland Rivers in fiscal year 2022 (July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022).

“This is a game changer for the north metro area,” said Georgia Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, MD, who serves on both the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and the Veterans, Military, and Homeland Security Committee, and the Veterans, Military, and Homeland Security Committee, and whose districts include parts of the state. He said. “I have no doubt that due to the commitment and leadership of the individuals involved in this effort, there will be measurable success in the near future,” Cherokee County said.

Highland Rivers Behavioral Health is one of two agencies in Georgia to receive a grant from the SSG Fox Grant Program. Another is the Georgia Department of Veterans Services, which is partnering with Highland Rivers to develop community-based veteran suicide prevention best practices that can be implemented across the state.

“We look forward to partnering with Highland Rivers to reduce veteran suicides in Cherokee and Pickens counties and across Georgia,” said Georgia Department of Veterans Services Commissioner Trish Ross. asks.”