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Prakash Chandran (Host):   This Health Hero COVID-19 podcast was recorded on September 15, 2020. Fear and stress may be increasing in the lives of many as the global pandemic continues through the season, but it’s reassuring to know that there's a community resource that can help you or a loved one cope with the addiction or mental health issues experienced during this time. We’re going to talk about it with Jennifer Redding, the executive director of behavioral health services at the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health where she provides administrative and clinical oversight at the Klein Family Harford Crisis Center and other behavioral health services. This is the Healthy Hero podcast from UM Upper Chesapeake Health. I'm Prakash Chandran. So Jennifer, it’s great to have you here. What exactly is the Klein Family Harford Crisis Center?

Jennifer Redding, LCSW-C (Guest):   The crisis center is essentially a behavioral health hub in Harford County. We are able to offer an urgent care walk-in center. So anyone who is experiencing behavioral health symptoms of substance use issues can come in, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., meet with a licensed clinician or counselor and possibly a psychiatrist if that’s what’s needed so that they can have their behavioral health needs assessed. They can meet with a counselor and help to stabilize whatever symptoms they're experiencing. In addition to the urgent care walk-in center, we also have residential crisis beds. So essentially if someone is experiencing symptoms that are just disrupting their lives and they feel like they need additional support, we have crisis beds where they can stay for anywhere from one to usually the most someone might stay is seven to eight days. During that time, they can meet with licensed clinicians. They can meet with our psychiatrist. They participate in group therapy to learn how to cope with whatever is happening in their lives so that they feel like they can go back home and resume their functioning, can go back to work, can work with their children. That sort of thing. In addition to the urgent care walk-in center and the residential crisis beds, we also have an outpatient clinic. So really for anyone that needs support from a therapist or a psychiatrist on an outpatient basis. So typically our clients come in once a week to meet with their therapist to work through symptoms of depression, anxiety. Really anything that is causing stress and disruption in their lives.

So essentially we are able to help folks coming into the crisis center really at any stage of where they're seeking help. Folks get confused when it’s called a crisis center and they feel like they have to be in crisis. That’s the biggest misnomer, I think, of the name. Truly we are trying to prevent behavioral health crises. So as soon as someone feels or experiences symptoms, as I mentioned before, that’s a great time to come in. We can help link them and navigate the behavioral health system. We can help them understand what is going to best address their needs and link them with providers not only at the crisis center but later on in the community if that’s what’s needed.

Host:   Yeah, that’s really fantastic to hear because I know people that are suffering through some of these issues in behavioral health. They often times feel like they're isolated and alone. So what an amazing resource for the community. I wanted to talk a little bit more about who exactly provides the services there. Maybe talk a little bit more about the staff on hand.

Jennifer:   Sure. Our staff is absolutely caring and compassionate. We’re very selective about who we allow to work with us. As far as the types of professionals, we have psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners who are able to provide psychiatric evaluation and prescribe medications if they're needed. We have licensed social workers and counselors who can provide psychosocial assessments and counseling on the spot. We have peer recovery specialists who are really everyday folks who have their own experience in recovery from addiction. So they are sometimes able to communicate with other folks who are struggling with substance use in a way that perhaps the other professionals aren’t able to because they’ve lived that life experience. In addition we have psychiatric nurses who are specially trained certainly in nursing but specifically for those who are experiencing behavioral health sorts of issues. So they can attend to any sort of medical needs that an individual might have while they're presenting for support.

Host:   I feel like this is an obvious question, but I’d love to hear your personal opinion. Why do you think these services are so important to our community?

Jennifer:   Living in Harford County myself, not every county has a crisis center. Obviously, I'm a little biased because I work for University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake, but as a county resident I am thrilled that we have a center where anyone regardless of their ability to pay, regardless of their insurance status, regardless of anything. If they’re having any sort of behavioral health symptom or substance use issue, they can come in and get immediate care. In the world of behavioral health, I think that’s probably one of the biggest complaints because it takes so much courage to reach out for help. Then when you finally are ready to take that step, you can't get in front of a provider. That’s what the Klein Family Harford Crisis Center can offer, immediate support.  

