SHERIFF
From progressive reentry programs to a NETFLIX documentary, Sheriff Eric Higgins' bold thinking is reshaping criminal justice
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We’re here to help with you or your loved ones mental health needs.
Springwoods Behavioral Health is located at 1955 W Truckers Dr, in Fayetteville AR, directly off of I-49. We provide a full continuum of mental health care, both inpatient and outpatient, for those dealing with psychiatric emergencies or other mental health issues ages 8 and up. Inpatient treatment is available 24/7, offering no-cost assessments to those who may be in need of services. Our facility offers treatment for:
• Suicidal/homicidal thoughts
• Medical detoxification
• Drug/alcohol abuse
• Depression/mood disorders
• Personality disorders
• Bipolar disorder
• Panic/anxiety
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Psychosis
• And other mental health issues impacting daily life
Our full scope of services include:
• Inpatient Emergency Psychiatric Care
• Partial Hospitalization
• Intensive Outpatient
• Outpatient Clinic
• School-Based Therapy (ages 5 and up for schools throughout NWA region)
At Springwoods, you are not just a patient—you are a partner in the healing process. We are here to listen, to guide, and to walk alongside you as you take steps toward a healthier future. Your care is our top priority, and our commitment to providing the best possible treatment is unwavering.
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Welcome to AY ’s 2025 Arkansas Mental Health Guide Magazine. It includes valuable information, a resource directory, and powerful stories featuring individuals facing mental health
and organizations trying to help.
We hope you will use this guide to gain knowledge and to direct others. Our goal is to be as complete a resource as possible. To that end, we will update the electronic version of this guide periodically. You’ll find more information online at armentalhealthguide.com, as well as via our social media outlets.
We hope that this is a valuable resource. Please let us know if you have ideas for the next issue.
MHG OF ARKANSAS
PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER
Heather Baker • hbaker@aymag.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Dwain Hebda
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on the cover
Read more about Pulaski County Sheriff Eric Higgins work to enhance mental health in prisons on page 12.
Photo by Steve
Lewis
cSi Community Service,lnc.
Caring and Responsive Youth Services
The organization is accredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA) and is a member of the Arkansas Youth Service Providers Association. Our programs and services are licensed or approved by the Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services, Arkansas Child Welfare Licensing Board and the Arkansas Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health.
CONTACT
USNOW
Morrilton 507-354-4589
Batesville 870-569-5772
Berryville 870-929-6023
Clarksville 4 79-754-7296
Clinton 507-745-2956
Conway 507-327-9788
Danville 479-495-5777
Harrison 870-280-3468
Heber Springs 507-362-2840
Huntsville 4 79-365-7250
Melbourne 870-368-0026
Mountain Home 870-425-3840
Mountain View 870-269-6635
Ozark 479-667-5855
Rogers 479-278-7028
Russellville 479-967-3370
Springdale 4 79-365-7250
YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH
Only 7 out of 5 youth in need of mental health treatment seek the help they need. Families are never charged out of pocket expense for life saving medical treatment from our licensed clinical therapists.
JUVENILE JUSTICE
Our Juvenile Justice case managers work to reduce repeat offender rates of youth through intensive supervision, electronic monitoring, aftercare, case management, family intervention, interstate compact services and behavior modification classes.
THERAPEUTIC FOSTER CARE
Every child deserves a loving and caring family unit. Unfortunately too many youth in our community yearn for the Jove and attention of a parent. Our Therapeutic Foster Care Program offers the highest at-risk youth a family unit and home. Parents are provided with 24 hour on-call assistance and extensive training to provide the best care for our youth.
PREVENTION AND EDUCATION
Prevention uses a proactive approach to empower individuals and communities to reduce risks and build resilience against substance misuse and addiction. By promoting healthy behaviors and lifestyles, we aim to prevent substance misuse and its devastating consequences.
Welcome to the 2025 edition of Arkansas Mental Health Guide Magazine, a collection of articles and resources that seek to shed some light on some of the more important issues concerning mental health and its impact on quality of life in the Natural State. As in the past, this year’s edition touches on themes of relevance and importance to all of us who live in and love Arkansas.
Our cover story looks at the complicated issue of mental health and criminal justice, an issue that reaches most every neighborhood and community in the state. We take a balanced look at the issue of childhood trauma and the impact that has not only on victims of violence, crime and human trafficking but how environment and life experiences contribute to people committing those crimes.
We also look at various institutions that are attempting to address the issue through rehabilitative programs that help the incarcerated get access to the services and training that allow them to move their lives forward in a positive direction.
As the victim of violence myself, it is challenging to discuss any rationale behind criminal behavior, but the fact of the matter is no babies are “born bad” but are instead shaped by their circumstances, the influence of other people and the conditions around them. That issue does not in any way excuse criminals, nor does it ignore the very real damage that violence causes to their victims. However, until we as a society get a grip on the fundamental issues that drive criminality, there is little hope of making any real change.
If you or someone you know is the victim of violence, there is help, and I encourage you to consult the directory in this edition to find it for yourself or for your loved one.
Thank you for reading this issue. We hope it starts some conversations in our communities about better, more compassionate and more effective ways to help the people who need it throughout our state for the benefit of all.
Heather Baker, President & Publisher hbaker@aymag.com / heatherbaker_ar
Mental Health Guide Statistics
Courtesy of NAMI Arkansas, part of the National Alliance on Mental Illness
• 1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness each year
• 457,000 adults in Arkansas have a mental health condition
• 40 percent of adults in Arkansas reported symptoms of anxiety or depression; 25 percent were unable to get needed counseling or therapy
• 125,000 Arkansans have a serious mental illness
• 35,000 youth, ages 12 to 17 in Arkansas has depression; 68 percent do not receive any care for it
• Among Arkansas’ homeless population, 1 in 8 lives with a serious mental illness
health space in the Natural State. And for those who need help and their guide to get started.
“How are you doing?” It’s a simple question, but one we don’t ask nearly enough. And even when it’s answered, it’s rarely answered honestly.
Study after study has shown that Americans’ mental health is on the decline. Still, there is a stigma around mental health and mental health treatment in this country. So many people are suffering, but it’s still taboo to talk about what they’re suffering from. That needs to change.
America’s youngest governor and the mother of three young kids, I’m very generations are on the front lines of America’s mental health crisis. The good culprit: phones and social media. Since smartphones became widespread, among young teens, self-harm among girls has gone up nearly 200%, and teenagers has increased 150%. Academic performance is down while isolation
Arkansas Mental Health Guide Magazine is a good way to start fixing that problem. In this magazine, you’ll find everything from community-specific resources to moving testimonials from mental health practitioners and patients. It’s a great resource to get up to speed with what’s going on in the mental health space in the Natural State. And for those who need help and their loved ones, it’s an excellent guide to get started.
Author Jonathan Haidt recently published The Anxious Generation, identifying charting a path forward. He offers four major recommendations: no smartphones no social media before 16, phone-free schools, and more outdoor play and independence. In response to these recommendations, my administration rolled out program this summer that reached districts around the state. I plan to build moving forward.
SARAH
HUCKABEE SANDERS, GOVERNOR
Mental health and well-being is critical to our communities, our workplaces, our families and our state.
As America’s youngest governor and the mother of three young kids, I’m very aware that our youngest generations are on the front lines of America’s mental health crisis. The good news is we have a clear culprit: phones and social media. Since smartphones became widespread, suicide rates have tripled among young teens, self-harm among girls has gone up nearly 200percent, and depression among teenagers has increased 150 percent. Academic performance is down, while isolation is up.
Author Jonathan Haidt recently published The Anxious Generation, identifying these worrying trends and charting a path forward. He offers four major recommendations: no smartphones before high school, no social media before 16, phone-free schools, and more outdoor play and childhood independence. In response to these recommendations, my administration rolled out a phone-free school pilot program this summer that reached districts around the state. I plan to build on that progress moving forward.
We know government isn’t the solution to everything, though. Parents have to be diligent about their kids’ screen time. Educators need to be aware of students who are struggling. All of us have to come together to talk about mental health openly and honestly.
know government isn’t the solution to everything, though. Parents have to kids’ screen time. Educators need to be aware of students who are struggling. together to talk about mental health openly and honestly. why I’m so glad you’ve decided to pick this magazine up and read about landscape. Whether you’re a seasoned expert or feel like you’re lost in this is a great place to get started learning about mental health in Arkansas.
That’s why I’m so glad you’ve decided to pick this magazine up and read about our state’s mental health landscape. Whether you’re a seasoned expert or feel like you’re lost in a sea of information, this is a great place to get started learning about mental health in Arkansas.
Sincerely,
Sincerely,
Sarah Huckabee Sanders
Sarah Huckabee Sanders
State Capitol Building • Little Rock, AR 72201
Telephone: (501) 682-2345
www.governor.arkansas.gov
At Springwoods Behavioral Health, we understand mental health challenges can be overwhelming not just for individuals but for their families and communities. As CEO, I want to share with you our steadfast commitment to the well-being of every person who walks through our doors seeking help during some of the most difficult times in their lives.
Our mission is simple but profound: provide compassionate, comprehensive and effective care to individuals facing mental health crises. We provide a full continuum of mental health care, both inpatient and outpatient, for patients dealing with psychiatric emergencies ages 8 and up. Inpatient treatment is available 24/7, offering no-cost assessments to those who may be in need of services. Our on-site outpatient programs include partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient for adults, and we also have an off-site outpatient clinic in Fayetteville that serves all ages.
We recently launched our schoolbased therapy services in northwest Arkansas, which serve kids ages 5 and up, meeting them where they are at and eliminating potential barriers to accessing care. Whether it is the immediate, intensive support needed from our emergency inpatient programs or the ongoing, therapeutic guidance offered in our outpatient services, we are here to serve — with dignity, respect and understanding.
ZACH BIRD, CEO
We recognize each person who seeks help is not defined by their struggles but by their resilience, their strength and their potential for recovery. Our team of skilled professionals — from psychiatrists and therapists to nurses and support staff — works tirelessly and collaboratively to provide individualized care that not only addresses the immediate symptoms but also lays the foundation for lasting well-being.
Every day, we are reminded of the importance of empathy in healing. Mental health care is not just about treating a condition; it is about providing safe spaces for people to rediscover hope, rebuild their lives and move forward with confidence. That is why we take pride in offering a full continuum of care necessary to foster recovery.
At Springwoods, you are not just a patient — you are a partner in the healing process. We are here to listen, to guide and to walk alongside you as you take steps toward a healthier future. Your care is our top priority, and our commitment to providing the best possible treatment is unwavering. Together, we can restore hope for tomorrow and recover lives today.
Few things in American society are as incendiary as the topics of crime and punishment. As the continued proliferation of powerful street drugs, the disintegration of the nuclear family, and systemic attitudes about race and law enforcement continue to take their toll, debates rage as to the efficacy of the criminal justice system and attitudes about the nature and purpose of imprisonment.
and C R I M REDEMPTION
From every angle of criminal activity, mental health plays a major role in people reclaiming their lives.
By Dwain Hebda
Photos by Jamie Lee and Steve Lewis
A nation incarcerated, the U.S. continues to have millions under lock and key. According to USAFacts, 5.4 million people were part of the correctional system in 2021, more than double that of 1980 but down sharply from 2007’s peak of 7.3 million people behind bars, on probation or on parole. Of the latest total, 3.7 million people were under community supervision, while 1.8 were in prisons and local jails.
Criminal offenses reached a 10-year high in 2020, the service reported, at just under 400 violent crimes and slightly fewer than 2,000 property crimes committed per 100,000 people in the U.S. Still, rates have not been that low since dropping below the 400 crimes per 100,000 people mark in 2011 and are a far cry from the 1990s, when, at its peak, the violent crime rate exceeded 750 per 100,000 residents.
Today, the system stands on the threshold of a potentially game-changing opportunity to reduce criminality and improve the rehabilitative effect of jail. Increased awareness and attention to mental health, including substance abuse and addiction, have opened minds in ways unfathomable a generation ago, and not to damn with faint praise, but there really is not any other choice.
In a paper published by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research at Stanford University in California, researcher Elisa Jácome noted 30 years of get-tough policies have created inmate populations in which mental illness is significantly over-represented to the point some American
prisons are now the largest providers of mental health care in the country.
“More than one-third of inmates are diagnosed with a mental disorder prior to incarceration,” she wrote. “On any given day, more than 1 million people with mental illness are locked up or on probation or parole.”
Mental health professionals cringe at such statistics, fearing the stigma they potentially nurture. They are quick, and accurate, to point out not everyone with a mental health condition is violent or has a propensity to commit crimes.
Yet as Dr. David Rettew wrote in a 2023 Psychology Today piece, no one can deny mental health plays some role in some
crimes — and perhaps a major role in a majority of crimes — as difficult as it is to pin down degree and frequency.
“The commonly heard extreme positions stating either that people with mental health conditions are inherently dangerous or that mental illness is a nonfactor when it comes to violent behavior are both wrong,” Rettew wrote. “The reality is somewhere in the middle.”
Of this much one can be sure: As in society at large, mental health issues are present in the U.S. inmate population, be they mental health conditions that reduce the capacity for rational decision-making, addiction, or the trauma felt by the perpetrator as a result of violent acts and their attendant consequences.
This article will examine the issue from different angles, attempting to shed light on an emotionally charged and highly nuanced debate. This information is not intended to excuse criminal behavior or ignore the lingering impact of violent actions on innocent victims.
THE EXPERIMENT
The Pulaski County Jail is less the stuff of Hollywood movies than one might expect. Except for the cells seen through narrow door windows of reinforced glass, nothing clangs and locks behind someone in the hallways — just reinforced steel doors closing quietly. Much of what one sees on a walk-through resembles any other municipal building or manufacturing plant built out of concrete block, forsaking aesthetics for functionality.
The jail was built in three phases, each time expanded to accommodate the challenges of its era. Overcrowding is obvious; in most units, some inmates sleep on the floor in what resemble plastic sleds for want of an available bunk. The unmistakable smell of institutional antiseptic rises around every corner.
To the first-timer, the monotone paint and myriad hallways are disorienting, but Sheriff Eric Higgins knows the place like the back of his hand. The graduate of Catholic High School for Boys in Little Rock arrived at the Pulaski County Jail in 2019 as the first Black sheriff in county history, winning reelection in 2022. Throughout his law enforcement career — which also included decades with the Little Rock Police Department — he has always seen his responsibilities from a slightly different angle.
“I think there’s a direct correlation. When you assist people with mental health issues, with drug addiction issues, and you provide those treatments, they're less likely to come out and be involved in criminal activity,” he said. “I think as we collect more data, as we pursue this in the
Pulaski County Sheriff Eric Higgins
I think there's a direct correlation. When you assist people with mental health issues, with drug addiction issues, and you provide those treatments, they're less likely to come out and be involved in criminal activity.
— Pulaski County Sheriff Eric Higgins
way we should, aggressively, progressively, in the way we provide the services people need, I think the by-product of it, the most important thing is you’re helping individuals. The by-product, I think, is you're going to have a safer community and lower crime.”
Under Higgins’ leadership, efforts have been made to increase and improve the access to mental health services for inmates, and policies have been introduced to help the incarcerated improve their skills, education and attitude for whatever lies outside the door of the county jail.
The most conspicuous of his efforts, the CSI Academy, focuses on recovery, reentry and rehabilitation. The selective program teaches life skills to incarcerated men and women, giving them the tools necessary to succeed in society, and has a 95 percent success rate in reducing recidivism and reentry to back it up.
“I think Sheriff Higgins is probably one of the most progressive sheriffs that I work with,” said Alicia Irvin, director of psychological services with Oklahoma-based TK Health, a company that provides jails and prisons with various medical services.
“He’s very invested, and I think that's critical. Especially in large facilities where you have so many people coming in and out, having someone who provides that support is really amazing. Any resource that we can get is definitely welcomed and needed.”
Higgins’ next initiative, to put more control in the hands of inmates who could handle it, was to unlock the cell doors and remove the guards from a unit. The experiment, captured in the Netflix series Unlocked: A Jail Experiment, caught worldwide attention as inmates worked through the basics of self-governance and formed the social constructs necessary to coexist.
The sheriff caught heat from above for reportedly not following channels when greenlighting the project, but the effect has been undeniable. The unit remains unlocked to this day and, according to Higgins, operates as a model unit for the rest of the facility.
“I say it’s a community,” he said. “They’re still operating. There's no one in there that was in there during the filming, but that unit is the safest unit in the facility, meaning they have the fewest incidents in the facility. We’re not having fights in there. We’re not having any assaults on deputies or anything like that, so it works. They’ve created a community, and those individuals realize they have the benefits they’re receiving and can keep those benefits by how they work together as a community.”
Higgins is now putting a bright light on mental health issues in the jail and providing more medical access to inmates who need it. That goal quickly showed itself as something not to be solved overnight.
“When I came in, listening to the staff, listening to the medical team, what we began to see was an increase in suicide attempts,” he said. “We had frank conversations with the staff with [TK] Health, and they were telling us this is what you need, but this is what you’re paying for. They recommended additional staff come on board to address the issues that we had.”
Higgins proposed directing $1.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds to pay for additional mental health support but was turned down by the Pulaski County Quorum Court. District 6 Justice of the Peace Donna Massey said in a letter to Arkansas Mental Health Guide Magazine that declining the request had nothing to do with not recognizing the importance of mental health services but with the means of paying for it.
“It is true that the request for additional funds failed. The reason that it failed was over concerns of using onetime funds for permanent staffing and ongoing expenses,” she said. “The Quorum Court, as a matter of practice, does not use one-time funds to create positions. The main reason, in my opinion, for the request being denied was not that members of the committee believed additional resources were unnecessary but rather the funding source was not appropriate nor sustainable.”
Massey noted the contract for medical services at the time of the request amounted to $6.9 million annually and that current and previous contracts provided for mental health services that meet all state requirements.
“As chair of the budget committee and a 21-year veteran of the Quorum Court, I can assure you that meeting the needs of those in the community and our detention facility suffering from housing insecurity and mental/behavioral health issues is a top priority,” she said. “To suggest in any way that the Quorum Court does not support the expansion of mental health services is inaccurate.
“I strongly support the expansion of mental health and behavioral health services. It is important that the QC continues to take a multipronged approach to address this crisis at every level.”
Higgins said he is hopeful the continued positive results of the reentry program and unlocking the doors will eventually earn him the approval — and funding — needed to carry out his vision for expanded mental health services. He said taxpayers are beginning to demand it, as well.
“I work for the community. The Quorum Court provides the funding,” he said. “There was a great deal of outcry against some of the things we’re doing, but it works. I do see a softening of that, and I’m hoping that will continue because those who oppose this, what they’ve seen is a different response from others in the community, whether it’s locally or nationally, who understand the need for something like this and the benefit of it and acknowledging the positive outcomes. I’m hoping that they will begin to understand what we're doing is the right thing and we’re moving in the right direction.”
ORIGINS
Going back to the nation’s frontier days, incarceration was seen as a punishment for wrongdoing consistent with the harsher challenges of maintaining law and order in the
still-developing reaches of the country.
