ALBANY — The state Office of Mental Health has awarded a five-year grant to provide Home-Based Crisis Intervention services to children/youth aged 5 to 20 years and their families/caregivers across Clinton, Essex, Franklin and Hamilton counties who are at risk of out-of-home placement due to behavioral health symptoms.

Community Connections of Franklin County, Families First in Essex County, Inc., NAMI: Champlain Valley, and Mountain Lake Services have formed a partnership to assist families/youth.

“Families with children/youth who are having trouble engaging with more traditional treatment for mental health or substance use concerns, who are struggling to address the needs of the child/youth and are considering or are using hospital emergency departments, hospital inpatient stays, or law enforcement involvement will now have another option” said Wyllie McGruder, HBCI program manager, Community Connections of Franklin County.

The HBCI program is designed to quickly address immediate safety concerns, connect to and help families engage with needed resources, and begin building communication, problem solving and alternate coping strategies in the family system.

“The services will be provided at times and in locations that work best for the youth and families by Interventionists who have training and experience to guide the family in meeting the needs being expressed,” said Richelle Gregory, Clinton County director of community services. “We recognize the need in our area for a program like this to give families options to bring about better outcomes. We are so proud of these agencies who have stepped up and worked out a way to collaborate.”

JoAnne Caswell, chief executive officer of Families First in Essex County, said, “The program will accept referrals from a wide variety of sources such as schools, Department of Social Services, hospitals, behavioral health providers, law enforcement, as well as caregivers.”

The referrals will be accepted through hbci@communityconnectionsfcny.org.

“The team will be distributed throughout the region to make travel and face-to-face contact convenient,” Caswell said. “The HBCI Program will also be offering 24/7 supports and working to collaborate with all relevant service providers. We are excited about this opportunity and the impact that it can make.”

The grant offers $500,000 a year for five years, which will allow for hiring of a Team Lead, 4 Interventionists, and providing the team time with a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner to give guidance regarding health, medications and psychiatric concerns.

“We understand the urgency of needs often being faced without good options and are committed to being effective stewards of this resource,” said Deceil Moore, LCSW, director of development and community wellness at Community Connections of Franklin County. “We will be collecting and monitoring data to help ensure that those in need are getting connected to the service. In addition, we will be intentionally looking at how best to improve the effectiveness of the team and services for families and our communities.”