Host:   Absolutely. I want to talk about it in context of this pandemic that we’re going through right now. I know that it must have such an impact on the mental health in our society. Can you speak to that a little bit?

Jennifer:  Certainly. So certainly COVID-19 has taken just a terrible toll on everyone’s mental health. Typically for the majority of the residents in our county, we have pretty good coping skills. That’s when everything is “normal”. With the pandemic, those typical coping skills are no longer working. So what we’re seeing, even in folks that traditionally don’t have mental health or behavioral health issues, we’re seeing an increase in anger. We’re seeing an increase in depression and anxiety and substance use. An increase in intimate partner violence and child sex and physical abuse as well as neglect. So truly our routines have been changed and have been disrupted. The services and the resources that we’ve previously leaned on have either been cancelled or they’ve had to move to a virtual support where we’re sitting in front computers or our phones trying to connect with those supports. I think one of the biggest struggles that so many of us have had is that breakdown in socialization. We’re not interacting with people as much as we used to. So certainly for people who are working and struggling with behavioral health symptoms and substance use disorders, the socialization is vital. That’s been taken away or drastically reduced. So folks that have traditionally been able to kind of go through regular life such as going to work, caring for their children, doing what they need to do, it’s been very surprising for a lot of folks because they’ve not been able to do that as well as they have in the past. I think for some it’s hard to connect the dots that that’s linked with COVID, but it’s truly the breakdown in structure and routine and support services that are traditionally there.

Then for folks who have been impacted by trauma such as a history of sexual assault or child abuse and now maybe they're adults. You wouldn’t naturally think that that would also impact how you're coping, but COVID-19 with the breakdown in structure and kind of those support services we typically rely on is making it even more complicated to kind of get out of the bed and get up in the morning. So absolutely impacting mental health. I think we’re going to see a ripple effect for a long time. Even after restrictions and things kind of stabilize, I think that we’re going to be dealing with behavioral health fallout for a long time.

Host: Yeah. Absolutely. What you say is so true. It is really good that you are that resource for the community to really come to at any time when they are feeling lonely or depressed or exhibiting some of these symptoms, that you're just there for them. I did want to kind of move to the fact that people are still going to be apprehensive and potentially concerned given COVID-19 and just trying to stay safe. So I'm curious as to how the pandemic has changed the way that you deliver care at the Harford Crisis Center.   

Jennifer: So within our outpatient center, we are able to accommodate our client’s needs. So certainly we can see them in person if that’s what they would prefer, but we also offer an option of telehealth. So if they're more comfortable remaining in their home but getting in front of one of our providers, they can do that virtually with their computer. For our urgent care walk-in center as well as our residential crisis beds, obviously that involves coming in to our center in person. So we have a number of safety measures. We check each person’s temperature before they're allowed to enter the building. We have COVID screening questions just to kind of reduce the amount of risk and the potential for spreading the virus. So we do everything we can to ensure the safety of everyone that’s seeking services. Obviously, we have a cleaning service that is continuously making sure that services are wiped down and cleaned whenever anyone has been in our waiting room. We also are certainly abiding by social distancing and limiting the number of folks who are in the waiting room at any given time.

Host:   Yeah. It definitely sounds like you are taking a lot of precautions to make sure that people that come in have the safest experience possible. So just as we close here, I wanted to ask you what is the one thing that you want people to remember most about this conversation?

Jennifer:   I think the one takeaway that I would like for folks to have is that we are here to help. I know especially with the COVID-19 pandemic, so many folks that never would have thought that they needed to seek help for any of their behavioral health symptoms are now reaching out because they don’t know what to do. We are that first step. It can be so confusing when you're having symptoms such as depression or anxiety and you don’t know what to do. You don’t know how to navigate the behavioral health system. That’s what we can help. All you have to do is to come to the crisis center. Let us know what brought you here, and we’ll take it from there. We’ll help you in a way that is respectful, is compassionate, and that truly helps you feel better.

Host:   Well Jennifer I think that is the perfect place to end. Thank you so much for your time today and informing us about this amazing resource. For more information about the Klein Family Harford Crisis Center, visit harfordcrisiscenter.org. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and be sure to check out the entire podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is the Health Hero podcast from UM Upper Chesapeake Health. Thanks so much and we’ll talk next time.