Modern times have not changed the rhetoric much, but in practice, the calls for a shift from a punishment mentality to a rehabilitative approach have grown louder. A recent piece by Pennsylvania State University is typical of that argument, citing the U.S. Department of Justice emphasizing the importance of evidencebased rehabilitation programs in reducing recidivism.
“This supports the idea that focusing on programs addressing the root causes of criminal behavior — such as addiction, mental health issues and lack of education — can significantly reduce the likelihood of reoffending,” the piece reads.
Without rehabilitation, incarceration frequently results in a cycle of reoffending, as individuals are released without the resources or skills to prevent future criminal behavior.
—
Pennsylvania State University
“Without rehabilitation, incarceration frequently results in a cycle of reoffending, as individuals are released without the resources or skills to prevent future criminal behavior. In contrast, rehabilitation programs provide people with the tools to secure stable employment, manage their emotions and reintegrate into their communities.”
A growing amount of evidence shows another flaw in hardline thinking — longer sentences simply do not work as a deterrent to future offenses. A 2023 article by Vera magazine stated that in 2019, 57 percent of the prison population was serving sentences of 10 or more years, and as of 2020, 1 in 7 people in U.S. prisons was serving a life sentence, more than the entire incarcerated population in 1970, without major impact.
“Concepts that have been central to sentencing theory, policy and practice to date — such as retribution, deterrence and excessive incapacitation — have been backed by paltry evidence of success, demonstrating instead more evidence of harm,” Nicholas Turner wrote. “States and the federal government have leaned on these principles to justify as much prison time as possible, but doing so has not been effective in delivering accountability and building public safety.”
Many mental health professionals contend the answer to reducing crime and recidivism does not lie in fear of harsher sentences or even the death penalty but in addressing the systemic issues that lead a person to crime in the first place. Environmental elements such
This is a saving grace. Sheriff Higgins and [reentry director] Ms. Kathy McConnell are our guardian angels. They're saving lives.
—Jessica Casey, inmate
as poverty, substandard education, negative role models and lack of opportunity, they say, are all powerful contributors to societal problems.
A 2019 study published by the National Library of Medicine is typical in its findings that social determinants, from job insecurity to racism and poverty, all increase the likelihood of a person developing psychological distress, just as they increase the likelihood of developing physical ailments.
The strongest argument yet for a causal link between environment and behavior came in February, when a study by the University of Michigan found living in violent neighborhoods changes the way a child’s brain develops and responds to potential threats.
Whitney Gates, licensed certified social worker and chief clinical officer at Springwoods Behavioral Health in Fayetteville, said while such things as abuse or being the victim of crime are generally understood as examples of trauma, there are more subtle but equally impactful forms, as well.
“There are chronic stressors that, as a society, we are just beginning to recognize,” she said. “These can be things like living in extreme poverty, racism or gender
Teresa Whittiker, from left, Jessica Casey, Tina Sanders and Melissa McElroy take part in a faith and recovery class.
bias. These things can have traumatic effects on a human being, and I think we have to recognize that.”
Gates said such things often go overlooked for a variety of reasons, from lack of understanding of mental health to barriers to medical professionals and simple prioritization.
“If you look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it’s a triangle,” she said. “If someone’s basic needs for food, shelter and safety aren’t met, that person is not going to be able to focus on mental health. If I don't know where my next meal's coming from, I’m not really concerned about my depression level at that moment because I'm surviving.”
As stated earlier and something that bears repeating, not everyone who has trauma in their past turns to crime. However, it must be acknowledged this internal factor often presents as all-too-familiar negative outcomes. That is especially true when combined with the wellknown behavioral impacts of lack of positive role models, addiction and criminality that often runs in families.
Gates also said people have little motivation to examine their early socialization as long as it is working, even when the environment changes.
“We have to think about not only the crime people experience or they hear about or that happens to people they care about, but there’s also the tactics they’re taught for survival,” she said. “We see this with children who grow up with a parent who has a substance abuse issue. Even if that child isn’t the one using substances, they sometimes learn survival and behavioral tactics from the parent who is.
“For someone who grows up in an unsafe environment, a lot of times, if they leave that environment, they don’t automatically learn new skills. Just by leaving someplace unsafe doesn’t automatically make you feel safe. You hear about people who have been in prison and then leave prison, and they still feel unsafe everywhere they go because they learned if they let themselves feel safe, they could become very unsafe.”
Breaking that pattern often takes outside intervention. A new study by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock is seeking to quantify just how to identify and treat individuals while incarcerated, be they with existing conditions or having no previous history of mental illness.
“We know that incarceration worsens health,” said Dr. Melissa Zielinski, associate professor and director of the UAMS Health and the Legal System Lab. “When somebody becomes incarcerated, they don’t have freedom to get whatever health care they were getting or pursue new
health care. They’re out of their community, so they’re out of their support network.
“[Jails] are not health care systems, but we tend to use incarceration as a response to a lot of health problems, like addiction.”
Zielinski said while locking someone up is meant to remove them from others, a by-product of that action is often the degradation of an inmate’s mental health, which, in many cases, is not intact to begin with.
“By and large, people who become incarcerated have had a tremendous amount of trauma before they become incarcerated,” she said. “Across all of my studies, I’ve had only one where two people denied a trauma exposure history. This means the rates of exposure to what is often chronic and severe trauma are basically 100 percent.”
Zielinski’s current research with the Pulaski County Jail is looking at ways to better screen inmates for post-traumatic stress disorder and then examine the contrast between inmates getting treatment in jail and those referred to treatment following release.
was hardly an anomaly. As previously stated, the crime rate in the U.S. has been on a steady decline, but that is small comfort to the millions of crime victims and their families impacted every year nationwide.
According to Statista, the incidence of violent crime in the Natural State was 620 per 100,000 individuals, the fifth highest in the nation. The national average was 374 crimes per 100,000 residents that year.
Arkansas also ranked in the top 10 in the nation in forcible rape at 72 incidents per 100,000 residents; fourth in aggravated assault (512) and sixth in murder/ nonnegligent manslaughter (9.4). The U.S. average for
[Jails] are not health care systems, but we tend to use incarceration as a response to a lot of health problems, like addiction.
“We know that these intersections between mental health, addiction and incarceration are there, and they drive so much of what causes people to become incarcerated,” she said. “I would want part of this conversation to think upstream. How do we get people treatment before they’re at risk for criminal involvement, and how do we divert people into treatment? It’s not about building better jails and prisons; it’s about having people get treatment in the community, where they belong.”
THE AFTERMATH
— Dr. Melissa Zielinski, associate professor and director of the UAMS Health and the Legal System Lab
the three categories per 100,000 residents was 38, 264 and 6.3, respectively.
Topping things off, Little Rock ranked high on the list of most dangerous American cities with a population of at least 200,000 at 1,833 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, placing third behind Memphis and Detroit.
This October marks the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of Ebby Steppach of Little Rock, a case that received international attention as much for what many consider police mishandling of the initial investigation as for the missing girl herself.
The matter was kept in the public eye thanks to the resolute efforts of Ebby’s mother, Laurie Jernigan, who took to social media and any publication and podcast that would take her case seriously. Ultimately, Jernigan found herself on nationally syndicated programs with Dr. Phil and Nancy Grace, going over the details of her daughter’s disappearance.
The case was exhausting and, ultimately, tragic. In May 2018, human remains found in a drainage pipe at a neighborhood park proved to be Ebby’s. A year later, Jernigan’s son, Trevor, died of a heart attack, rekindling her shock and adding to her grief.
Now, six years after Trevor’s death, Jernigan said faith is what ultimately saved her own life.
“My faith is everything. I couldn’t have done this without God in my life. Couldn’t have done it,” she said.
While Ebby’s case was higher profile than many, it
The impact of all that criminal activity is substantial not only in loss of life, well-being and property but in the physical and mental duress on victims and their families left to pick up the pieces. As the data shows, doing so is easier said than done.
The National Crime Victimization Survey commissioned by the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that in 2022, 47 percent of violent crime victims surveyed reported moderate to severe distress as a result of the incident, and more than 1 in 5 reported violent victimization resulted in significant problems with family or friends. Eighteen percent experienced significant problems with their job or schoolwork.
The kicker? A growing body of evidence shows that treatment of cases in the criminal justice system is often an aggravating source of stress and anxiety for victims, leading to secondary victimization.
The mental health challenges do not stop there. While the impact of crime on victims is widely documented, the effect on victims’ families is less well known. In October, Social Science & Medicine published a study by British researchers that concluded family
Laurie Jernigan, mother of Ebby Steppach, worked to keep her daughter’s case alive after her disappearance, appearing on nationally syndicated programs such as Dr. Phil.
I did not go to grief groups because it just was replaying the trauma over and over, and it retraumatized me each time.
—Laurie Jernigan, mother of Ebby Steppach
and close relatives of victims may be considered indirect victims due to increased incidents of post-traumatic stress, self-harm and suicidality. In fact, family members of crime victims felt unsafe in their neighborhoods and developed depressive or anxiety disorders at rates 2.4 and 1.4 times higher, respectively, than the general population.
Jernigan said she was so impacted by the death of her children, followed quickly by the death of her parents, that she did not initially pursue resources open to her.
“I did not go to grief groups because it just was replaying the trauma over and over, and it retraumatized me each time,” she said. “Honestly, after Trevor, my dad and then my mom died, I was at the end. I thought I was gonna have to check myself in. I looked for places that would take grieving families, but I couldn't find any place unless I wanted to spend $70,000 or something like that.”
Cost is another barrier to people getting help, something the Arkansas Crime Victims Reparations Program was set up to help meet. ACVRP’s purpose is to provide a vehicle for compensating and assisting victims and the dependents of victims who have suffered personal injury or death as the result of a violent crime. The body has come under fire in recent years for excessive delays in filling requests, reducing the amount paid or denying claims altogether.
doing EMDR on particular thoughts I was having over and over, imagining what it was like when Trevor died, how it happened, what was he doing, did it hurt.
“I did EMDR on that particular incident, and I’m telling you what, I could tell anyone his whole story in detail, and it would not affect me at all.”
Jernigan also surrounded herself with close friends who were not afraid to call things like they saw it. She believes one in particular channeled God’s voice during a critical time in her grief.
Jernigan ultimately found a therapist who introduced her to eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy, a relatively new technique that has been shown to be highly effective in dealing with memories of traumatic events
“When I have triggers, they’ll stay with me, and I’ll think about them, and it brings up really intense feelings,” she said. “I can go months without one, or a year, and then something happens. I started with my,
“I was struggling. I was like, I didn't want to be here anymore,” she said. “When you have those thoughts, you don't think of consequences. I confided this with a friend of mine, and all he said is, ‘Well, Ebby and Trevor don’t wanna see you like that.’
“That shocked me into reality, like, ‘Oh my gosh, they wouldn’t want to see me.’ I mean, that snapped me out of that so quickly, and I believe those were God’s words coming out of his mouth. Any feelings of hopelessness or helplessness were removed. I really think God has put things in place for me.”
Crime and punishment in 2024 is as complex an issue as it has ever been, and no one solution will eliminate the violent brother-versus-brother problems dating back to the Book of Exodus. Yet it is clear new thinking and new techniques are warranted in the continuing struggle to balance public safety with helping people understand how to move from one life to another.
“There are individuals out there who have a perception about someone in jail,” Higgins said. “‘Hey, you’ve committed a crime, you need to be punished, and we don't need to provide all these services.’
“I would want those individuals to understand that a lot of things can impact a person to commit a crime and find themselves in the system. If we are proactive in addressing individuals with their underlying issues, then we make a safer community. That’s the hope.” ◊
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Mental health is just as important as physical health. At Renew Mental Health & Wellness, we believe that everyone deserves compassionate, personalized care. Whether you’re seeking help for depression, anxiety, trauma, or medication management, our experienced providers are here to support you.
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You don’t have to face mental health challenges alone. Let us walk alongside you on your journey toward wellness and a brighter future.
Hope Springs Eternal
By Mental Health Guide Staff
Photos provided Springwoods Behavioral Health
Mental health has come into the limelight in recent years as society has slowly begun to prioritize it as a legitimate need and concern. People facing difficult seasons and needing help to get back on track have an award-winning option in northwest Arkansas.
Springwoods Behavioral Health in Fayetteville provides a full continuum of care as it relates to mental health in both inpatient and outpatient settings, helping patients ages 8 and older deal with a variety of mental health issues, psychiatric emergencies and addiction.
“We truly embed the mantra of ‘patient
safety always comes first’ into every department and interaction.” said Zack Bird, who took over as Springwoods’ CEO in November.
The organization believes in and practices a trauma-informed care approach with individuals seeking care. That means the staff has been trained to be sensitive to the issues patients are facing. The trained and experienced staff also understands the role that past trauma plays in such conditions, since many of the people they help have endured some form of trauma or experienced traumatic events.
Springwoods treats more than 2,000 individuals per year through inpatient programs and almost 2,500 through outpatient care, on average. The practice boasts an internally tracked patient satisfaction score of 4.42 out of 5, and outcome measures score 79 percent on statistically meaningful improvement. Springwoods is Joint Commission-certified and has Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services deemed status.
Specific programs target a range of mental health conditions, starting with children and adolescents who may be dealing with bipolar disorder, suicidal ideation and/or behaviors, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders, and other mental, emotional and behavioral difficulties.
“The youth of today face problems that are unique to their generation that may exacerbate mental health issues,” said Ayaana Younger, the organization’s director of business development. “If not addressed, these problems can have lasting effects upon families and other relationships. While some of these problems may be treated through outpatient services, others may require inpatient mental health treatment.
“Our goal is to stabilize the immediate crisis to enable the adolescent to return home and to the community with improved ability to express emotions and self-control and to develop positive peer relationships. The treatment process begins with a comprehensive evaluation and an individualized treatment plan, created
Zack Bird
“The youth
of today
face
problems
that are unique to their generation that may exacerbate mental health issues. If not addressed, these problems can have lasting effects upon families and other relationships.
— Ayaana Younger, director of business development
to meet the therapeutic needs of each patient. Emphasis is placed on a comprehensive discharge plan that prepares appropriate aftercare and transition back to the community.”
Set within a structured environment, Springwoods Behavioral Health assists their patients by employing one or more of the following treatment modalities:
• Group and family therapy
• Medication evaluation and case management
• Special education certified by Fayetteville Public Schools
• Drug and alcohol education
• Process and topic groups
• Recreational therapy
• Parent/family education
• Psychological testing as indicated
• Discharge planning
• Continued care planning
The acute inpatient program treats mental health patients in an intensive therapeutic structure, providing medical and psychiatric stabilization with 24hour nursing care for patients experiencing critical symptoms of acute psychiatric and addictive disease problems, including:
• Suicidal/homicidal thoughts
• Medical detoxification
• Drug/alcohol abuse
• Depression/mood disorders
• Personality disorders
• Bipolar disorder
• Panic/anxiety
• PTSD
• Psychosis
The adult outpatient program includes a partial hospitalization program, a one- to four-week program to assist in the transition from inpatient treatment to independent living, and an intensive outpatient program often used as a step-down level of care for patients who have been in acute inpatient care or PHP.
Finally, Springwoods’ addiction treatment programs use evidence-based treatments and therapies
to encourage long-term sobriety and prevent relapse. The clinic’s medical detox program helps people dealing with dependency on alcohol, opioids, methamphetamine and other substances, as well as programs dedicated specifically to opiate dependency and medication management.
In order to address such a wide range of services, the organization relies on highly qualified professional staff members, whose expertise and compassion sets the clinic apart. Trained therapists, nurses, psychiatrists and other professionals, some with decades of experience in their fields, are utilized to provide the highest level of evidence-based care.
“Springwoods’ staff truly cares about the care they are providing,” Younger said. “They are invested in their patients’ treatment. We pride ourselves on being the mental health provider of choice in northwest Arkansas.”
Located just off Interstate 49, the six-acre campus at 1955 Truckers Drive provides a peaceful setting for those embarking on the road to recovery. The facility is adjacent to a 123-acre nature preserve, ensuring the tranquil and serene surroundings are safe from future development.
In addition to the 80-bed main campus, Springwoods Behavioral Health also operates an off-site outpatient clinic in Fayetteville and recently launched a school-based therapy program that serves children and youth in northwest Arkansas. These programs are part of Springwoods’ commitment to meeting people where they are and eliminating potential barriers to accessing care. Inpatient treatment at Springwoods is available 24/7.
Bird described the clinic’s approach as “simple but profound” and articulated its mission as providing compassionate, comprehensive and effective care to individuals facing mental health crises.
“We will continue to be trustworthy and on a mission to assist individuals and families,” Bird said. “We want our value-based care and commitment to excellence to shine even brighter in 2025.”
For information about admission, call 888-5216014 or visit springwoodsbehavioral.com. To schedule a no-cost assessment, call 479-973-6000. ◊
Psychotherapy is a collaborative treatment between an individual and a therapist that helps people of all ages live happier, healthier, and more productive lives. It provides a supportive environment that allows you to talk openly with someone who’s objective, neutral, and nonjudgmental. There are several approaches to psychotherapy, including cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal, and other kinds of talk therapy, that help individuals work through their problems.
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
— Viktor Frankl
SERVICES:
Individual Therapy
Couples Therapy
Professional Consultations
Michael W. Bibbs, MS, LPE-I
Michele Clark, MS, LPC, LMFT
Kellie Fugere, LCSW
Kids
Foster care and juvenile justice affect children's mental health System of the
By Lance Brownfield | Photos provided by Immerse Arkansas and Project Zero
The streets of Little Rock, Pine Bluff, Camden and most other communities around the state can be unforgiving for children and teens who find themselves without their parents and on the wrong side of the law. Childhood traumas can leave a lasting impact on kids and, when combined with bad influences, can lead them down the wrong path.
Mental health professionals, advocacy groups and concerned individuals are working to address such issues and give children a better future. Despite the efforts, there are 345 children currently in the custody of the Division of Youth Services.
Julius Buie of Pine Bluff became a product of his environment due to his choice of friends and the neighborhood he grew up in. He said being a gang member for more than 25 years led him “down a road of destruction” while he indulged in drug and gang activities. He went through the juvenile justice system and, eventually, the adult justice system before turning his life around.
“I wasn’t just in the gang life and distributing the drugs. The last seven years, I had become a drug addict,” Buie said.
In 2021, he found himself back in a jail cell but decided it would be his last time to visit as an inmate. Having seen many lives destroyed, including some of his friends who died from their involvement with drugs and gangs, he wanted to make a change.
“It took the justice system to break me with consequences due to my actions,” he said. “Having a strong faith caused me to change. After my drug bust, that’s what pushed me to want to change. I couldn’t see a year, much less see a month, ahead to where my life was going.”
Now 38 years old, Buie works as a case manager and family advocate social worker at 100 Families in North Little Rock, a program of Every Arkansan, and works out of the Pulaski County Juvenile Court building. Working alongside community agencies, he creates plans for clients based on their unique situations. His mission is to take individuals and families from crisis to career, from crisis to
thriving or from crisis to stability, planting hope in the process.
“I aim to live my life and let my actions guide the people that are still in the darkness, still in the system,” he said, “to let them know that there’s hope, that change is possible. It will happen once you decide that’s really what you want. A lot of the problem nowadays is with our juveniles, and I feel like my Lord has called me to that.”
