to Serve During COVID-19

from Brookside Neighbors - June 2020

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Rappahannock Rapidan Community Services Continues to Serve During COVID-19

By Kaitlyn Nickson, CSAC, QMHP-A, Support Coordinator- Prevention, SUD

Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services is one of forty community services boards in the state of Virginia. RRCS has been providing comprehensive behavioral health, intellectual disability, substance use disorder, and aging services to the citizens of Culpeper, Fauquier, Rappahannock, Madison, and Orange counties since 1972. With a behavioral health clinic in both Fauquier and Culpeper counties, and a presence in all five of our localities, RRCS strives to reach all of our residents to improve their quality of life and offer the supports that they need. From mental health and substance use services to our infant, youth, and aging services, we hope that our area’s residents can find the help they are searching for within our agency.

We believe that Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services’ community supports and programs have been vital to the growth of our community and allowed individuals to network and connect with others in our region. Our community connection is an essential piece to our area’s overall health, development, and well-being. We know that 2020 has been an uphill battle with a global crisis on our hands, but RRCS continues to work towards being available and supportive of all of our community members during this unprecedented time. As of recently, many RRCS services have been able to successfully shift to an online format so that our clinicians can continue to reach their clients, prevention staff can continue to provide educational materials, and our youth are taken care of. Even our aging and transportation services have banded together to be able to boost our home delivered meals program to seniors in our five-county area. To the right are photos of only some of the 1,400 home

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delivered meals we have been able to deliver to community members each week! We are grateful for the support of our community and blessed to be able to provide our seniors with a little extra support during this time.

Our employees have been working to ensure that all existing clients have continued care at all of our facilities in the five-county catchment area. Right now, in early 2020, this looks quite different than what we all may be used to. For our residential programs, we are committed to keeping our clients safe and healthy while still providing them with the same level of quality service that RRCS has historically offered. Our residential programs are central to the clients’ well-being and success, and therefore, we have taken all necessary precautions to ensure that both clients and employees are kept safe during this time. In terms of our outpatient services, Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services’ clinicians have been able to successfully switch to utilizing telehealth to “meet” with clients virtually. While 2020 has delivered us an extremely difficult time, we at RRCS, and many other agencies like us, have been very grateful for technological advances that allow us to continue supporting those that need it.

For those that may be familiar with RRCS services, we are happy to let the community know that we are still continuing to conduct intakes for new clients to be able to access services. Previously, beginning behavioral health services started with our walk-in service called Rapid Access at our Culpeper and Fauquier clinics that allowed individuals to be seen the same day for an intake and start to services. Now, due to COVID-19 precautions and regulations set forth by our state, we have a slightly different process. If you or someone you know is interested in beginning mental health or substance use treatment services with RRCS, please call (540) 718-1317 between 12:00pm and 1:00pm Monday through Thursday to schedule a next day appointment for intake and evaluation.

The COVID-19 crisis has not slowed the need for behavioral health and aging services. In fact, we are seeing a greater need as many of the unexpected consequences from this pandemic are emerging, and as such, Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services is committed to continue working to meet community needs. We are a group that is dedicated to service and will continue to provide supports for anyone in our area that is in need. RRCS is only part of a wonderful community network of behavioral health services and our community success and growth depends heavily on our support of each other. We at Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services pride ourselves on being able to support our other community coalitions and agencies that do wonderful work for all of our residents and are thankful for the love we have received from them as well. We look forward to continuing the Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services mission.

If you or someone you know is struggling and in need of services, please visit us at www.rrcsb.org to learn more and get started. For our crisis services, we are available 24/7 at (540) 825-5656.

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