The Veterans Healing Farm is seeking to raise $5 million to purchase a new location and expand its offerings year-round.
Tag: mental illness
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New crisis line targets substance use, mental health
The phone number 855-PEERS-NC is staffed by certified peer support specialists 24/7. Peer support specialists are people in recovery who have a mental health and/or substance use disorder and can provide nonclinical support based on their lived experiences.
Law enforcement undergoes crisis intervention training
The 40-hour crisis intervention training prepares first responders to interact with someone in crisis. A significant component is making them aware of local resources that exist for people with substance use or behavioral health challenges.
Mental health-support specialist dispatched on some Sheriff’s Office calls
The co-responder unit from the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office and Emergency Medical Services will focus on mental health calls, welfare checks and involuntary commitments.
Former motel offers homeless folks a fresh start
Compass Point Village, a renovated Days Inn motel on Tunnel Road, will provide one-room apartments and supportive services to 85 people, many of them considered to be chronically homeless.
Sweeten Creek mental health facility opening this month
The chief operating officer of Mission Hospital Behavioral Health Services, Melina Arrowood, gave Xpress a tour of the site prior to its opening while the building was under construction.
HCA Healthcare executives share new mental health facility details
The majority of the June 2 CIBO meeting focused on plans for the Sweeten Creek Mental Health and Wellness Center, a 120-bed hospital that will provide behavioral health services.
Citizen group coalesces around police support
Shared concerns about crime and an understaffed Asheville Police Department fostered an unusual alliance in today’s partisan times. An advocacy group called Asheville Coalition for Public Safety formed in October, bringing together community members of all political stripes who are concerned about crime, mental health, drug use and the unhoused population.
Letter: Asheville needs organized solutions for homeless situation
“It is blatantly obvious to me that there are many homeless advocates and agencies in such a small city, yet rarely do I read about collaboration and true problem-solving for the social issues among these agencies.”
Mental health respite offers place to recharge
It provides a safe, homelike environment where individuals can slow down and recharge — ideally tempering their current mental health struggles into a more manageable state.
Year in Review: Health was more than metrics in 2022
Discussions about health and wellness have been dominated by COVID-19 for nearly three years, and that’s certainly been reflected in the media landscape nationwide. In Asheville, however, the effects of COVID-19 on physical health and mental health are just one story to be told.
New children’s book addresses parent’s death by suicide
Picture books are a way for caregivers to guide children through challenging topics, like new siblings and potty training. Asheville-based child psychotherapist Jillian Kelly-Wavering wrote a children’s book to guide children ages 7-12 through another challenge: a parent’s suicide.
My Grief Is Like the Ocean is written by Kelly-Wavering and illustrated by Jessica Biles, who is based in New York. The pair worked together on the book throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and relied on Google Docs and Zoom for their collaboration.
Suicide prevention hotline debuts
On July 15, the federal government debuted 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, a new, easy-to-remember dialing code that operates differently from National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
More mental health services coming to WNC
Buncombe County is one of the 91 counties the Office of Rural Health has designated as experiencing a behavioral health professional shortage. In fact, the 2022 departmental map designates all 16 counties of Western North Carolina as experiencing a shortage.
Mental health nonprofit sees funding lag
For the uninsured and underinsured, local mental health nonprofits are filling the gap, but they struggle with funding.
Q&A with Dr. Tiffany Sauls, psychiatrist providing psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy
Medical school did not teach Dr. Tiffany Sauls anything about psychedelics. “Not at all, other than to stay away,” she says with a laugh. But as she moved into her career as a psychiatrist, Sauls began to wonder about effective alternatives to exclusively treating mental health symptoms with pharmaceuticals. Over time, she became interested in […]
WNC mental health providers warn of ‘doomscrolling’
When Tiffany Schultz finally quit Facebook, it came after years of unease with the division and negativity she saw there. She joined the social network in 2006 but says she “had not been a very big fan of Facebook for a while. … I saw it as a necessary evil after moving from Wisconsin,” the […]
Music as medicine at local long-term care facilities
The therapeutic power of music has been evident for centuries. But now music therapy is catching on in modern society and the use of music is proving to be particularly helpful in patients with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
From Carolina Public Press: Mentally ill sent to Nutz R Us, despite name, bad inspections
Nutz R Us, a Buncombe County company that incorporated under that name in 2008, operates assisted living facilities catering to mentally ill adults, according to a story filed by Frank Taylor, managing editor of Carolina Public Press. Multiple officials with state and local public health agencies have told Carolina Public Press that they find the […]
Canterbury Hills to close at the end of July
Canterbury Hills, an adult care home with a history of complaints, EMS calls and state violations, will close at the end of the month. The announcement came quietly through letters the Candler facility’s director Wittner Wright sent on July 1 to the Buncombe County Health Department and N.C. Division of Health Care Regulation.
Inside story: Theater workshops give voice to those touched by mental illness
Local poet and performer Griffin Payne, pictured above, teaches theater-workshop participants how to share their stories in new and creative ways. The weekly workshops are for people affected by mental illness, whether directly or indirectly, and is sponsored by the National Alliance on Mental Illness Western Carolina. (Photo by Max Cooper)