One of the biggest issues children and young adults face in Arkansas and across the country is homelessness. Nationally, 40 percent of youth who age out of foster care will experience homelessness by age 24, and young adults who are homeless are three times more likely than the general population to attempt suicide.
According to Layne Moss, director of strategic initiatives at Immerse Arkansas, there are an estimated 1,000 young people ages 18 to 24 in the Little Rock metro who are homeless, couch surfing or living in exploitative situations. Roughly 1,800 students reported being homeless in the third quarter of the 2022-2023 school year in Pulaski County alone.
The situation becomes even more dire when youth age out of foster care, forcing many to enter the adult world with no family, no prospects and little help. Desirae McBride, Immerse’s Little Rock site leader, said about 200 youth age out of foster care in Arkansas annually, which is why Immerse developed the Station in Little Rock as a shelter for youth facing homelessness. It is the first of its kind in Arkansas.
Statistics indicate 1 in 4 youth exiting foster care at age 18 will experience one episode of homelessness by the time they turn 21, and 1 in 3 young people who age out of foster care and enter homelessness will be lured into prostitution. That is just one of several sad realities awaiting many young people, but the experience inside the system can be detrimental to a child’s well-being, as well.
“Kids in the system commonly face a host of stressors,” said Katherine Bishop, a counselor at Argenta Counseling + Wellness in North Little Rock. “If it is their first time going into foster care, a sense of fear of the unknown can prevail. You have to also remember that children have a strong connection to caretakers, even when those caretakers are the ones that are hurting them.”
Opposite:Immerse youth and staff build garden beds for the LifeBASE Care program. Right: Immerse coach Areca Billinger, left, meets with one of the youth.
Other stressors include bullying, feelings of sadness and isolation due to separation from families, and being forced to leave belongings behind, giving children no sense of comfort in an everchanging environment. The stigma of being in foster care itself can be very stressful, Bishop said.
The assessment tool Adverse Childhood Experiences gauges what level of traumatic life experience a person has lived in childhood. The average score is about 3 or 4, while young adults at Immerse have scores of about 7 or 7.5 on average.
“They’ve experienced a lot of trauma in their very short amount of living,” McBride said. “That’s compounded with their life experiences, and it makes it very difficult for them to enter adulthood prepared and ready to tackle things that life brings.”
While trauma is evident in the lives of many kids in the system, there are few options for those seeking treatment. Immerse’s solution has been to expand its trauma therapy and recreational therapy programs over the past year. There has also been a big push to equip youth with better educational and employment opportunities. Research shows time and again that better education and jobs leads to several positive outcomes, turning a vicious circle into a virtuous cycle.
“Typically, kiddos in the foster care system are limited to, mainly, community mental health programs to obtain necessary therapeutic interventions,” Bishop said. “The main reason for this is that while in foster care, children usually have Medicaid, which is a great asset for paying for needed medical care but comes with limitations due to the state and federal requirements.”
Most private mental health practices do not have the capacity to manage and provide services under those programs, but there are workarounds. Argenta Counseling + Wellness does not currently accept Medicaid directly but can accept it through a partnership with ARHOME. The company has also created a sliding scale to accommodate foster kids specifically, which starts at $20 per session.
Beginning in 2021, children were given the choice to remain in extended foster care until their 21st birthday if they are going to school, working, or have certain medical conditions that prevent them from pursuing education or work, thanks to federal legislation. After leaving the system, former foster youths may be eligible for a one-time benefit that helps pay for school, job training and other living expenses. They may also qualify
Julius Buie
Katherine Bishop
Desirae McBride
for Former Foster Care Medicaid until age 26.
In 2023, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed executive orders tasking state officials and a newly formed coalition, made up of the heads of the Department of Human Services, the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Education and Every Child Arkansas, to draft policies addressing the problems facing foster care in Arkansas. More recently, Sanders announced a pay plan proposal that calls for an increase to entrylevel and average salaries for family service workers.
Tiffany Wright, director of the Division of Children and Family Services, said those are “key changes that would help reduce vacancies and maintain staff that can provide key services to children across our state.”
“There is an ongoing need for more foster homes so that DCFS can place children in settings that provide stability and security during their time in foster care,” Wright said. “It is crucial to place children with relatives or fictive kin, which is a person who already has a strong positive role in the child's life, such as a godparent, teacher or family friend. This allows children to stay with individuals they know and trust.
“If a relative or fictive kin is not available, the next best option is to place the child in a resource home, which allows the child to remain in their school and maintain connections with their community.”
Placement in foster care is typically temporary, allowing families the necessary time and services to make changes so the child can return to a safe living environment. Of the almost 3,500 children in the Arkansas system, about 200 have had parental rights terminated. Seen as a last resort, the legal status means children will not return to their birth families before becoming adults.
Helping to fill the need the state has for placing children in its care is Project Zero, a nonprofit that works alongside DCFS with a goal of ensuring no child unable to return to biological parents remains unadopted.
“We believe kids belong in families,” said Christie Erwin, executive director. “Ultimately, they belong in the family they were born into if they can be safe and healthy and loving and happy, but unfortunately, that’s not always a possibility.”
Erwin said the organization helps by raising awareness through the Arkansas Heart Gallery, which features professional photographs of the children waiting to be adopted, as well as an online exhibit and three traveling exhibits. Project Zero has also produced more than 800 short films about the children in the queue.
The organization also builds hope in waiting kids by throwing birthday parties, sending cards and showing care. Finally, the group connects kids to prospective forever families by working with agencies throughout the state and hosting meet-and-greet events.
“You don’t enter foster care without going through some type of trauma,” Erwin
said. “Even if you come in as a newborn baby, there have been things that have happened in utero, being taken away from your mother.”
While individuals are of vital importance to the efforts, organizations also continue to build bridges for more collaborative support. Churches, hospitals, agencies and other institutions come alongside volunteers to make sure the work carries on to impact kids who need it most.
“There’s a beautiful bridge between different organizations,” said Julie Whalen, director of growth and transformation at Immerse.
To foster, adopt or support resource families, visit everychildarkansas.org. The site can point prospective foster parents in the right direction by connecting them to classes and explanations of the process.
If people become adoptive parents, they should become “students of their child,” Erwin said. She routinely educates parents to not make the mistake of parenting children with past trauma the same ways as those who have not experienced it and to listen and get resources to meet unique therapeutic, physical and emotional needs.
“As a foster parent, there were times when I understood very clearly how some people felt about kids in foster care, that they were second-best or second-rate or had somehow done something that had put them in that position,” Erwin said. “Having experienced that, it’s kind of this righteous indignation in me that says, ‘I don’t want anybody feeling that way about our kids.’” ◊
Christie Erwin
Tiffany Wright
Julie Whalen
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, other state officials and staff of Project Zero attend a kickoff event for National Adoption Month.
After surviving, the next step is thriving
O vercomin gABUSE
GBy Sarah DeClerk
rowing up in a small Pennsylvania town, Amanda Pulley, 37, of Conway said her life was pretty chaotic. She lived with her mother, sister and grandparents. Although her father was largely out of the picture, she said she had a longing to know him, and he appeared in her life sporadically.
One constant was the family’s heavy involvement in a local fundamentalist church. It was there that she met the man who, along with her father, would traffic her when she was 16.
By then, she had already been molested by multiple men throughout her childhood. She finally came forward about one abuser, who was prosecuted and found guilty. Right around the time his trial was happening, a new face appeared at church.
A man in his 20s, he quickly became a youth leader. Nevermind that he had recently been released from prison.
He positioned himself in Pulley’s life as a big brother, teaching her to drive and buying her a cellphone, but the relationship became violent. Pulley said the man would beat and rape her, even threatening her little sister. At one point, Pulley took the man to her father’s house, hoping her father would help her escape, but he just encouraged the man to rape her yet again.
The issue came to light after a friend noticed her bruises. In a meeting with their pastor, the 28-year-old said he “fell into sexual sin.” Pulley was not allowed to say anything. She was kicked out of the church and her Christian school. Her world turned upside down, she tried to kill herself.
“At that point, my mom thought this guy would be the only one who could get through to me, so he came and talked to me and basically told me how he wanted me to act when I went to the hospital and then worked with my mom to be able to pick me up from the hospital,” Pulley said. “When he picked me up from the hospital, he took me immediately to my dad’s house.”
This time, her father told her she was going to stay there. She was to do anything a man told her to do, perform any sexual services they requested and hand over any money they gave her. Then he and the youth leader raped her.
Pulley said she is not sure how long she was there, but it was probably three or four months. As a rule, she was not allowed to go outdoors, but one day, she challenged the man, and he smacked her across the face and ordered her outside.
“He was smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer, and I was this good little Christian girl. I never smoke. I never drank. I never cussed. I never did anything bad whatsoever, and all I could think was maybe those things will help numb everything that I’m feeling right now,” she said. “I went to grab the cigarette from him, and he smacked it out of my hand. I got the beer almost up to my lips, and he smacked it out of my hand and stuck his finger in my face and said, ‘My good girls don’t do that.’”
He told her to go back inside and said he would be back in a minute, which Pulley knew meant he was going to get another man she would have to provide with a sexual service. Walking in, she noticed the car she had been gifted for her 16th birthday out front, but she did not know where the keys were.
Then she heard what she believes was the voice of God.
“I heard this voice, literally as clear as day, say, ‘You’re my good girl. Run now. I love you,’” she said. “I looked down, and I saw my car keys on the counter, and I grabbed my car keys, and I ran.”
She stayed with her grandfather, the only family member who questioned the way the church handled the situation, and homeschooled herself to finish high school and go to college, which she viewed as the only way to escape her situation for good.
“I’d like to say my life was peachy and perfect after that, but it was not,” she said. “There was a lot of trauma, and back then, there were no words for human trafficking, so I went many, many years going into my adult life thinking that that experience was my fault, that I had done something wrong.”
Angela McGraw, executive director of Women & Children First in Little Rock, said she was sexually assaulted by an older cousin for years after her father died when she was 12. Then she got into an abusive relationship right out of high school, which she left when her daughter was 18 months old.
“I didn’t know anything about domestic violence, didn’t know anything about resources for people in any type of situation,” she said.
While living in Kansas, she and her child were homeless for several months, sleeping in her car and sneaking into the YMCA to shower while McGraw continued to maintain her hospital job. Finally, a blizzard drove her back to her abuser, but she went back knowing she needed a better plan to get out.
Her first step was to change her job at the hospital so she no longer had a public-facing role, and her new coworkers started sharing resources McGraw could use to escape her situation. In the meantime, she had another daughter.
Then something horrible happened. The husband of McGraw’s friend shot and killed all three of their daughters before killing McGraw’s friend and himself.
“We tell women all the time that there’s that moment where you either hit rock bottom or just kind of have an epiphany,” McGraw said. “For me, what it was was if somebody can walk into their home and kill their precious little girls, what am I to say that my husband at the time wouldn’t come in my house and do the same thing to my little girls?”
A month later, she left with her children. They stayed at a shelter for 31 days before moving into their own home. However, like Pulley, her recovery was far from effortless.
“I heard this voice, literally as clear as day, say, ‘You’re my good girl. Run now. I love you.’”
— Amanda Pulley, Pulley Consulting
“I’d like to say that life was all peaches and cream at that point, but there was a lot of stalking,” McGraw said, unknowingly echoing another survivor’s phrase. “I had to file a couple orders of protection.”
Eventually things calmed down, and McGraw went on to sit on the shelter’s board as a survivor of domestic violence, beginning her advocacy career. After moving to Arkansas, she joined Women & Children First as transitional housing coordinator, then worked at the Arkansas Coalition Against Domestic Violence before returning to Women & Children First soon after earning her master’s degree in counseling.
During her second stint, she worked to shore up the organization’s use of the empowerment model, which allows clients to come and go as they see fit, even if it means returning to their abusers.
“As advocates, we should be there, literally, just to be walking beside them or behind them and if they’re needing our assistance,” McGraw said. “Everybody comes from different walks of life, and we don't know anything better about their life than they know of their own, and we need them to be able to live the way that they need to and be available to them if they’re wanting our support, and so the empowerment model, to me and to those that we have underneath the umbrella of the Arkansas Coalition, is that people can come and go if they want.”
Advocates help clients recognize the cycle of abuse, rather than simply telling them their relationships are abusive, she added. Victims go back to their abusers an average of seven times, she said, and the most dangerous time for victims is after they leave.
Co-founder Ryan Stephens, left, and Pulley spar at Gray Beard Forge in Conway. (Photo provided by Amanda Pulley.)
“We tell women all the time that there’s that moment where you either hit rock bottom or just kind of have an epiphany.”
— Angela McGraw, Women & Children First
Women & Children First helps clients prepare safety plans and obtain orders of protection, in addition to assisting with transitional housing and other needs. The organization is currently working to construct the new Forest of Hope Family Peace Center in Little Rock, which will provide more streamlined resources to clients. Survivors must currently visit an average of 22 different locations to access all the services they need, McGraw said, and just obtaining an order of protection requires visiting nine different locations at the courthouse.
“If you think that that might be easy, maybe you should take a big bag and a couple kids with you and go through the courthouse and go through that process and see how easy it is. I would think that at any part of that process, I would have walked out the door at some point because it’s just too much,” she said. “Those are barriers and challenges that people go through currently that I’m hoping that the Family Peace Center will eliminate for them. I’m really excited about that.”
While Women & Children First helps victims access counseling, traditional therapy is not for everyone, she said, and some survivors may benefit from more holistic therapies, such as touch therapy, yoga or getting a service dog. She added that in the past year, the organization has also prioritized the mental health needs of its staff members.
That said, therapy is often a key component of treatment, and
there are various treatment options that can help individuals recover from trauma, said Rachel Howard, chief clinical officer of children and adolescents at The Centers, which has 32 adolescent beds dedicated to victims of human trafficking.
Often, she said, people who have escaped abuse or trafficking have physical health needs that must be met before addressing their mental health needs.
Survivors can benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy or trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy; play therapy for children; and brainspotting or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, both of which use eye movement to encourage healing, she said. In addition, several therapists at The Centers are being trained to use a neurosequential model to address trauma among those in the human trafficking program.
“After you experience trauma, your life can change,” Howard said. “Your brain functioning can change, and so people with trauma, people with severe trauma, can go on to live very successful, quote-unquote normal lives. That doesn’t mean things in them haven’t changed, but you know, healing is possible. Recovery is possible, but it’s not necessarily an end stop. It’s a journey.”
Whitney Gates, chief clinical officer at Springwoods Behavioral Health in Fayetteville, said even though her organization’s services are not specific to abuse, every member of the staff has undergone trauma-informed training to better care for patients.
“We really want everybody who could encounter our patients at Springwoods to be sensitive to the fact that our patients are coming in with experiences, both good and bad,” she said. “Our patients are coming in, potentially, with some fallout from trauma, and we
(Photo
want to make sure that we are the most sensitive we can be to that and ensure that if something does trigger one of our patients, we know how to react in a way that doesn’t further retraumatize or make the patient want to leave care.”
Abuse affects everybody differently, she said, adding that symptoms of trauma can vary widely from person to person. Some might feel emotionally numb, while others may have difficulty regulating emotion. Trauma can impact memory, cause sleep problems and muscle tension, and impact development in children, she said. Substance abuse or other unhealthy coping mechanisms can also result from trauma.
Opposite: The Centers offers a program specifically for survivors of human trafficking. Above: The new Forest of Hope Family Peace Center in Little Rock will allow Women & Children First to provide streamlined services to abuse survivors.
“When you’re in an abusive situation or you’re in a traumatic situation, you’re not looking too far into the future a lot,” she said. “You’re usually just trying to survive that moment, and so picking up that drink or picking up that drug, whatever it is, they’re not thinking of how it could affect them later. They’re trying to survive this moment, and so sometimes people lean into those substances or the alcohol or whatever it may be.”
(Photo provided by Women & Children First)
People often have different ideas about what is or is not abuse or trauma, but ultimately, nobody gets to decide for other people how events should or should not affect them, and everyone heals in their own way, she added.
“If you have been through any kind of abuse or trauma, it is OK, the way that you are healing. It is OK to take your time. It is OK to focus on you and what you need to do and that people do get better,” she said. “I think sometimes, when people are at the beginning of their recovery journey, it doesn’t seem like I can get better or I will get better, but people do get better.”
Pulley spent many years in a marriage marked by domestic violence before she was able to come to terms with both the abuse she experienced as a teen and the abuse that followed her into adulthood. She became aware of human trafficking during a 5K for a nonprofit and decided to volunteer, sharing her story with the director.
The director gifted Pulley a copy of Roadmap to Redemption by Rebecca Bender, a survivor of human trafficking. That book gave Pulley words for what had happened to her, and the nonprofit hired her for her first role in the anti-human trafficking field. A few years later, she left the marriage.
Pulley has worked as a victim advocate for 10 years and now boasts her own consulting firm, Pulley Consulting in Conway, which provides training and consultations related to human trafficking. She is also working on earning her master’s degree in social work to become a licensed clinical social worker so she can provide counseling services to survivors.
She added that therapy has been helpful during her own journey.
“Learning, ultimately, that I wasn’t put on this earth to be abused was a big one, that because I’m human, because I exist in this world, I deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and love,” she said. “That was something that, having been in a family scenario with so much abuse, I didn’t know that. I thought I deserved everything that was happening to me because it had been happening since I was a really small child.”
Physical fitness has also played a role in her recovery, and after moving to Arkansas about two years ago, Pulley decided to learn self-defense and joined Gray Beard Forge in Conway, where she now practices Brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts.
Whether she is training or just goofing around with her husband, she said learning how to play, a pastime she was denied as a child, has been her favorite part of life after trauma.
“I used to think that enjoying life meant that something bad was going to happen because I wasn’t wanting to protect myself enough,” she said. “Now I just enjoy life in a whole different way.” ◊
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence or human trafficking, help is available. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-7997233 or the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888.
Rachel Howard
Whitney Gates
Grace Amazing
Goodwill reentry program provides
training, hope
By AY Staff
Crystal Webb knew this all had to be a mistake. The product of a stable home and family who had earned her degree in nursing, she stumbled into drug use as an adult. Eight years of addiction followed until one night, her husband’s parole officer came by the house and found meth. She was charged right alongside him, and one thing led to another until the gavel fell, and now here she was, headed for incarceration, in serious trouble for the first time in her life.
“I’ve never been in such denial,” she said. “The whole time he was driving me there, I’m like I don’t think he’s really gonna leave me. There’s no way they’re fixing to put me in jail for this, but they did.
I remember this lady walks me in there, and I was like, ‘Are you gonna leave me here?’ and she just looks at me like what’s wrong with you? She just walked out and shut the door. I was just bawling.”
When addressing the next nine months, during which time she was transferred to a community correction center in West Memphis to address her addiction, Webb was very clear on what got her through the experience: a surprisingly close-knit set of fellow inmates and a higher power.
“Those women in there, this sounds crazy, but I’ve never met such nice people,” she said. “The first night I spent in prison, this lady that had been there for a while said come here. She got this other lady that was kind of the leader of the room. We stood there in the center of the room, and they said this prayer with me. They’re like, ‘God, just be with this lady and help her get through this. She’s going to make it.’
