4 minute read
St. Margaret’s Center for Holistic Health & Wellness
The Living Room Model:
Each year in the United States, approximately 1 in 5 people visit an emergency room at least once. These visits are typically due to injuries and issues such as chest pain, broken bones, falls, strokes or back pain. Although emergency rooms are designed for physical ailments such as these, approximately four percent of all visits are due to mental illness or substance use, including overdose, acute psychotic episodes, panic attacks, suicide attempts and more.
Unfortunately, emergency rooms are not always set up to adequately treat mental illness or behavioral health due to time constraints and stressful surroundings. Most emergency room doctors also do not specialize in mental health or addiction and will often treat the medical symptoms rather than the mental and emotional causes of a person’s condition. This isn’t the fault of emergency room care providers or the patients themselves. Rather, it is a complex problem that needs addressing in the community.
The Living Room Model was designed as a response to the community’s need for mental health services outside of the emergency room setting. The model is a community crisis center that offers people experiencing a mental health crisis an alternative to hospitalization. When people experience a mental health crisis, they are faced with the decision to go to the emergency department or to try to manage the crisis themselves. This model is an evidence-based, alternative solution to emergency rooms. The Living Room model was developed by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) to provide a walk-in respite for persons experiencing mental health crises. The Living Rooms are staffed by persons with lived experience, known as Recovery Support Specialists (RSS), allowing them to better connect with “guests” who walk in.
St. Margaret’s Center for Holistic Health & Wellness (CHHW) has partnered with Arukah Institute of Healing in Princeton to bring the Living Room model of care to Central Illinois. Arukah provides client-centered, complementary health and counseling services to foster prevention wellness and mental health in rural communities. Arukah’s method involves a variety of unique approaches, including novel, video-based programs and mind-body therapies, as well as more conventional, individual and group therapies. As with previous collaborations, CHHW is combining resources with Arukah to better serve the needs of the community and expand mental health services throughout LaSalle, Bureau, Putnam and Marshall Counties.
The Living Room will provide additional clinical resources, substance misuse/ recovery resources and access to social determinant resources, such as housing, employment and food. Living Rooms are rare in rural communities, making this effort somewhat unique. The Illinois Valley, like every community, faces its own unique set of issues and challenges. The Living Room model here has been adapted to address the most pressing needs. Sarah Scruggs, Ph.D., Director of Arukah Institute explains: “We will also address substance use-related crises, something not addressed by conventional Living Room facilities. We believe the creation of the Living Room in our rural area will provide much-needed access to vital services, without judgment and regardless of ability to pay. We also recognize that, despite their empathy and dedication, police officers and emergency room staff are not trained or equipped to handle mental health and substance misuse crises as well as trained RSS and clinical staff can. We are partnering with local hospitals, law enforcement and a host of others to bring these services to our community.”
The Living Room model is one piece of expanding mental health, substance abuse and crisis care in the Illinois Valley. The partnership between St. Margaret’s Center for Holistic Health and Wellness and Arukah Institute of Healing will continue to offer traditional and complementary/ alternative therapies. These range from trauma-informed, addiction-focused, crisis counseling, serious and persistent mental illness, anxiety/depressive disorders, eating disorders, recovery-oriented, faith-based counseling, psychological testing, family and youth-focused counseling, among others. In addition, they offer a variety of group counseling options geared towards teens, substance misuse, life skills and boundaries. Community training for groups such as schools, first responders and other leaders is also available.
For the latest news and updates from St. Margaret’s Center for Holistic Health & Wellness and the Living Room, visit us online at smhchhw. org. For news and announcements from St. Margaret’s Health, follow us on Facebook or visit aboutsmh.org.
The Living Room Model:
The Living Room Model, developed by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), was designed as a response to the community’s need for mental health services outside of the emergency room setting. The model is a crisis center that offers people experiencing a mental health crisis an alternative to hospitalization.
The Living Room at the Center for Holistic Health & Wellness will provide the Illinois Valley:
• A walk-in respite for persons experiencing a mental health crisis • Additional clinical resources, substance misuse/recovery resources & access to social determinant resources, such as housing, employment & food • And More
Living Rooms are rare in rural communities, making this effort somewhat unique. The Living Room model is one piece of expanding mental health, substance abuse and crisis care in the Illinois Valley.
Pictured above: Sarah Scruggs, PhD, R-HYI Linda Burt, MSN
Michael Lau, MA, MS, PhD, LCPC & Benjamin Shepherd, MD
