A new facility in downtown Radford to help people with mental health disorders celebrated a ribbon cutting Monday.
“This is just a great example of a community, law enforcement, community services board, many volunteers working to make this happen in a way that serves not just Radford, but the whole of New River,” said Virginia’s Secretary of Health and Human Resources John Littel, who attended the celebration for the new center called New Horizons.
Across Virginia, there are waiting lists for services that help people struggling with mental health or substance use disorders.
New River Valley Community Services built this new facility to help provide more treatment options. They already had eight beds for residential care at a different location in Pulaski County (also called New Horizons) but decided to move to Radford, a more central location for residents in Giles and Floyd Counties. This new space will double the capacity. Most patients stay at New Horizons about 5-7 days, but could stay as long as 15.
New Horizons has 30 employees, including counselors, social workers, and peer recovery specialists. They encourage patients to get into a recovery program, said peer recover supervisor, Leroy Robinson. For 24 years he struggled with active addiction.
“And then I have sustained sobriety since Dec. 21, 2014. And to hear that I can use my lived experience to assist and help someone else. It’s surreal and it’s humbling,” Robinson said.
NRVCS also just built a new crisis stabilization unit in this same space, meant as an alternative to an emergency room for people experiencing a mental health crisis. After 23 hours, they could be referred to long-term treatment through outpatient or residential care.
“Right now our state hospitals are operating at or above capacity,” said Melanie Adkins, the senior director for clinical services at NRVCS. “And many times there can be as many as 20 or 30 people sitting in emergency rooms in Virginia waiting for a state bed.”
NRVCS will have a licensing review for New Horizons, located at 401 W. Main Street in Radford, and could open within the next few weeks.