Webb is one of the lucky ones in that she has remained drug free and off the law’s radar since she was released, an outcome not every addict or inmate gets to experience. The United States has the highest rate of recidivism in the world, according to World Population Review, which compiled state-by-state facts for 2024. It reported that Arkansas had the fifth-highest recidivism rate in the nation, and 47.5 percent of released inmates reoffended within three years.
The rate of addiction relapse is even more challenging. Addiction Group reported 70 percent of people with diagnosed alcohol use disorder fall back into drinking at some point and substance use disorder cases relapse at a rate of 40 to 60 percent.
Part of Webb’s ability to buck the odds was due to her participation in Goodwill Industries of Arkansas’ Transitional Employment Opportunities program. TEO provides a 16-week paid job training program and assists with job readiness skills, career planning, job search and resume assistance, and more to help the previously incarcerated land on their feet and begin to rebuild their lives. This is important because poverty is the No. 1 factor in recidivism, Prison Policy Initiative states, and the daily structure of employment is critical to maintaining sobriety, as well.
TEO’s results have been impressive; the program served 402 individuals in fiscal 2024, producing graduates who reoffend at a rate of just 6 percent. Webb is a model success story for the program, and she landed a position at Crowley’s Ridge Development Council in Jonesboro, where she earned a promotion to family development case manager supervisor. She also gained back custody of her three children and hopes to regain her nursing license, as well.
She said while she still harbors feelings of shame and regret about what she put herself and her family through, she is more committed than ever to making amends as she takes advantage of her second chance in life.
“You know what? I think God put me there. I really do,” she said. “When I was in active addiction, I would pray, ‘Please help me. I don’t know what to do.’ I never said, ‘Don’t send me to prison,’ so I really do think God had that just planned for me, and that’s the way I made it through. If it wasn’t for this terrible period in my life, I wouldn’t have such an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ right now, which I’ve carried with me from prison. In that sense, it was worth it, I would say.”
90s No More Arkansas gang activity has new look, new issues
By Mak Millard
Arkansas found itself in the national spotlight in two drastically different regards in the mid-1990s. On the one hand, a native son of the Natural State had just ascended to America’s highest office. Not long afterwards, however, the capital city would come under scrutiny following the release of Gang War: Bangin’ in Little Rock. The 1994 HBO documentary revealed the extent to which the city, then, as now, one of the most dangerous in the country, had become racked with violence and bloodshed.
While the issue of gangs has not disappeared in the 30 years since Gang War ’s release, they are not the driver of crime rates they once were, and criminal activity in Arkansas has taken on a different dimension. That cultural shift is one that Jimmy McGill, author, speaker and executive director of Next Step Recovery Housing, knows firsthand.
As part of a presentation he gives now as a leading figure in the recovery space, McGill tracks the impact of drug laws through the ’90s and 2000s on the makeup of prison gangs. New mandates meant certain offenders served larger portions of their sentences, and that change kept more white inmates — largely there on methamphetaminerelated charges who would otherwise be in and out of prison relatively quickly — imprisoned longer.
“When I went back in ’97, you started hearing rumors about a white gang called NAE, New Aryan Empire,” McGill said. “I go back in the year 2000, and [with] the methamphetamine law, there’s no more going in and out of prison. Now white people are getting arrested for manufacturing meth left and right, and they’re having to do 7 1/2 years on their 10-year sentences.”
By the mid-2000s, McGill estimated the barracks had gone from a small number of white inmates to 30, 40 and 50 percent white. From there, white supremacist gangs were able to flourish, and they did so well beyond the neighborhoods of Little Rock that HBO visited.
“Tougher drug laws gave birth to the White Aryan Resistance and to the New Aryan Empire, and they’re 20,000 strong now in Arkansas, if you look at those numbers,” McGill said. “You still see neighborhood gangs, but they’re only talking about that in prison. … They’re not really focused on that like they were in the ’90s in Little Rock and central Arkansas.”
Back in the capital city, the fight against crime, gang-related or not, wages on. Reports from the Little Rock Police Department indicate an overall decrease from 2023 to 2024, as well as a decrease, on average, over the past five years. As reported by KARK, violent crime had the most significant drop compared to previous years.
“We have slowed down a lot,” said Kevin Hunt Sr., author, speaker and executive director of the nonprofit Inspiring Other People. “I’m really grateful for that. … I don’t know a lot about how many shootings we got, but as far as murders, the murders have really [gone] down in this city.”
A former gang member himself, Hunt now works to promote healthy youth development and communitybased intervention. Childhood and adolescence are crucial times for social and emotional growth, and the examples one has at those stages of life, positive or negative, can have lasting impacts.
“I do think what steers a lot of us is the cyclical part of just the hopelessness,” Hunt said. “Sometimes that makes you feel like you can’t be successful in life, and mentally, it bothers you. It makes it easy for people like me to get into a life of crime, join gangs, get in and out of jail, and live a hopeless life because we don’t know what hope looks like.”
Preventing that hopelessness while promoting positive identity formation is the driving force behind Hunt’s work. It is imperative to intervene early, especially in school, because a child who feels left behind with no resources for catching up can begin to simply go through the motions and eventually disengage completely.
“It’s the same cycle, same setup at every school, every state,” Hunt said. “When you can’t read, write and spell, you don’t want to go to class. If you don’t want to go to class, you’re in the hallway, and you don’t really want to be at school. It’s just that simple. Why go to school? Why go to class?”
Megan Miller, CEO of The BridgeWay psychiatric hospital in North Little Rock, highlighted some of the other psychological factors at play. Early experiences, she said, impact brain development and make up the foundation for how an individual perceives and interacts with the world.
“I think that the easiest way to see that is probably from a long-term study called the ACEs study,” Miller said. “ACEs stands for ‘adverse childhood experiences,’ and it was conducted in 1995. … [The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente] began to look at this link between these traumatic childhood experiences, mostly surrounding things like abuse, neglect, household dysfunction, and what happened to us with our health outcomes in later life.”
Based on that data and the wave of studies that followed, researchers have been able to form some links between the number of ACEs one experiences and negative health outcomes, and those results show up across all income and social levels. In some cases, trauma or chronic stress caused by one’s environment can lead individuals to seek out unhealthy coping mechanisms, and what stress does biologically is compounded socially by way of adult examples and role models.
“If they have been modeled particularly aggressive behavior or, perhaps, substance use as a way to manage that stress, and they haven’t had as many of those responsive relationships that would be healthy, they may be more likely to think that violence or substance use is an acceptable means of problem solving or effective coping,”
Jimmy McGill
Kevin Hunt Sr.
Megan Miller (Photo Courtesy of The Bridgeway)
Miller said.
Those who do turn to substance abuse and, in some cases, crime, rarely find that prison improves the situation. Regardless of what is on their record, McGill said, and regardless of race, he said he has seldom met anyone who did not have a substance use history in prison, and repeated visits to jail do little to address the root causes of addiction.
“You can beat someone, pray over them, lock them up. None of that is going to help somebody not do drugs,” he said. “Whether we like it or not, 95 percent of all gang members have a drug problem. When you put us all in a cage where we’re stuck there together with this pent-up animosity and anxiety and everybody’s telling war stories, we’re staying in that state of mind, glamorizing the streets.”
Gang affiliation or not, entering into the criminal justice system can have detrimental domino effects, especially for youth. Once adolescents get in, Hunt said, they often feel like there is no way out. When their examples are others who have gone from multiple juvenile detention stays on to the adult system, it can be easy for that cycle to become normalized.
“They don’t think there’s [a] way out, because everything that they see, what they see or what they’re around is involved in some type of form or fashion in the system,” Hunt said. “Some kids have somebody in their family or someone connected to their family that’s been in and out of the system all their life, and they think that’s normal. Then another thing too — some kids think it’s cool to be in the system. They take it as a badge of honor.”
Even when individuals make it out, the road to reentry can be a steep one. Next Step Recovery Housing stays at 100 percent capacity and is currently at work on an expansion to 50 beds. Many of Next Step’s residents come from the Clarksville, Fort Smith and Russellville areas, and McGill said, “Hands down, 75 percent of the men that we have are affiliated previously to some kind of gang.”
“The more people we see get sober, the more people want to cover up, or they want to unaffiliate. They want to be inactive. They don’t want any part of it,” he said. “When you’re not sober and you’re not living right, you usually have to go to extreme lengths to get and use dope. That puts you in a mindset of crime. It puts you in a criminal element. With that comes people who are attracted to that criminal element of a lifestyle, other gang members, other people that are doing the same thing you’re doing.”
Megan Miller, CEO
Next Step and organizations like it fill a crucial gap in the reintegration process, as well as providing an alternative to the current approach. For both those coming out of prison and those at risk of going into it, access to resources can often make or break their success at becoming a functioning member of society.
“While they’re incarcerated, they may have access to medication, healthy meals, therapy,” Miller said. “They’ve left, and they don’t have any kind of insurance or availability to continue that, and so those resources that they built around them that were effective now [are] not available. … It’s easier for them to turn to what they know they have access to or they know that works.”
On the prevention side, Hunt emphasized the need for early childhood programs and community resources designed to catch struggling kids early and support them — socially, academically and emotionally — from pre-K all the way through high school. Something he likes to do, he said, is pair his current and former kids together so that, hopefully, they can learn from the experiences of someone who has been there before.
“It’s always good to have other young people that come in, even adults, too, to say, man, that ain’t the life you want,” Hunt said. “Then you have somebody in their age group to be like, ‘I just did three months in the county jail or in the juvenile detention center. Man, I don’t want to be down there.’ Not only is the food bad, it’s the aggressiveness of the other inmates. It’s being away from your family. It’s being told what to do. Having somebody with that lived experience helps.”
For those caught in a cycle of substance abuse, crime and incarceration, McGill added, more of the same in the form of arrests and longer sentences will not help. People stuck in addiction generally do not benefit from being stuck in prison unless there is real work being done to put them on another path. Besides, it is not a cost-effective way to solve the problem, either.
“It costs anywhere from $56 to $85 a day to house every inmate in the state of Arkansas, whether it’s jail or state, versus [committing] them to a recovery program,” he said. “Now, instead of spending Arkansas taxpayer money, these people who would be in prison that we would have to pay for are now working and paying their own taxes. They’re sober. In turn, that reduced the crime rate. It made the community safer. We’re seeing people get taken out of foster care and reunited with families. How do you put a price on that? Why are we not supporting recovery and reentry initiatives and less incarceration?” ◊
The BridgeWay
The BridgeWay offers a continuum of individualized treatment services for children, adolescents and adults experiencing complications related to behavioral, emotional and addiction issues.
Nestled in the wooded hills of central Arkansas, The BridgeWay’s 18-acre campus affords scenic views, natural surroundings and wildlife common to the Natural State, along with vast open areas that invite reflection. The surroundings provide privacy among patients and visitors, which is essential to improving one’s mental health. Services include inpatient programs for children, adults and women; partial hospitalization, an intensive outpatient program and electroconvulsive therapy for adults; help for veterans in crisis; and telehealth services. Patients receive individualized care according to their needs and delivered by experienced professionals in a compassionate environment. ◊
21 Bridgeway Road, North Little Rock | 888-818-6955 | thebridgeway.com
Boost Workplace Wellness
Specialized Outpatient Treatment
Our Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) is for adults, ages 18 and older, who are experiencing mental health or substance use issues. We offer PHP treatment five days a week, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.
We offer:
• Other therapies as appropriate Specialized Outpatient Treatment
• Medication management (available in PHP only)
• Mindfulness and stress management
Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
• Psychotherapy (talk therapy)
• Psychoeducation
• Mental health assessments
• Medical and nursing assessments
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
interviewing
• 12-step recovery
• Motivational interviewing
• Anger management
The Intensive Outpatient Program is the least restrictive level of care with treatment usually lasting between four and six weeks. Our group setting allows patients to work on recovery from mental health issues or substance use disorder. IOP is offered five days a week, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm.
• Treatment with patient trauma in mind
• Guided journaling
• Life skills development
• Anger management
Electroconvulsive
• Treatment with patient trauma in mind
• Guided journaling
• Life skills development
• Social skills therapy
• Art therapy
• Other therapies as appropriate
Electroconvulsive Therapy*
Electroconvulsive
We offer confidential assessments at no-cost 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Learn more at thebridgeway.com.
Electroconvulsive Therapy is a treatment for adults 18 years and older who suffer from severe episodes of major depression, persistent suicidal ideation, mania and some types of schizophrenia and who have either not responded to medications or whose symptoms are too severe to permit medication trials.
We offer confidential assessments at no-cost 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Learn more at thebridgeway.com.
Newhaven Recovery Lodge
Reclaiming Lives & Restoring Hope
At Newhaven Recovery Lodge, staff members are deeply committed to supporting the El Dorado and Union County communities with expanded programs and services that bring hope and healing. Working alongside state and local partners, the company fulfills its mission to serve the citizens of El Dorado and provide comprehensive support for those in need of behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment.
Opened in July 2024, Newhaven Recovery Lodge is a community-centered space surrounded by lush greenery, vibrant flowers and tranquil spaces that encourage personal growth. The lodge offers a unique setting for individuals to begin the recovery journey and provides treatment options tailored to each person’s needs. With detox, residential and intensive outpatient programs, as well as small group and individual sessions, the company provides flexible, compassionate care. The private rooms, which will soon accommodate more than 46 beds, are designed to make each resident feel at home and feature a private bathroom, a desk, personal storage and a patio area.
Recovery at Newhaven goes beyond individual support. Families play a crucial role in the journey toward healing, so the program includes family sessions and educational resources aimed at understanding addiction and rebuilding relationships. That involvement often enhances longterm recovery outcomes as loved ones become an active part of the healing process.
The team envisions a fully integrated approach to care that offers comprehensive services under one roof. From the first day, aftercare planning
is in motion, ensuring each client has a solid path forward once the program is complete. The Newhaven Family — including dedicated staff and partners — stands ready to support clients through every step of the recovery journey, fostering a supportive environment that continues long after graduation.
No one should have to face the struggle alone. Newhaven Recovery Lodge is here for clients and their loved ones, ready to offer hope, guidance and care whenever it is needed.
To learn more, contact Newhaven Recovery Lodge at admissions@newhavenrecoverylodge.org, call 870-865-7908 or visit newhavenrecoverylodge.org.
2301 Champagnolle Road, El Dorado
Newhaven Recovery Lodge
Newhaven Counseling & Health Services
Treating the Whole Person
Located at 715 N. College Ave. in El Dorado, Newhaven Counseling & Health Services is dedicated to providing exceptional behavioral health, substance abuse and primary care services that meet the diverse needs of the community. At the core of the company’s mission is the commitment to help each client experience whole-body health, emphasizing the interconnectedness of behavior, physical well-being and emotional resilience.
The company’s approach to health and wellness is holistic, focusing on the impact of clients’ behavior on their overall health. The dedicated team works closely with clients to foster growth in body, mind and spirit to ensure a strong foundation for lasting wellness. By addressing behavioral health needs alongside physical health, Newhaven Counseling & Health Services offers a comprehensive care model that supports each person’s unique journey.
In addition to behavioral health support, the company provides essential primary care services for its residential clients. Health care providers collaborate with clients to manage their health proactively, providing guidance, preventive care and treatment tailored to individual needs. The partnership ensures clients can maintain their health and embrace a fuller, healthier life.
Another component of Newhaven’s commitment to quality care is Hope House, a rehabilitative day program
designed to enrich lives through skill-building and daily living support. At Hope House, clients learn essential skills to improve their quality of life and gain greater independence, contributing to their well-being and success within the community.
Whether one is seeking behavioral health assistance, primary care or supportive programs such as Hope House, Newhaven Counseling & Health Services is available to help. The team is dedicated to fostering a compassionate, supportive environment to ensure everyone has access to effective, life-enhancing care.
For more information or to access services, call 870-862-7921.
715 N. College Ave., El Dorado
Newhaven Counseling & Health Services
Back from Bottom
By Justina Parker
Freshly Renewed Transitional is a treatment facility dedicated to empowering individuals on their journey of recovery from substance abuse to lead fulfilling, healthy lives. Located in southwest Little Rock, the facility believes in a holistic approach to treatment to connect with an individual’s psychological, physical and emotional needs to address their struggles with addiction. Understanding that recovery is a personal journey, the practice seeks to provide the resources, support and compassion needed to achieve long-term sobriety.
In 2016, Illinois-turned-Arkansas native Terrell Newton was a manager at Pepsi with a bad case of what he called the “Sunday scaries”.
“I was depressed and realized I was rushing time to get away from a time,” he said. “I was wishing years away from my life to be done with it.”
Newton began questioning what it was he really enjoyed doing in life and realized that coaching people was his true passion. While exploring how he could direct that talent into something positive, he kept circling back to the fact of Arkansas having one of the highest recidivism rates in the country. After doing considerable research on the side, he decided in 2016 to take a leap of faith,
“I kept wondering how out of 100 men leaving prison, we had 57 going back in,” he said. “I knew I had to do something to help.”
“I told my wife we were going to live on my retirement for two years. Anything I made from the business would go back into the business, and if I couldn’t see growth in two years, I would stop. Fortunately, two years came around, and we were still growing.”
Through this growth, Freshly Renewed Transitional Treatment was born. Newton started with himself and a transitional house serving one person from the Arkansas Department of Corrections. He worked up to four houses and realized that everyone coming out of prison had an addiction issue that circled back to trauma.
“I kept sending people to therapy, so I started gathering information and a team so we could
I kept wondering how out of 100 men leaving prison, we had 57 going back in. I knew I had to do something to help.
—Terrell Newton, founder of Freshly Renewed Transitional
offer a treatment center, as well,” he said. “We just needed a place to grow.”
At the end of 2018, he purchased an old 5,000-square-foot warehouse with two offices off Baseline Road. Today, that same building has doubled in size to house 13 offices, five therapists, two practitioners, one medical doctor, peer specialists and a full lab. While it began with only referrals from the DOC, Freshly Renewed Transitional now receives referrals from Baptist Health, CHI St. Vincent and other detox facilities in the area.
Newton has found hiring recovering addicts has contributed to his success.
“Almost all of our staff has gone through the pro gram — carpenters, chefs, peer specialists,” he said. “All of these people are committed to this change and helping others get to meetings and better themselves, as well.”
The program offers a partial hospitalization program that is designated for people who need a higher level of care than traditional outpatient services but do not require 24-hour supervision at an inpatient facility. It also offers an intensive outpatient program for those who can live at home but still need guidance. Medication management, an on-site lab, classrooms, an industrial kitchen and clinical therapy for clients can all be found at the center, as well. Freshly Renewed also currently has 16 transitional houses in central Arkansas.
Despite the good work the organization has done, the growth has not come without challenges.
“Everyone likes what you’re doing, but no one wants it in their backyard,” he said. “There are currently a lot of hoops to go through to have a transitional house in Arkansas. People are concerned about these people living near them, but no one can come into our program unless they’re clean. These are people that have curfews, are drug tested regularly and are trying to make their lives better.”
Newton said many times, men do not have somewhere to go after prison, since families tend to accept women back due to their having children or being able to forgive their past mistakes.
“Oftentimes, a man has done more permanent damage to his family,” he said. “Not having somewhere to go creates a cycle of homelessness which contributes to recidivism.”
Freshly Renewed’s clinical director, Tiara Miller, said she began to see the changes in clients firsthand when she joined the team in 2022. Having worked as a licensed clinical social worker in mental health care since 2018, she started at the center as a contract therapist and instantly found joy in serving the clients.
“In September of 2023, Terrell reached out to offer me the opportunity to be clinical director,” she said. “I was shocked but, without hesitation, accepted the position. It just felt right.”
It takes a person hitting rock bottom before they’re willing to not go back. That rock bottom looks different for everyone. — Newton
Miller said clinical directors forget how challenging direct care work can be, so she strives to be the director she needed when she was working primarily in direct care. That can range from completing intake or leading a group to following up on case management tasks or whatever else she is able to do to support her staff and provide quality care to clients.
“As a social worker, transitional work speaks to the heart of my profession of connecting people to resources, advocating and empowering individuals to overcome challenges and barriers,” she said.
Graduates of the program have now become part of a larger community. Newton said many of the facilities around central Arkansas join together for a huge kickball tournament once a year.
“All of the centers bring their own team. We feed everyone, and a huge trophy is given out,” he said. “We celebrate Sober October together and hope to have our first 5K fundraiser next year.”
Having served more than 2,000 individuals since 2020, Newton reflected on the work that has come so far since being launched with a two-year window and a prayer.
“It takes a person hitting rock bottom before they’re willing to not go back. That rock bottom looks different for everyone,” he said. “Once they’ve hit that bottom, detox centers get them clean, but our goal is to keep them clean. Even after moving out, clients can come back any time for a class, to eat lunch or just to talk. Once you’re here, you’re family.”◊
Breaking the Chains of Addiction and Renewing Lives Through
Faith-Based Transitional Treatment: Your Path to Healing and Hope
Overcoming a life impacted by complex trauma and addiction is an intricate and challenging journey, particularly when faced alone. At Freshly Renewed Transitional, we take immense pride in our commitment to meeting our clients where they’re at. Your goals matter to us. Our distinctive approach encompasses a partial hospitalization program, comprehensive outpatient care and ongoing aftercare, providing clients the opportunity to reside within a nurturing and secure environment during treatment, and to sustain their healing journey while embracing independent living.
Our Treatment Center Services:
• Holistic Housing Solutions
• Compassionate Counseling
• Personalized Outpatient Care
• Empowering Employment Skills
• Strategic Vocational Support
• Professional Development
• Enriching Lesure Activies
• Seamless Transition to Independence
• Cutting-Edge On-Site Lab Services
Join us on this transformative journey toward recovery, growth, and empowerment. At our Treatment Center, you’re not just another client; you’re an individual with unique strengths, dreams, and potential waiting to be unlocked.
The Lifer J.D. Skelton lives every day of sobriety as a gift
By Dwain Hebda
J.D. Skelton cracked his eyes open to the sound of someone knocking on the camper door. It took him a moment for his brain, addled by the alcohol and drug bender he had been on, to put the scene into its proper context. What had it been, a day? Who was out there?
More banging, more thoughts dropping like stones in a puddle, shallow splashes of memory. It had been a week, he slowly cobbled together, a week of getting drunk and high like the old days, like he always had, like he said he was never going to do again. It had been a week of old pals and old habits and who the hell knows what else? Every drug house looks, smells
the same — filthy holes where the stench of smoke and despair and rotting lives hang low under the ceiling.
More calls to open up, and this time, the voice rounds into something more familiar. Jimmy, the former hellraiser from the neighborhood, twice the hardass he ever was, who had somehow found sobriety is out there. Jimmy would not bring the cops with him, Skelton thought, but that did not move him any closer to the door.
“Jay Bo,” Skelton said, croaking the old nickname Jimmy used to go by. “What are you doing?”
“It’s Jimmy now,” chuckled the voice outside. “Why don’t you come out, brother?”
A week ago, Skelton had been released from prison to a daughter determined to give her dad one last chance. It was
J.D. Skelton put his days of crime and addiction behind him and now serves as director of strategic initiatives at Natural State Recovery Centers.
by By Dwain Hebda
Skelton said he relapsed the very same day he was released from prison and, after a week, entered a rehab to get sober for the long haul.
she who had set up the camper right there on her farm, striking a balance between the privacy due a 50-year-old grown man and the supervision the addict in him required. She even got him a cellphone, and four hours after crossing the threshold into what was to be a new life, he dialed up his old one.
“I’m way out in the country. I hadn't seen anybody in years. I called one of my old buddies who had the same number,” Skelton said of that summer day in 2018. “I’m like, ‘Hey, bro, stop by the liquor store. Bring me a pint. I just got home four
hours ago,’ so he shows out at the house. I drink a pint of vodka, and within two hours, I’m like, ‘Bro, let’s go.’
“Six hours after I had been released from prison, after a bottle of vodka, I was sitting at the drug house that I was arrested at the last time I went to prison. Right in the house. There were baggies and needles and bottles of alcohol, and I'm sitting there, and I’m — I’m miserable.”
Skelton told the tale without any sign of emotion save for disgust. Coaxed from that camper by Jimmy and his wife outside, he remembered feeling desperation over the prospect of going back to prison, of burning the last plank of the bridge he had to the family still talking to him, of never outrunning the demon that had consumed so much around him and was now bent on killing him.
“I needed to go through the last trial and tribulation in my life to actually mature,” he said. “You would think a man my age was mature. Not in my case.” ***
It has been a long road for J.D. Skelton to figure out who he is, a life that began with few details of his parents or past. Born in 1967, he was adopted by a North Little Rock couple. His mother worked 65 years as a nurse, and his father spent at least that long in his chosen pursuits.
“My mother and daddy were really good people,” he said. “My mother worked 12-hour shifts and always helped others. I remember growing up, she would help unwed mothers, or she would bring babies in the house when some nurse she worked with was going through a divorce.
“My dad, he was my best friend, and he loved me the best that he knew how. I mean, he was a gambler and an alcoholic, but he always took care of me. He didn't let nothing bad happen to me. I loved him to death.”
Skelton’s childhood was spent mostly along a strip of Dogtown bordering Sherwood that, in the 1960s and 1970s, housed a string of go-go bars and pool dens that served as his father’s office.
“That’s the area that he ran,” Skelton said. “Dad was my babysitter, and he liked to gamble. He shot pool. I’ve seen him with no money in his pocket, and I’ve seen him with pockets full of money.”
His education on the streets and in the barroom held much more allure than the classroom kind, and it did not take long for Skelton to emulate what he saw all around him.
“I was the guy in school that just liked excitement,” he said. “Dad was a drinker, and I remember we'd go to deer camp, and me and the kids my age would sneak a beer or sneak whiskey when we were 8, 9, 10 years old. We never really got drunk, you know? We would just drink a little bit.
“I started drugs at a young age. The first time I got pot was from my sister’s first husband, who was a pot dealer. He actually got caught with about 70 or 80 pounds of it back in the ‘70s. When I first tried pot, I was probably, I dunno, 10, 11, 12 years old — wasn't very old. It quickly went to cocaine we got from the older brother of one of my friends. That would’ve been in, probably, eighth, ninth grade.”
Skelton graduated from North Pulaski High School in Jacksonville despite spending his high school years primarily chasing skirts and selling dope — or, perhaps, it was because of it, since the charismatic pusher and bad boy had a line of people willing to make sure he did not flunk out
“I graduated by the skin of my teeth because I had females that would do my work,” he said. “I didn’t take a schoolbook home since I was, what, seventh grade?
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My first addiction was attention. It was my first drug, really.
“I was also very manipulative. You learn that, you know? I pretty much could get by and get whatever I wanted. That also is an addiction in itself.”
Skelton’s plan after graduation was to be a printer, having taken some beginner classes in high school that started him formulating plans to be a counterfeiter. He never got the chance; in rapid succession he became a father at 19, married, got arrested for dealing at 20, divorced, and landed in federal prison at age 21. Once his federal hitch was up, the state locked him up until 2000.
Serving a term that stretched from the echoes of the “Just Say No” Reagan years to the dawn of the new millenium made for a jarring adjustment upon release. Skelton came out without ever having owned a cellphone, let alone knowing how to operate a personal computer. One thing that had not changed, however, was the stigma that addicts and felons carried like the mark of Cain.
“The stigma was real bad back then, worse than it is now,” he said. “It was tough to get a job.”
He landed at a delivery company and, within a short time, figured out a better way of doing things. He developed a business plan and launched Arkansas Freight Solutions, which took off like a rocket. Skelton said within three years, revenues reached six figures a month in what should have been the mother of all comeback stories. Behind the fancy house, expensive cars and thriving business, however, lurked the same demon, patiently waiting for an opening to sink its teeth into his veins.
“What I learned is I had a living problem that was never addressed in prison or in the street,” he said. “Everything was drugs and attention, and that’s what it was all about. I didn't really know how to live any other way. I went to prison at a young age, got out when I was 33, and I didn’t know how to handle money. I didn’t know how to handle a new wife and relationship. I made tons of money as a businessman but acted just like I was a drug dealer.”
AFS did well until one day, it didn’t, and that, along with a messy divorce, led him back to his familiar den of booze and drugs. Five years of prosperity imploded at a rate of thousands of dollars a week he pulled out of the company to feed his habit, and his life went with it, causing considerable collateral damage to anyone close to the blast.
“It was a very hurtful thing for people that went into that with me,” he said. “When I use drugs, I don’t care about anybody or anything. It doesn't matter how bad I hurt you; I'm going to do whatever it takes to give me whatever I need.”
His old lifestyle brought familiar consequences, but in 2018, he walked out of jail determined to change, a commitment that would dissolve four hours later into a weeklong binge that brought his old acquaintance out to bang on his camper door.
“I’d only been out a week. I had not reported to the parole office. I knew that I was gonna go back to prison, so I came out, and I listened to what Jimmy and his wife had to say,” he said. “At first I said, ‘Let’s do this in a week,’ but they were like, bro, you literally don’t have anything. You have nothing holding you back [from
treatment]. The parole office is gonna be looking for you any day. I went, ‘OK, I'm willing to try this.’ I was desperate for anything.”
Skelton entered rehab, linked up with a great counselor, and something felt different. He actually worked his program, learned what was at the root of his behavior and basically did what he was told. Learning how to cope without substances and taking accountability for his actions slowly started to make him feel better than he had in a very long time.
“I got involved with Narcotics Anonymous, got a sponsor, started working the steps, got a job,” he said. “This is 2018 or 2019, and people were talking to me about being a peer support specialist and how I had a story that people would listen to, and so I became one. I just listened to everything they told me to do, and I followed it, and it got me where I am today.”
Where Skelton is these days is Natural State Recovery Centers in North Little Rock, where he works to help indi-
people were talking to me about being a peer support specialist and how I had a story that people would listen to, and so I became one. I just listened to everything they told me to do, and I followed it, and it got me where I am today.
— J.D.
Skelton, Natural State Recovery Centers
viduals battling their own demons of addiction and the shame, helplessness and wreckage it brings. He envisions the organization growing all over the state, even as he works to help one person at a time one day at a time.
“I learned accountability through a sponsor,” he said. “I needed to call someone before I made decisions because all the decisions that I had made in my past were based on selfish things, and it always got me the same thing. Once I got a little bit of peace in me, I didn’t want to let that go, and it grew from there, and it's grown into a wonderful, wonderful thing.”
Skelton relayed his current situation with authentic joy in his voice, but he is not naive about the nature of his sobriety. He knows how easy it is for the most committed person to slip up and fall back on the spikes of the past, let alone someone whose addiction consumed 35 years of his life, locked him up for 12, and would love to see him wind up back inside or a pallid junkie aching for his next hit.
“I have been given a gift, what we call the gift of desperation,” he said. “I know what my consequences are, and I know what my history is. If I use, if I put one in me again, my history tells me that I’m gonna go back to prison. If I do that, I may not come back. Plus, the way drugs have evolved now, if I put one in me, it could be the last one because of fentanyl.
“We have a thing we say in Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous and Cocaine Anonymous — ‘Play the tape all the way through.’ These programs teach us how to think before we act. Don't think I don't have problems. I have 500 of them a day, but now I know how to address them without hiding. As long as I do what I'm doing, continue my maintenance plan for what I have going on in my brain and in my body, as long as I continue to do that, I’ll always have peace. Behind that comes happiness and joy.” ◊
Skelton now serves as a mentor to others who are working to overcome addiction.
Skelton, at left, and Kirk Lane, at right, are congratulated by Arkansas Drug Director Tom Fisher as recipients of the Naxolone Life Saving Award. (Photos submitted.)
Fear Not, For I am With You
Arkansas churches offer connection during recovery
By Kelli Reep
In a world increasingly grappling with addiction, mental health crises and feelings of isolation, faith communities in Arkansas are stepping in to provide solace and support. Church-based recovery programs are emerging as beacons of hope, addressing the multifaceted needs of individuals who often feel overlooked by traditional systems. By offering holistic approaches rooted in spiritual, emotional and communal care, the programs not only support recovery but foster a sense of belonging. From substance abuse to grief and depression, the initiatives extend far beyond addiction recovery, embracing a wider spectrum of struggles. By prioritizing connection and inclusion, church-led efforts stand as testimonies to the power of compassion in healing lives. Program leaders from St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Little Rock, Park Hill Baptist Church in North Little Rock and CrossRoads Cowboy Church in El Paso explained how faith-based programs have a profound, positive impact on the communities they serve.
GROWING IN GRACE MINISTRY ST. ANDREW’S ANGLICAN CHURCH
Little Rock’s St. Andrew’s Anglican Church’s Growing in Grace program offers a unique blend of spiritual nourishment and practical support. Associate Pastor Tony Davis described it as an open invitation for individuals grappling with various challenges from addiction to anxiety and grief.
“Growing in Grace is not a program with a set agenda,” Davis said. “It’s a welcoming space where anyone can come, share a meal, worship and find community without judgment.”
Hosted every Tuesday night, Growing in Grace begins with a hot meal provided by volunteers, which fosters an environment of fellowship. That is followed by worship music, a gospel-centered message or personal testimony, and smaller, gender-specific groups where participants can share their journeys and seek prayer.
Davis emphasized the program is not structured like traditional 12-step models such as Celebrate Recovery. Instead, it is tailored to be a church service with recovery in mind and grounded in the belief that everyone is recovering from something.
“Many attendees may not feel comfortable attending our more traditional Sunday services, but they feel at home here at Growing in Grace,” Davis said. “Some come just for the meal, and that’s OK. It’s about creating a space where they can experience love and the transformative power of the gospel.”
Despite its casual approach, the program has a robust turnout, drawing 80 to 100 attendees weekly. Participants span a wide age range, some as young as teenagers and others in their 80s. St. Andrew’s aims to keep the ministry flexible, adapting to the needs of the community without imposing a rigid structure.
“Our mission is simple,” Davis said. “We want everyone to feel loved and know they belong.”
HOLISTIC SUPPORT PARK HILL BAPTIST CHURCH
At Park Hill Baptist Church in North Little Rock, Discipleship Pastor Garrick Conner oversees a range of support groups tailored to specific needs, including caregivers, people with Parkinson’s disease, widowers and cancer survivors. The monthly gatherings reflect the church’s dedication to addressing the nuanced struggles of its congregation and the broader community.
“Churches often overlook the less obvious needs within their congregations and surrounding communities,” he said. “We want to be proactive in meeting those needs while showing the love of Christ in tangible ways.”
The groups not only provide a sense of belonging but also equip participants with practical tools for navigating challenges. For instance, the caregiver support group frequently features speakers who address topics such as self-care and setting boundaries. Similarly, the Parkinson’s support group creates a space for patients and their families to learn, share and find encouragement.
A hallmark of the meetings is the regular hot meal, which further fosters fellowship and connection. Beyond formal sessions, members often form smaller, informal groups that support each other through phone calls, shared outings and acts of kindness. The relationships reflect the church’s philosophy that God often answers prayers through his people.
Another standout initiative is Park Hill’s Breathe Blue Christmas service, which offers comfort to those struggling during the holiday season. Designed for individuals facing grief, estrangement, unemployment or other life transitions, the service validates their pain and reminds them they are not alone.
“At some point in our lives, we all struggle with feeling like we are completely alone in this world,” Conner said. “During a time of the year when everyone and everything is stressing how happy you should be, it’s even more difficult to validate feelings of loneliness. We understand, but most importantly, our God understands, and we want people to know they are not alone, now or ever.”
Conner also stresses the importance of embracing mental health care as part of spiritual well-being.
“Caring for your mental health is caring for the whole person,” he said. “There should be no shame in seeking help, whether that involves medication, therapy or support groups.”
COWBOY RESCUE
CROSSROADS COWBOY CHURCH
Crossroads Cowboy Church’s Cowboy Rescue ministry in El Paso is a uniquely Western-themed recovery program that seeks to meet people where they are. With a nod to rodeo culture, participants are guided by “pickup men” (mentors) and “bullfighters” (accountability partners).
“We wanted to create something that resonated with our Western heritage and didn’t carry the stigma often associated with traditional recovery programs,” said Kelly Skiles, the founder of the ministry and a member of CrossRoads. “Our mission is to help people open the gate to grace.”
Cowboy Rescue welcomes individuals facing a variety of struggles, from addiction and grief to loneliness and suicidal thoughts. Thursday night meetings begin with a shared meal followed by worship, a message and testimonials. While testimonies may be livestreamed with the speaker’s consent, a strong emphasis is placed on confidentiality for those sharing in smaller groups. Skiles emphasizes that connection lies at the heart of Cowboy Rescue.
“Many people think cowboys are lone rangers, but the truth is, even in rodeos, you rely on others,” she said. “It’s the same in life and faith. You’re not meant to go it alone.”
In addition to weekly meetings, Cowboy Rescue features a “trail marker” system in which participants earn tokens for milestones such as sobriety, spiritual growth or forgiveness. Skiles, who overcame her own struggles with addiction, uses her experiences to inspire others.
“When I surrendered my struggles to God, everything changed,” she said. “That’s the message we share: You’re never too far gone for grace.”
A REFUGE OF HOPE
Church-based recovery programs such as Growing in Grace, Park Hill’s support groups and Cowboy Rescue demonstrate the transformative power of community and faith. By addressing spiritual, emotional and practical needs, these ministries embody the essence of Christ’s teachings — love, compassion, and redemption.
Each program underscores a common truth: Recovery is not a solitary journey. Whether through a meal, a prayer or simply a listening ear, the churches provide a refuge where individuals can find healing and hope. As Davis put it, “It’s about creating a space where people can feel loved and experience the gospel’s transformative power.” ◊
Pinnacle Pointe Behavioral Healthcare System
Located in Little Rock, Pinnacle Pointe Behavioral Healthcare System provides psychiatric care for children and teens ages 5 to 17. The organization is dedicated to helping patients find ways to live happy lives through individualized mental health treatment in a secure and nurturing environment.
Pinnacle Pointe Behavioral Healthcare System’s licensed facility offers an experienced and compassionate staff of board-certified psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, clinical therapists, certified recreational therapists, certified dietitians and more. Mental health professionals at Pinnacle Pointe provide patients with specific, individualized plans to ensure they are equipped to live their best life.
Courtney Bishop
The organization is committed to consistently delivering quality behavioral health care with integrity to children and teens in collaboration with parents, caregivers, guardians and community professionals.
“Symptomologies for youth are more severe today,” said Courtney Bishop, CEO. “The levels of anxiety, acting out and anger are much higher.
Parents are hesitant to admit their children for
mental health treatment because of the stigma they feel this may create, but they need to realize that their kids will not be labeled as bad kids, they are simply kids who have medical needs and that treatment can help them live better, happier lives.”
Pinnacle Pointe’s inpatient pediatric psychiatry programs address a number of behavioral conditions, including depression, anxiety, mood swings, grief or loss, attempts to harm them self or others, and other high-risk behaviors.
In addition to inpatient and partial hospitalization services, Pinnacle Pointe offers a full continuum of care with programs such as school-based mental health and outpatient psychiatry services through the Pointe Outpatient Behavioral Health Services.
“Our dedication to the highest standard of quality helped us attain the prestigious Governor’s Quality Achievement Award,” Bishop said. “This award recognizes Pinnacle Pointe’s commitment to and practice of quality principles through a thorough process of excellence.”
Other honors earned by the practice include the Joint Commission Top Performer on Key Quality Measures for 2011 and 2012; nomination as one of Central Arkansas’ Top Places to Work; Facility of the Year as presented by Arkansas Therapeutic Recreational Services in 2007 through 2009 and 2011; and AY About You magazine’s Best Mental Health Services for 2019.
“We hold great expectations for bringing hope and healing to children and adolescents by positively impacting their emotional and behavioral health with the compassionate care we provide,” Bishop said. “We hold great expectations for our employees to assure they meet the needs of our patients and families, we hold great expectations for our patients to assure they believe in their potential for success, and we hold great expectations for families as we offer the support and tools necessary to cope with life when the day-to-day burdens become too great to handle alone.” ◊
Letting Go
Children and families learn how to cope with loss
By Todd Traub
Camp Healing Hearts, and programs by Methodist Family Health's Kaleidoscope Grief Center in Little Rock, can help young people process grief in a healthy way while having fun and learning new skills in the process.
(Photo provided by Methodist Family Health's Kaleidoscope Grief Center)
In life, loss is inevitable.
Almost no one makes it into late adulthood without experiencing the death of a parent or loved one or the loss of a pet, a job, a business or some other constant for which the absence leaves a void. However, nature provides people with a coping process.
It is called grief, and it is not something to be feared. Grief can help.
“I believe nature gave us grief in order for us to process a loss into a lasting memory that has a positive effect to us in the end,” said psychotherapist Kathy James, owner of Kathy James Psychotherapy and Wellness in Little Rock. “The process of getting to this point is the tricky part, and often, people need help getting there. If embraced correctly, it will make you better, but if not, it will make you bitter and stuck.”
People who become stuck in their grief often find themselves trapped in one of the stages first espoused by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her book On Death and Dying : denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
Often, James said, people are stuck in the anger phase, which can lead to a number of harmful behaviors, both emotional and physical. Isolation, refusing to seek help, and medicating one’s emotions through food, overdoing exercise or substance abuse are common.
“I believe, oftentimes, people get stuck in a stage because it is more comfortable than the next stage,” James said. “What I mean by this is that they become comfortable in this stage, and changing to the next stage is too painful. Sometimes, to get to the next stage, the pain must become unbearable to advance.”
Obviously, grief has to be managed for it to lead to the healthy outcome of acceptance. Adults can seek therapy and attend support groups where they can articulate their grief and find positive ways to cope.
Children and young people, however, who are still developing emotionally and mentally, possess even fewer coping tools than their adult counterparts when facing grief, yet they are no less likely to experience great loss.
Kelli Reep, director of communica-
tions at Methodist Family Health, said more than a million children in the U.S. lose a parent by age 15.
“Research shows the death of a parent may be the most traumatic single event to affect the well-being and health of a developing child,” Reep said. “Many more children and their families will lose siblings, other relatives, caregivers and close friends.
“These profound losses affect daily lives, academic and social functioning, and growth toward adulthood. Adult depression, schizophrenia, drug problems and alcohol use may be linked to childhood bereavement.”
Janet Breen, grief therapist and program coordinator at Methodist Family Health’s Kaleidoscope Grief Center in Little Rock, noted that children’s brains are not fully developed, and children lack the ability to fully comprehend their thoughts and feelings. Grief in young people can manifest itself in physical responses or negative behaviors.
“Children often have many somatic symptoms of grief,” Breen said. “That is, grief may show up in children with stomachaches, headaches, fatigue, body aches and pains, panic attacks, separation anxiety, eating issues or sleep issues. Other common issues can be school refusal, isolation, decline in grades, masking or holding in feelings, crying, poor focus, outbursts, and increased fears.”
That, Breen said, is where trusted adults can come in to lend their support and assist a child by providing activities and outlets. Fortunately, adults do not have to go it alone when providing grief support; there are programs that can help children and their families deal with difficult times.
Methodist Family Health hosts age-appropriate peer support groups twice a month for youth ages 5 to 18 and their caregivers. The Kaleidoscope Kids Club provides quarterly chaperoned events that offer kids and teens chances to have fun when sadness threatens to be overwhelming.
Any young person enrolled in a Methodist Family Health program can attend Kids Club events and bereavement counseling, for which a licensed clinician is available.
Additionally, the Kaleidoscope Grief Center coordinates Camp Healing Hearts, a family-oriented grief camp for children ages 5 to 18 and their families. The camp is free and open to any family in Arkansas, and it provides a safe environment for children and their families to develop coping skills utilizing therapy and recreation.
This year’s overnight event is scheduled for May 17 and 18. Activities include heart-to-heart time, swimming, fishing, crafts, games, campfires and s’mores.
“Camp Healing Hearts is a quiet spot in the storm of grief,” Reep said. “They can come to camp and experience all the things a
Kathy James
Kelli Reep
typical summer camp has to offer without having to worry about expense. Essentially, they get the freedom to experience joy while also feeling the emotions surrounding grief. We surround them with skilled professionals and volunteers who understand what they are going through to help them with whatever they are feeling.”
Arkansas Children’s Good Mourning Grief Support Groups began in 1995 as a response to requests from parents, families, school counselors and others for grief support for children and teens. In 2001, Arkansas Children’s expanded its grief support and education services into the Center for Good Mourning, which has expanded thanks to multiple requests from the community for education and assistance, said Greg Adams, program coordinator for the Center for Good Mourning and staff bereavement support.
Adams said there are typically 20 to 30 children participating in either the fall or spring series, along with 10 to 15 adults. The winter virtual series, which makes grief support available to all Arkansans, is a holdover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Children and adults share many similarities in their grief responses and grief support needs,” Adams said. “Both can experience a wide range of reactions, including sadness, anger, confusion, longing, fear, guilt, irritability and fatigue. Both also have a need to understand what happened, support to express their questions, concerns, responses and memories, and ways to remember and develop new ways to be related to the person who died.”
At Camp Healing Hearts, children and families find a safe environment in which to develop coping skills and find their inner strength. An adult caregiver is required to accompany grieving children. The camp promotes healthy grieving, Breen said, by incorporating the “three R’s” — reflect, reconnect and rediscover — in its Heart-to-Heart peer support groups.
Reflection, Breen said, allows people to share their memories of their loved ones.
“We have a natural urge to remember, tell and retell our very personal stories of life and death,” Breen said. “Through age-appropriate discussions and activities, campers can develop and/or strengthen skills for coping and managing the often overwhelming and isolating emotions accompanying grief.”
Reconnection helps families observe the importance of ritual and ceremony by sharing experiences. Rediscovery stems from reflection and reconnection.
Families discover hope for the future as they work and play together with family activities such as fishing, canoeing and archery while integrating the time spent reflecting and reconnecting.
“We can rest assured that we are not alone as campers face the future rediscovering their strengths both individually and as a family,” Breen said.
While adults and children share similarities in their reactions and grief response needs, the kids need adult help based on their developmental level, Adams said.
“In general, the younger the child, the more simple the explanation needs to be,” Adams said. “What is explained to a child needs to be true, but an older child will typically need more details and a fuller explanation to fit their cognitive level.”
Children also need adult role models and guidance as far as methods to remember the person who has passed and relate to them in terms of memory.
“Children also tend to have shorter attention spans than adults and may grieve in smaller doses,” Adams said. “As children age and develop, they may need more explanation and information as different questions and concerns arise. Their grief may change as they understand differently both what they have lost and ways they can still be connected to the one who has died.”
It is important to remember that loss can impact people even if no one has died. For children especially, there are many first-time experiences and situations. Moving to a new school and losing touch with friends can trigger grief, while adults might grieve after losing a job or seeing a business fail.
“Grief can occur in any situation, I believe,” James said. “Like I have said before, it can occur over anything we love. I have seen diabetics grieve specific foods they cannot eat. I have seen drug addicts and alcoholics grieve their drug of choice when they sober up. Grief can be experienced anytime, anywhere.”
“ Grief can occur in any situation, I believe. Like I have said before, it can occur over anything we love. I have seen diabetics grieve specific foods they cannot eat. I have seen drug addicts and alcoholics grieve their drug of choice when they sober up. Grief can be experienced anytime, anywhere.
— Kathy psychotherapistJames,
James said grief is at the core of many mental health and emotional issues and noted that people sometimes are so busy with life that they do not take time to adequately experience the stages of grief. She advised people who are coping with grief and want to do so in a positive way to stay engaged with life by doing things that make them happy.
She also stressed the importance of practicing self-care that benefits the mental, physical and psychological aspects of life and to talk about feelings and avoid keeping them from others in an effort to appear strong.
“I believe a lot of people struggle with comparison and where they should and should not be [in life],” James said. “This is the same with grief. People have their own journeys and need to embrace their journey. Grief is messy, and there is no timeline. How everyone handles it is different.” ◊
NEWHAVEN COUNSELING & HEALTH SERVICES
The beginning of a new year is universally a time of reflection on a year now behind and one opening up on the road ahead. For Newhaven Counseling & Health Services and Newhaven Recovery Lodge, both in El Dorado, the past year brought successes and challenges, and the year ahead will bring the same, said Coleman Matthews, CEO.
“We are continuing to build a community-informed, integrative program,” he said. “Our program recognizes that no matter the problem, there is a person struggling to manage it. The well-being of the entire person is the foundation of our programming.”
Last year, Newhaven Counseling & Health Services initiated communitybased roundtable discussions involving all levels of municipal, judicial, faithbased and private-sector partners to identify gaps in behavioral health services in south central Arkansas.
“Universally, the response was, ‘We have to address the drug problems in our community,’” Matthews said. “Though Newhaven has a long history of outpatient drug treatment services, it became clear the needs of the community justified the creation of a new, 90-day residential substance treatment program, including observational detox when needed.”
Newhaven’s Recovery Lodge thus came into being along with the development and implementation of a unique, person-centered treatment approach. Programming at Recovery Lodge began the last week of July, and approximately 100 individuals have been served on campus to date.
“I am very proud to provide localized treatment at this level,” Matthews said “The convenience of local services increases the chances of family participation in the recovery process and improves the likelihood of long-term recovery.”
In the new year, Newhaven Recovery Lodge will implement programming at full capacity in early January. This will provide up to 60 beds of treatment space, including both standardized residential programming and partial hospitalization. Partial hospitalization is a step-down program to ensure maximum clinical impact for the residents of Union County and surrounding communities.
The new year will also be one of planning for Newhaven Counseling & Health Services, Matthews said.
“We anticipate growth and expansion to address community-identified needs, such as the development of a crisis stabilization program, including full medical detox, and the expansion of limited supported living opportunities available to those in recovery,” he said.
Behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment has historically been grounded in the medical model of treatment. This model resulted in a singular focus on “the problem” to the exclusion of the person. Matthews said the mission of Newhaven Counseling & Health Services and Newhaven Recovery Lodge is to treat the entire person, not just a label or diagnosis. Care coordination and peer support are utilized to address all uniquely personal barriers to recovery.
“We have a saying at Newhaven Recovery Lodge that we like to tell patients
Argenta Counseling + Wellness
Dedicated to supporting children, teens, adults, couples and families in all stages of life, Argenta Counseling + Wellness offers counseling, medication management, nutrition services and massage therapy for an integrated approach to wellness.
Founded in 2017, the practice has evolved and grown into a thriving organization with a team of more than 40 professionals, who serve clients through two locations in central Arkansas and telehealth services statewide.
Providers specialize in modalities such as cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, rational-emotive behavior therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or EMDR, trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, brainspotting, family systems model, play therapy and more, tailored to the patient’s unique needs.
Those seeking support for themselves, their relationships or their families are greeted with experienced professionals and a compassionate, nonjudgmental space where healing and growth can flourish. To learn more, visit argentacounseling.com or call or text 501-777-5969. ◊
frequently,” Matthews said. “We like to remind them, ‘You are more than your problem.’”
In addition to intensive outpatient treatment and individual outpatient counseling, The Newhaven Recovery Lodge has also incorporated systemic family therapy for all residents. The approaches allow the healing journey of the entire family to reinforce the client’s prognosis for longterm recovery.
“Past successes, growth in the present and dreams for our collective future are the driving forces for Newhaven Counseling & Health Services.” Matthews said. “We are proud of what we have accomplished, and we are dedicated to our vision for the future. We want everyone who comes to us to understand that at Newhaven you are not alone. We are with you.” ◊
Colman Matthews
NEW BEGINNINGS:
Natural State Recovery Centers enters its next chapter
In August of 2024, Natural State Recovery Centers welcomed Dori Haddock, licensed clinical social worker, as its new CEO. Haddock, whose extensive professional experience spans clinical work, program development and business growth, previously worked for Bradford Health, where she served as the regional director for Arkansas and west Tennessee. Her initial introduction to substance abuse came early on in her career, when she worked with children and families in therapeutic foster care.
“I quickly realized that the common denominator between the people and organizations I was working with was a struggle with substance use disorder,” she said. “We were working with these families, trying to repair their relationships and sometimes return the children home, but we were unable to get services to these parents who were in active addiction. It was a matter of how we treat the problem from a holistic perspective.”
Haddock came into contact with Natural State Recovery Centers during the course of her time with Bradford Health. After her work for the company in Arkansas came to a close, Natural State offered Haddock the then-vacant CEO position. Since coming on board, her mission has been to help the center better fulfill its mission by improving its organization and continuum of services.
“In the recovery world, we often overlook the numerous intricate details involved in managing a treatment program,” Haddock said. “It's not just about the clinical side, but also the billing, regulatory requirements, quality assurance, and even the small things, like where we get our linens or how the clients' schedule is organized. There's so much that goes into it.”
Some of the changes Haddock has implemented include streamlining the online application process while, at the same time, making sure that the phones are answered 24/7. Even marketing efforts and the website have gotten an upgrade. Most importantly, however, are changes to the center’s programming.
“We have a master’s level therapist doing three hours per group each day, and yoga is three times a week,” Haddock said. “We have a peer support specialist doing a group every day, along with certified alcohol and drug counselors and counselors-intraining. We’ve changed our exercise program to be a lot more inclusive and a little more robust to really look at the physical component of this disease.
“We increased the amount of time clients are engaged in structured programing throughout the day. I believe this has been one of the reasons we’ve seen a 27 percent reduction in clients leaving against medical advice.”
Although there have been many adjustments and improvements, Haddock noted that there is one essential aspect she is happy to maintain.
“I think the greatest gift to me taking this job was that the staff that is here is incredible,” she said. “They’re very compassionate. They’re very caring. You can’t teach that. You can’t train somebody to be kind and caring and compassionate with our clients. I have experienced this treatment across the board from our inpatient to our outpatient staff. The care that the clients are getting is great.”
While it is still early days, early feedback has been positive, and it is clear that every change has moved Natural State that much closer to its vision of benefitting clients, present and future.
“My goal is to increase our footprint with our [intensive outpatient programs] and our [partial hospitalization programs] across the state, so that when people come to North Little Rock to get treatment and they’re from Jonesboro, they can go back and get the same continuum of care that we offer here in Little Rock,” Haddock said. “I want to be able to offer those same services across our state down the road so that we’re hitting some rural communities or communities that are lacking in options and services in their areas. I’d like for us to be ingrained in what’s happening in our community not only locally but just across the state.”
Most of all, Haddock said, the message she and the Natural State Recovery Centers team want to make clear is that they have heard what the community has been asking for, and they intend to deliver it. With more exciting developments on the horizon and plenty of opportunities for growth, the center is poised to keep up with industry changes and ensure that everything it does is for the good of its people.
“I think it’s important to know that we are here to stay, and we are here to continue to serve the state of Arkansas and do it in the best possible way we can,” Haddock said. “We want to make sure that we are here to help you heal, restore and recover you to your Natural State.” ◊
Natural State Recovery Centers: Office: 501-319-7074 naturalstaterecovery.com Outpatient: 924 Main St., Little Rock Detox and residential: 10025 Oakland Drive, North Little Rock
Dori Haddock
LEVI HOSPITAL
By AY Staff
Levi Hospital in Hot Springs provides specialty care and therapy for the mind and body. A nonprofit health care institution, Levi has become a crucial provider of mental and physical therapy services to the residents of Hot Springs and surrounding communities in central Arkansas.
The hospital’s comprehensive suite of services treat the mind and body via inpatient adult psychiatric care and outpatient mental health counseling, as well as outpatient physical therapy and rehabilitation facilities.
“For over 100 years, Levi has been dedicated to providing compassionate, high-quality care that addresses both physical and mental health needs,” said Libby Harrington, director of marketing. “Each service is tailored to guide patients toward achieving the best possible health results.”
INPATIENT ADULT PSYCHIATRIC PROGRAM
The hospital’s comprehensive inpatient psychiatric services cater to individuals facing severe emotional and psychological challenges. Levi Hospital’s dedicated and compassionate team ensures personalized care in a safe, therapeutic environment. Each patient receives an individualized treatment plan that includes counseling, medication management and therapeutic activities aimed at regaining stability and control over patients’ mental health. Aroundthe-clock monitoring helps ensure continuous support, patient safety and well-being.
“We understand that each individual’s journey towards mental wellness is unique,” Harrington said. “Our program offers personalized treatment plans tailored to meet the specific needs and goals of each patient. Our team works together to provide holistic care, combining evidence-based treatments with compas -
sionate support to ensure the best possible outcomes for our patients.”
OUTPATIENT BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES
Levi Hospital’s outpatient behavioral health services provide compassionate, expert care for individuals seeking support with mental health challenges. Licensed counselors provide guidance for managing conditions such as anxiety, depression and stress. Alongside counseling, the hospital also offers medication management to ensure optimal therapeutic outcomes, allowing patients to improve their overall quality of life.
“Our outpatient behavioral health program offers both individual and group therapy sessions, allowing the patient to choose the approach that best suits their preferences and needs,” Harrington said. “Whether they find strength in a supportive group environment or prefer one-on-one counseling, our compassionate team works with each client to create a personalized treatment plan that promotes healing and growth.”
MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY
Libby Harrington
Levi Hospital is committed not only to providing mental health services but also to advocating for awareness in the community. Each October, the organization hosts the annual World Mental Health Day Luncheon, which brings together health care professionals and advocates to discuss important mental health topics.
HEALING MIND AND BODY SINCE 1914
As one of the only nonprofit hospitals in the state, Levi is a trusted partner in the community’s health and well-being, serving everyone without regard to race, religion, creed, national origin, sex, age, disability or economic means.
“We believe in treating the whole person, not just the symptoms,” Harrington said. “Our multidisciplinary team collaborates to develop personalized treatment plans that address patients’ unique needs and goals.
“From managing psychiatric symptoms to enhancing overall well-being, we’re dedicated to helping people achieve lasting recovery and resilience. Early intervention is crucial, and we’re here to help.”
For help with symptoms of depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, eating disorders or troubling thoughts, contact Levi Hospital at 501-622-3417 or visit levihospital.com. ◊
H VES Healing
Program transforms lives with the power of horses
By
Nestled on 250 beautiful acres at the Pine Hill Ranch equestrian center in the Ferndale area of Little Rock, Healing Hooves, a nonprofit established in 2024, is making a profound impact through equineassisted services. The nonprofit organization uses specially trained horses and instructors to help children and adults navigate physical, emotional and mental challenges.
“There are so many people in need of healing and so much healing to be done,” said Jennifer Sanderson, director. “Connecting with horses is an opportunity for self-care, and it often opens the door for realizations in the moment and may accelerate other healing, growth and learning.”
A VISION FOR HEALING
A COMMITMENT TO MENTAL HEALTH
The inspiration for Healing Hooves began this summer, when a group of visionaries recognized the unique ability of horses to foster healing and growth.
The innovative nonprofit uses equine-assisted services to unlock new possibilities for participants by blending therapy, education and personal growth in a way few other therapies can match. Healing Hooves is open to a diverse audience far beyond the commonly associated demographic of children with disabilities.
“There are so many more people who can benefit, whether they be women who have survived human trafficking, veterans combating [post-traumatic stress disorder], a local church group looking to unplug or a leadership team interested in getting out of the office,” Sanderson said.
UNIQUE SERVICES WITH HORSES AT THE HEART
As one of only a few therapeutic riding centers in Arkansas approved by the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship, Healing Hooves maintains rigorous standards while adding its own unique touch. While riding is often what comes to mind, some of the most important life lessons in growth and learning happen with participants’ feet firmly planted on the ground, Sanderson said.
The organization offers a range of services, from hippotherapy and therapeutic riding to equine-assisted learning. Each program is carefully designed to meet individual needs:
• Hippotherapy integrates horseback riding into physical, occupational and speech therapy, leveraging the horse’s movements to improve speech, balance, strength, coordination and more.
• Therapeutic riding uses horses and instructors to help individuals with disabilities enhance physical, emotional and social well-being.
• Equine-assisted learning focuses on non-riding activities, using horses to teach leadership, communication, mindfulness and self-awareness.
Healing Hooves also directly addresses mental health challenges, offering mindfulness sessions and soon-to-launch equineassisted therapy programs. Mindfulness with horses is about being present in the moment while fostering a connection with horses. The services are particularly effective for individuals who have experienced trauma, feel overwhelmed by life or seek clarity. Mindfulness can help people reconnect with themselves and create a sense of peace, calm and interconnectedness.
Coming in 2025, Healing Hooves will offer equine-assisted therapy, which combines a mental health professional, a horse specialist and a client in a personalized therapeutic session.
SUPER SOUL SUNDAYS
In November, Healing Hooves kicked off its Super Soul Sunday series, which is designed to encourage participants to step out of their routines and into the barn. About 30 people attended the first event, which featured activities such as pony yoga, sound healing, mindfulness with horses and Horse Play, a team-building exercise.
“Being in the presence of horses and doing mindfulness can empower mental, physical and emotional health,” said Martha Taylor, a certified equine-assisted learning facilitator and coach. “It’s a wonderful way to release stress, pain and negative self-talk.”
Moving forward, Healing Hooves plans to offer Super Soul Sundays on a monthly basis. The events will range from small, intimate groups to larger gatherings with varying themes and activities, but all will be mindful of the horse and heart connection.
GROWING THE COMMUNITY
Healing Hooves has ambitious goals for the future. In 2025, plans are to stabilize core services, including hippotherapy, therapeutic riding and equine-assisted learning, while introducing a members-only club to support the nonprofit’s mission. By 2026, the organization plans to build a retreat center to host small groups for equine-related services.
Healing Hooves invites the community to explore its programs and join its mission. For more information, visit healinghooveslr. org or follow the organization on Facebook and Instagram. ◊
Angelita Faller // Photo provided by Pine Hill
Fighting Crisis
Grants fund phone-free program, crisis-response system
By Mark Carter
the diagnosis of a trained professional is not necessary to recognize that a sizable portion of the U.S. population, especially teens and adolescents, is struggling with mental health issues. In 2024, the state of Arkansas issued $45 million in grants aimed at expanding access to and improving mental health care in the state.
The bulk of the grants, $30 million, came from American Rescue Plan funds and was invested in a comprehensive plan to improve mental health and substance abuse services across the state, including the launch of a statewide crisis-response system. The remainder was used to fund infrastructure improvements supporting Arkansans with mental illnesses, substance use disorders and intellectual disabilities.
In addition, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders sent letters to each of her 49 fellow governors, urging them to consider measures to limit social media exposure and screen time for kids and encourage more outdoor playtime to help combat what has been called a mental health crisis in the United States. Along with the letters, she sent copies of the Jonathan Haidt book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood
Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, which the state has used as a guide in its efforts to combat the trends.
Haidt is a social psychologist at New York University whose 2024 book explores the primary causes of what he calls an international epidemic of mental illness that hit adolescents in the early 2010s. Sanders also sent similar letters to Arkansas state legislators as part of her focus on raising awareness about mental health.
“We’ve put a significant amount of money into mental health programs and coordinating the various services and modernizing the way that we approach the mental health crisis that we see taking place not just in our state but around the country,” Sanders said.
Outside of boosting existing programs, Sanders said the investment will help create a more streamlined system and help keep the existing crisis from getting worse.
“We know that some of the biggest, if not the very biggest, cause for an increase in the mental health problems from suicide, anxiety, depression rates skyrocketing is the amount of access that kids have to smartphones and social media,” she said.
Mental health affects people of all ages, creeds and colors, but recognizing mental health issues at an early age can help stem the tide, she said. When Haidt’s book was published early in 2024, Sanders said she recognized it as a potential tool to help in the fight. In addition to phone-free schools, Haidt also recommends that kids not have their own smartphones before they enter high school, no social media before the age of 16, and more outdoor play and childhood independence.
“We had a back and forth with his team, which resulted in him coming to Arkansas,” Sanders said. “We had the chance to spend a couple days both in northwest Arkansas and central Arkansas doing public events but also stopping in some of the schools to see the progress and efforts that we’ve been able to make.”
One program Sanders was able to show Haidt was a phone-free program offered to schools. A few schools, such as Catholic High School for Boys in Little Rock, already required students to keep smartphones in their lockers. The state’s phone-free program, launched this summer, allows public school districts to voluntarily opt in, the state covering the costs of pouches or lockers in which students’ phones would be kept during the school day. One of Haidt’s recommendations in his book is separating students from their phones during school days.
“We met with 20 or 25 superintendents from all over the state, big districts and small,” Sanders said. “That conversation prompted us to announce and then later fund this grant program. We thought we would have a good initial response and that a handful of schools would participate. We partnered with the University of Arkansas [in Fayetteville] to do a study so that we weren’t just implementing the program but were actually tracking its progress so we would have proof of concept and be able to go to others and say, ‘See the difference it makes.’”
The response from school districts, she said, was overwhelming.
“We had to put more money into the initial program,” she said. “We now have 75 percent of school districts in Arkansas voluntarily opting into the program and requesting funding, and we are starting to see the impact of that. You know, the first couple weeks you have students that aren’t super excited, but teachers and administrators are, frankly, so thankful. It removes a lot of that heavy burden from the individual teacher having to be the phone police.”
Sanders said the state now has specific data and research verifying that the program helps take away distractions in the classroom.
“We also have a lot of anecdotal stories of students who are now happy to have the pressures associated with their phones relieved from them, relieved from always feeling, ‘Did somebody respond to my text? Did anybody like my post?’ During the day, they’re actually focused on what they’re there for, and they’re talking to one another,” she said. “You ask teachers in these schools that have gone phone free, and they’ll say that the last couple of years, you could walk down the hallway, and it’s really sad because no one’s talking. The hallways are quiet because kids are looking down on the phone, and now they’re loud and boisterous again. The cafeterias are loud, and kids are talking to each other again.”
Ironically, technology created to bring people together too often has the opposite effect.
“In an age where the push was connectivity, what we really did was further isolate,” Sanders said. “Individual kids are talking to each other again, and there’s a lot more connectivity, and there’s a sense of commu -
nity that had been lost.”
Bentonville West High School implemented the program last year and has seen significant success, according to the data. The school reported a 57 percent decrease in verbal or physical aggression offenses and a 51 percent reduction in drug-related offenses. Despite the challenges in balancing screen time for educational purposes, Sanders said the program will help stem the ongoing mental health crisis. More than 80 percent of Bentonville parents and administrators support students going phone-free during the school day, she added.
“Seeing just the difference it’s made in one year, I am very optimistic that the numbers we’re going to get back from the various schools that are participating now after this first semester will be pretty significant,” she said.
The statewide crisis-response system includes a 24hour call center that enables first responders to use tablets to connect individuals in crisis with clinicians; the creation of mobile crisis teams; new telehealth and patient-evaluation training for emergency medical technicians, police and other first responders; and new software to better connect health care and emergency response teams around the state.
Part of the overall funding for mental health programs will support youth substance-abuse treatment and housing units for young adults. To address the needs of those with mental illness or intellectual and development disabilities, the plan includes:
• Community reintegration programs for children.
• Substance-abuse residential treatment programs for children and adults.
• Supportive housing for adults with mental illness to help prevent homelessness, incarceration and institutionalization.
• Supportive housing to prevent homelessness, incarceration and institutionalization for youth and young adults leaving state custody from foster care or the juvenile justice system. The 2024 funding also includes:
• Community Reintegration for Children grant funds for new buildings that will function as family home environments for children to provide step-down support from high-cost, restrictive settings.
• Adult Substance Abuse Residential Treatment Facilities grant funds to improve existing facilities that offer 30- to 60-day treatment programs for adults struggling with substance abuse.
• Supported Housing Units for Young Adults grant funds for the construction of an apartment complex that will house youth struggling with behavioral health who have aged out of group homes or other state services.
• Therapeutic Communities for Adults with IDD grant funds for the creation of a 16-bed therapeutic community that will provide step-down support from high-cost, inpatient psychiatric care for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities and a cooccurring behavioral health diagnosis.
When she announced the funding last year, Sanders said the mental health and substance abuse crises represented a “layered” problem.
“If we’re going to tackle them, our efforts will have to be layered too,” she said. ◊
Organization provides a trusted haven for mental health West Rock Counseling
By Angelita Faller
In January 2024, Michael Bibbs, a psychotherapist with more than 15 years of experience, opened the doors to West Rock Counseling in Little Rock. Located in the Redding Building, the practice offers a safe and supportive environment for individuals seeking help with mental health challenges.
After years of working in semiprivate practices, Bibbs felt inspired to create a space where individuals could access compassionate, high-quality mental health care.
“There is a need for strong mental health professionals, and I felt that I could help fill the void,” Bibbs said.
Bibbs, a licensed psychological examiner with independent status, focuses on psychotherapy and uses therapeutic approaches that include cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy and psychodynamic therapy.
He is joined in his practice by two highly skilled clinicians, Michele Clark and Kellie Fugere, both of whom bring unique expertise to the practice.
Clark, a licensed professional counselor and licensed marriage and family therapist, specializes in relationships and trauma. Her approach integrates emotionally focused therapy, somatic experiencing, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, and the Safe and Sound Protocol, all informed by attachment science and polyvagal theory.
Over his more than 15 years of practice, Bibbs has observed significant shifts in the mental health field, noting that it is more acceptable than ever before to seek help through services such as counseling.
Fugere, a licensed clinical social worker, works with individuals ages 16 and older and addresses challenges such as anxiety, depression, substance abuse and addiction, anger management, and psychosis. Together, the trio forms a team dedicated to promoting emotional well-being and resilience.
A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO MENTAL HEALTH
At its core, West Rock Counseling is about helping people to better understand themselves and navigate life’s challenges. Bibbs described psychotherapy as “talk therapy used to help individuals manage and overcome a variety of mental health conditions and emotional challenges.” He emphasized the importance of building a trusting relationship with his clients.
“A trusting therapeutic relationship can help someone reduce anxiousness, depression and stress; improve day-to-day coping skills; and increase self-awareness,” Bibbs said. “We strive to meet all of these in the therapeutic process with each client.”
Clients at West Rock Counseling benefit from a variety of services, including individual counseling, couples counseling and consulting. Bibbs noted that the counseling process allows clients to process issues in an emotionally safe environment while developing effective coping strategies.
“The stigma surrounding mental health has significantly decreased,” he said.
Bibbs attributed the change to greater public awareness through social media, a deeper understanding of mental health services and expanded services, including telehealth.
TAILORED SERVICES FOR EVERY CLIENT
West Rock Counseling stresses a personalized approach to therapy by working to ensure each client receives the care that best suits their needs. The practice focuses on creating an emotionally safe environment where clients feel empowered to explore their challenges and work toward growth.
Clark’s work in areas of relationships and trauma is particularly impactful. Her use of evidence-based techniques such as EMDR and somatic experiencing help clients process past traumas and rebuild their emotional foundations. For her part, Fugere excels in working with adolescents and adults who face a wide range of challenges, from substance abuse to relationship issues.
While clients vary in age and background, all share a common goal: to find relief from emotional pain and gain clarity in their lives. Bibbs and his team are looking to help “people who are hurting emotionally. They need an unbiased person to help them process, and they want to get better.”
REACHING OUT FOR HELP
Accessing therapy can be a transformative experience for individuals seeking relief from stress, anxiety or other mental health challenges. Bibbs encouraged anyone considering counseling to take that first step.
“Viktor Frankl wrote the famous book Man’s Search for Meaning. One of my favorite quotes of his is, ‘When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves,’” Bibbs said. “When you are ready to change, we are here to help you with the process.”
As mental health care becomes increasingly vital, West Rock Counseling remains committed to meeting the needs of its clients with compassion and expertise. By providing a safe space for healing and growth, the practice empowers individuals to lead happier, more fulfilling lives.
West Rock Counseling, at 1701 Centerview Drive, Suite 200, in Little Rock, can be reached at westrockcounseling.com or 501-644-9744. ◊
// Photo provided by West Rock Counseling
Michael Bibbs
MENTAL HEALTH
ARKANSAS COUNTY
Southeast Arkansas Behavioral Healthcare System
870-673-1633
121 Commercial Drive “B” Stuttgart sabhs.org
ASHLEY COUNTY
Delta Counseling Associates
870-364-6471
1308 W. Fifth St. Crossett deltacounseling.org
Phoenix Youth and Family Services
870-364-1676
310 N. Alabama St. Crossett phoenixyouth.com
BAXTER COUNTY
Baxter County Juvenile Services
870-425-3840
312 Bomber Blvd. Mountain Home bcjs.org
Chenal Family Therapy
870-340-2636
711 Bradley Drive Mountain Home chenaltherapy.com
Families Inc. Counseling Services
870-425-1041
400 S. College St., Suite 2 Mountain Home familiesinc.net
BENTON COUNTY
Chenal Family Therapy
479-595-0333
632 Lancashire Blvd. Bella Vista chenaltherapy.com
Chenal Family Therapy
479-595-0333
5512 W. Walsh Lane, Suite 1 Rogers chenaltherapy.com
Community Service, Inc.
479-278-7028
1200 W. Walnut St., Suite B-1100 Rogers csiyouth.com
Fresh Roots Family Counseling
479-986-8655
3901 W. Financial Parkway Rogers freshrootsfamilycounseling.com
Oasis of Northwest Arkansas 479-268-4340
Bella Vista, Rogers oasisforwomennwa.org
BRADLEY COUNTY
Delta Counseling Associations
870-226-5856
1404 E. Church St. Warren deltacounseling.org
CARROLL COUNTY
Chenal Family Therapy
870-340-2636
702 N. Main St., Suite F Harrison chenaltherapy.com
Community Service, Inc.
870-280-3468
200 Arkansas 43 E., Unit 7 Harrison csiyouth.com
Community Service, Inc.
870-929-6023
605 BB Eureka Ave. Berryville csiyouth.com
CHICOT COUNTY
Delta Counseling Associates
870-265-3808 1127 Second St. Lake Village deltacounseling.org
Phoenix Youth and Family Services
870-265-6005
412A U.S. 82 and 65 Lake Village phoenixyouth.com
CLARK COUNTY
Arkansas Counseling & Psychodiagnostics 870-230-8217
2607 Caddo St., Suite 6 Arkadelphia acapcounseling.com
Ouachita Behavioral Health & Wellness
870-246-4123
640 S. Sixth St., Suite A Arkadelphia obhaw.org
CLAY COUNTY
Families, Inc. Counseling Services
870-598-0306
111 South Third Ave. Piggott familiesinc.net
CLEBURNE COUNTY
Chenal Family Therapy
501-781-2230
105 S. Second St. Heber Springs chenaltherapy.com
Community Service, Inc.
501-362-2840
115 W. Clinton St. Heber Springs csiyouth.com
Counseling Associates
501-206-0831
115 S. Third St. Heber Springs caiinc.org
Methodist Family Health
501-365-3022
515 W. Main St. Heber Springs methodistfamily.org
CLEVELAND COUNTY
Southeast Arkansas Behavioral Healthcare System
401 N. Main St., Suite 2 Rison sabhs.org
COLUMBIA COUNTY
Methodist Family Health
870-234-0739
621 E. North St. Magnolia methodistfamily.org
CONWAY COUNTY
Arkansas Counseling Associates
501-345-1561
8 Hospital Drive Morrilton caiinc.org
Community Service, Inc.
501-354-4589
100 S. Cherokee St. Morrilton csiyouth.com
CRAIGHEAD COUNTY
Chenal Family Therapy
870-340-2636
2803 Creek Drive, Suite D Jonesboro chenaltherapy.com
Crowley’s Ridge Development Council
Regional Prevention Program
870-802-7100
2401 Fox Meadow Lane
Jonesboro crdcnea.org
Families, Inc. Counseling Services
870-933-6886
1815 Pleasant Grove Road Jonesboro familiesinc.net
Methodist Family Health
870-910-3757
2239 S. Caraway Road, Suite M Jonesboro methodistfamily.org
Methodist Family Health
870-932-8880
211 Church St. Bono methodistfamily.org
Renew Mental Health and Wellness 870-243-0424
1150 E. Matthews Drive Jonesboro renewmentalhealthandwellness.com
CRAWFORD COUNTY
The Guidance Center
479-474-8084
2705 Oak Lane
Van Buren wacgc.org
Methodist Family Health
479-632-1022
1209 U.S. 71 N., Suite B Alma methodistfamily.org
DALLAS COUNTY
Millcreek Behavioral Health
844-989-8329
1828 Industrial Drive Fordyce millcreekbehavioralhealth.com
DESHA COUNTY
Delta Counseling Associates
870-382-4001
741 U.S. 65 S. Dumas deltacounseling.org
Phoenix Youth and Family Services 870-382-4309
130 Waterman St. Dumas phoenixyouth.com
DREW COUNTY
Delta Counseling Associates 870-367-2461
790 Roberts Drive Monticello deltacounseling.org
The Centers 870-460-0066 936 Jordan Drive Monticello thecentersar.com
Phoenix Youth and Family Services
870-367-0711
809 U.S. 278 Monticello pheonixyouth.com
FAULKNER COUNTY
Arkansas Families First 501-812-4268
1100 Bob Courtway Drive, Suites 8 and 9 Conway arfamiliesfirst.com
Birch Tree Communities 501-315-3344
132 Lower Ridge Road Conway birchtree.org
Chenal Family Therapy 501-781-2230
800 Exchange Ave., Suite 103 Conway chenaltherapy.com
Community Service, Inc. 501-327-9788 818 N. Creek Drive Conway csiyouth.com
Community Service, Inc. — Conway Day Services 501-327-9788 816 N. Creek Drive Conway csiyouth.com
Conway Behavioral Health 833-670-0729 2255 Sturgis Road Conway conwaybh.com
Conway Regional Counseling Center 501-358-6695 495 Hogan Lane, Suite 2 Conway conwayregional.org
Counseling Associates 501-336-8300
350 Salem Road Conway caiinc.org
Immerse Arkansas 501-404-9890
1511 Caldwell St. Conway immersearkansas.org
Renewal Ranch 501-269-4306
75 Lake Drive Houston therenewalranch.org
Rise Counseling & Diagnostics 501-891–5492
1000 SWN Drive, Suite 101 Conway riseforfamilies.com
FRANKLIN COUNTY
Community Service, Inc. 479-667-5855
203 N. Fourth St. Ozark csiyouth.com
The Guidance Center 479-667-2497 980 Airport Road Ozark wacgc.org
GARLAND COUNTY Chenal Family Therapy 501-781-2230
100 Ridgeway St., Suite 2 Hot Springs chenaltherapy.com
Levi Hospital 501-624-1281
300 Prospect Ave. Hot Springs levihospital.com
Methodist Family Health 501-318-6066 100 Ridgeway St., Suite 5 Hot Springs methodistfamily.org
Natural State Behavioral Health 501-601-5107 1401 Malvern Ave., No. 100 Hot Springs naturalstatebehavioralhealth.com
Ouachita Behavioral Health & Wellness 501-624-7111 125 Wellness Way Hot Springs obhaw.org
Ouachita Children’s Center 501-623-5591 339 Charteroak St. Hot Springs occnet.org
River Valley Wellness 833-479-4325
1820 Central Ave., Suite M Hot Springs rvmwellness.com
TLC 501-492-9456
1401 Malvern Ave., Suite 20 Hot Springs tlcincstableconnections.com
GRANT COUNTY
RESOURCE GUIDE
Southeast Arkansas Behavioral Healthcare System
870-942-5101
301 N. Oak St. Sheridan sabhs.org
GREENE COUNTY Families, Inc. Counseling Services
870-335-9483
1101 Morgan St., Suite 8 Paragould familiesinc.net
HOT SPRING COUNTY
Ouachita Behavioral Health & Wellness
501-332-5236
1615 MLK Blvd. Malvern obhaw.org
INDEPENDENCE COUNTY
Community Service, Inc.
870-569-5112
2503 Harrison St. Batesville csiyouth.com
Crowley's Ridge Development Council 1708 E. Main St. Mountain View
IZARD COUNTY
Birch Tree Communities
501-303-3126 108 First St. Oxford birchtree.org
Community Service, Inc.
870-368-0026
24 E. Main St. Melbourne csiyouth.com
JACKSON COUNTY
Birch Tree Communities
501-315-3344
210 Third St. Newport birchtree.org
JEFFERSON COUNTY
Southeast Arkansas Behavioral Healthcare System
870-534-1834
2500 Rike Drive Pine Bluff sabhs.org
JOHNSON COUNTY
Birch Tree Communities
501-315-3344
706 Brown St. Clarksville birchtree.org
Community Service, Inc.
479-754-7296
106 Cherokee Lane Clarksville csiyouth.com
Counseling Associates
479-754-8610
1021 Poplar St. Clarksville caiinc.org
LAWRENCE COUNTY
Families, Inc. Counseling Services
870-886-5303
1425 W. Main St. Walnut Ridge familiesinc.net
LEE COUNTY
Crowley's Ridge Development Council 870-819-7756
593 Arkansas 243 Marianna crdcnea.org
LINCOLN COUNTY
Southeast Arkansas Behavioral Healthcare System 870-628-4181 612 E. Arkansas St. Star City sabhs.org
LOGAN COUNTY
The Guidance Center 479-675-3909
174 N. Welsh Ave. Booneville wacgc.org
The Guidance Center 479-963-2140
415 S. Sixth St. Paris wacgc.org
LONOKE COUNTY
Chenal Family Therapy 501-781-2230
907 S. Pine St., Suite. B Cabot chenaltherapy.com
MADISON COUNTY
Community Service, Inc. 479-326-8123
400 W. Main St., Suite A Huntsville csiyouth.com
MILLER COUNTY
Chenal Family Therapy 870-340-2636
1305 Arkansas Blvd., Suite 101 Texarkana chenaltherapy.com
Riverview Behavioral Health 877-469-0840
701 Arkansas Blvd. Texarkana riverviewbehavioralhealth.com
Southwest Arkansas Counseling and Mental Health Center 870-773-4655 2904 Arkansas Blvd. Texarkana swacmhc.net
MISSISSIPPI COUNTY
Families, Inc. Counseling Services 870-622-0592
3201 W. Keiser Ave. Osceola familiesinc.net
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Ouachita Behavioural Health & Wellness
870-867-2147
128 S. George St. Mount Ida obhaw.org
OUACHITA COUNTY
Ouachita County Medical Center
870-836-1000
638 California Ave. SW Camden ouachitamedcenter.com
PERRY COUNTY
Counseling Associates
501-889-1590
206 W. Main St. Perryville caiinc.org
PIKE COUNTY
Ouachita Behavioral Health & Wellness
870-782-0179
371 U.S. 70 E., Suite A Glenwood obhaw.org
POLK COUNTY
The Guidance Center
479-394-5277
307 S. Cherry St. Mena wacgc.org
POPE COUNTY
Birch Tree Communities
501-315-3344
210 N. Shamrock Blvd. Russellville birchtree.org
Chenal Family Therapy
479-595-0333
2621 W. Main St., Suite 2B Russellville chenaltherapy.com
Community Service, Inc.
479-967-3370
1505 S. Oswego Ave. Russellville csiyouth.com
Community Service Inc. — Russellville Day Services
479-967-3370
1415 S. Oswego Ave. Russellville csiyouth.com
Counseling Associates
479-968-1298
110 Skyline Road Russellville caiinc.org
River Valley Medical Wellness
833-479-4325
2600 W. Main St. Russellville rvmwellness.com
PULASKI COUNTY
Argenta Counseling + Wellness
501-777-5969
513 Main St. North Little Rock argentacounseling.com
Argenta Counseling + Wellness 501-777-5969
11215 Hermitage Road, Suite 204 Little Rock argentacounseling.com
Arkansas Department of Health
800-462-0599
4815 W. Markham St. Little Rock healthy.arkansas.gov
Arkansas Families First 501-812-4268
4004 McCain Blvd., Suite 203 North Little Rock arfamiliesfirst.com
Arkansas State Hospital
501-686-9000 305 S. Palm St. Little Rock uamshealth.com humanservices.arkansas.gov
Behavioral Health Services of Arkansas 501-954-7470 10 Corporate Hill Drive, Suite 330 Little Rock bhsarkansas.org
The BridgeWay 501-667-1500 21 Bridgeway Road North Little Rock thebridgeway.com
BOHEMIA Cares 501-777-8068 P.O. Box 5875 Jacksonville bohemiacares.org
The Centers 501-664-4308 6425-6601 W. 12th St. Little Rock thecentersar.com
The Centers 501-664-4308 1521 Merrill Drive, D220 Little Rock thecentersar.com
The Centers 501-664-4308 5800 W. 10th St., Suite 101 Little Rock thecentersar.com
Chenal Family Therapy 501-781-2230
2504 McCain Blvd., Suite 200 North Little Rock chenaltherapy.com
Chenal Family Therapy 501-781-2230 10311 W. Markham St. Little Rock chenaltherapy.com
Children’s Protection Center 501-364-5490 1210 Wolfe St. Little Rock childrensprotectioncenter.org
Dark Horse Medicinals darkhorsemedicinals.com
Empower Healthcare Solutions 866-261-1286 17500 Chenal Parkway, No. 300 Little Rock getempowerhealth.com
Families, Inc. Counseling Services 501-982-5000
2126 N. First St., Suite. F Jacksonville familiesinc.net
Freshly Renewed Transitional Treatment 501-663-0708
8404 Baseline Road Little Rock freshlyrenewedtransitional.org
H.E.R. Counseling & Wellness 501-503-7675
250 Smokey Lane North Little Rock hercounseling.org
Immerse Arkansas 501-404-9890
5300 Asher Ave. Little Rock immersearkansas.org
Kaleidoscope Grief Center 501-537-3991
1600 Aldersgate Road, Suite 100B Little Rock methodistfamily.org
The Magnolia Recovery Community 501-454-6811
3601 W. Roosevelt Road Little Rock magnoliarecoverycommunity.com
Methodist Behavioral Hospital 501-803-3388
1601 Murphy Drive Maumelle methodistfamily.org
Methodist Family Health 501-661-0720
2002 S. Fillmore St. Little Rock methodistfamily.org
Methodist Family Health for Psychiatric Residential Treatment Center 501-537-3991
1600 Aldersgate Road, Suite 100B Little Rock methodistfamily.org
Methodist Family Health for Therapeutic Day Treatment 501-906-4250 2000 Aldersgate Road Little Rock methodistfamily.org
Mindy Moore Psychotherapy 501-214-0000 415 N. McKinley St., Suite 635 Little Rock mindymoorepsychotherapy.com
National Alliance on Mental Illness Arkansas 501-661-1548 • 800-844-0381
1012 Autumn Road, Suite 1 Little Rock namiarkansas.org
Natural State Recovery Centers 501-319-7074
924 Main St. Little Rock naturalstaterecovery.com
RESOURCE GUIDE
Natural State Recovery Centers
501-319-7074
10025 Oakland Drive North Little Rock naturalstaterecovery.com
Pinnacle Pointe Behavioral Healthcare 501-223-3322
11501 Financial Centre Parkway Little Rock pinnaclepointehospital.com
Recovery Centers of Arkansas
501-372-4611
9219 Sibley Hole Road Little Rock rcofa.org
Recovery Centers of Arkansas — The Oasis Renewal Center
501-376-2747 14913 Cooper Orbit Road Little Rock
Rise Counseling & Diagnostics
501-891-5492
12921 Cantrell Road, Suite 105 Little Rock riseforfamilies.com
Rise Counseling & Diagnostics
501-891-5492 1900 Aldersgate Road Little Rock riseforfamilies.com
Rise Counseling & Diagnostics
501-891-5492
4901 Northshore Drive North Little Rock riseforfamilies.com
Rise Counseling & Diagnostics
501-891-5492
1540 Country Club Road Sherwood riseforfamilies.com
RiverStone Wellness Center
501-777-3200
5905 Forest Place, Suite 230 Little Rock riverstonewellnesscenter.com
Serenity Park Recovery Center 501-313-0066
2711 W.Roosevelt Road Little Rock serenityparkrecovery.com
Strategic Counseling
501-400-0353 4 Shackleford Plaza, Suite 100 Little Rock 501-400-0353
Susan L. Bryant, Ph.D., Behavioral Health Services
501-808-1230
415 N. McKinley St., Suite 635 Little Rock sbbhs.com
TMS Arkansas
501-313-2678
700 S. Schiller St., No. 300 Little Rock tmsarkansas.com
Unity Health — Clarity Health & Wellness Jacksonville 501-453-6000
1300 Braden St., Pod A Jacksonville unity-health.org
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Psychiatric Research Institute 4224 Shuffield Drive Little Rock 501-526-8100 uams.edu
Wolfe Street Foundation 501-372-5662
1015 Louisiana St. Little Rock wolfestreet.org
Youth Home 501-821-5500 20400 Colonel Glenn Road Little Rock youthhome.org
RANDOLPH COUNTY Families, Inc. Counseling Services 870-892-1005 2305 Old County Road Pocahontas familiesinc.net
SALINE COUNTY
Birch Tree Communities 501-315-3344
1718 Old Hot Springs Highway Benton birchtree.org
Birch Tree Communities — Arkansas Health Center 501-315-3344
6701 U.S. 67 S., Building 4 Benton birchtree.org
Birch Tree Communities — Benton Hope House 501-303-1665
1560 Mary Kay Blvd. Benton birchtree.org
Birch Tree Communities — Benton Town Center 501-315-3165 1502 Mary Kay Blvd. Benton birchtree.org
Chenal Family Therapy
501-781-2230
3230 Market Place Ave., Suite 4 Bryant chenaltherapy.com
Chenal Family Therapy 501-781-2230
3405 Market Place Ave., Suite 200 Bryant chenaltherapy.com
Rise Counseling & Diagnostics
501-891-5492
205 River St. Benton riseforfamilies.com
Rivendell Behavioral Health Services
501-302-8155
100 Rivendell Drive Benton rivendellofarkansas.com
SCOTT COUNTY
The Guidance Center
479-637-2468
1857 Rice St. Waldron wacgc.org
SEARCY COUNTY
Counseling Associates
870-448-2176
316 U.S. 65 N. Marshall caiinc.org
SEBASTIAN COUNTY
Chenal Family Therapy
479-595-0333
909 S. 20th St. Fort Smith chenaltherapy.com
The Guidance Center
479-452-6650
3111 S. 70th St. Fort Smith wacgc.org
Valley Behavioral Health System 877-571-2407
10301 Mayo Drive Barling valleybehavioral.com
SEVIER COUNTY
Chenal Family Therapy
870-340-2636
304 W. Collin Raye Drive, Suite 103-A De Queen chenaltherapy.com
STONE COUNTY
Birch Tree Communities 501-303-3230
218 Dogwood Hollow Road
Mountain View birchtree.org
Community Service, Inc.
870-269-6635
200 S. Peabody Ave. Mountain View csiyouth.com
Counseling Associates
870-269-4193
106 Mountain Place Drive
Mountain View caiinc.org
UNION COUNTY
Chenal Family Therapy
870-340-2636
600 S. Timberlane Drive El Dorado chenaltherapy.com
VAN BUREN COUNTY
Birch Tree Communities
501-315-3344
242 Shake Rag Road
Clinton birchtree.org
Chenal Family Therapy
501-781-2230
261 Court St. Clinton chenaltherapy.com
Community Service, Inc.
501-745-2956
119 Shake Rag Road Clinton csiyouth.com
Counseling Associates
501-745-8007
244 U.S. 65 S., Suite 6 Clinton caiinc.org
WASHINGTON COUNTY
Chenal Family Therapy
479-595-0333
34 W. Colt Square, Suite 1 Fayetteville chenaltherapy.com
Community Service, Inc. 479-365-7250
3291 S. Thompson St., Suite D 103 Springdale csiyouth.com
Methodist Family Health
479-582-5565
74 W. Sunbridge Drive Fayetteville methodistfamily.org
Springwoods Behavioral Health 479-973-6000
1955 Truckers Drive Fayetteville springwoodsbehavioral.com
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Psychiatry Clinic 479-713-8350
3425 N. Futrall Drive, Suite 103 Fayetteville uamshealth.com
Vantage Point Behavioral Health Hospital 479-310-8197
4253 N. Crossover Road Fayetteville vantagepointnwa.com
Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks 479-443-4301
1100 N. College Ave. Fayetteville fayettevillear.va.gov
WHITE COUNTY
Capstone Treatment Center 866-729-4479
120 Meghan Lane Judsonia capstonetreatmentcenter.com
Chenal Family Therapy 501-781-2230
1554 W. Beebe Capps Expressway Searcy chenaltherapy.com
YELL COUNTY
Community Service, Inc. 479-495-5177 1408 E. Eighth St. Danville csiyouth.com
Counseling Associates 479-495-5557
750 Boston St. Danville caiinc.org
STATEWIDE
Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield 501-378-2000
601 S. Gaines St. Little Rock arkansasbluecross.com
National Alliance on Mental Illness Arkansas 800-844-0381 1012 Autumn Road, Suite 1 Little Rock namiarkansas.org
DIRECT LINE
Arkansas Crisis Center Hotline 988
Arkansas Alcoholics Anonymous 501-664-7303
Arkansas Regional Services Committee of Narcotics Anonymous 888-501-1607
Emergency Services 911
National Alliance for Eating Disorders Helpline 866-662-1235
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 988
Red Nacional de Prevención del Suicidio 988
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 800-662-4357
Veteran Call Center 877-927-8387
WEBSITES
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Arkansas Chapter afsp.org/arkansas
Arkansas Central Office of Alcoholics Anonymous arkansascentraloffice.org
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration samhsa.gov
National Resource Directory nrd.gov
State Departments of Veterans Affairs veterans.arkansas.gov
We are a private, non-profit organization whose mission is to help people living with mental illness, their families, and the community. NAMI Arkansas operates a statewide organization providing and coordinating a network of local support groups providing support, education, and advocacy throughout the state. The organization is affiliated with NAMI National located in Arlington, VA.
We offer support, education, and advocacy services dedicated to abundantly improving the lives of those affected by mental illness. Dedicated to fulfilling the vision to achieve for persons living with mental illness and their families an environment that ensures quality, respect, equality, choices, acceptance, understanding, security and support.
5% of Arkansans have serious mental illness
100% of donations are tax deductible 547 deaths by suicide in Arkansas in 2018
100+ calls to our helpline per month
Let Our Family Care for Yours
Your primary care physician extends beyond just tending to your physical health—they are also key in supporting your overall well-being.
Developing a relationship with your primary care provider is essential, given that a segment of your annual wellness exam helps evaluate your mental health.
With 9 primary care locations, Conway Regional believes in building lasting relationships, centered on trust and personalized care. Take control of your healthcare journey with us as your dedicated partner.
Schedule your in-person or virtual appointment today by calling our Patient Navigation Center at 501-506-CRHS or visit ConwayRegional.org to learn more.
Vilonia Greenbrier
Conway Clinton
FAULKNER