By Dave Celone
The temperature was a bone-chilling minus 2 degrees Fahrenheit with a stiff wind whipping through the parking lot behind Chappy’s Restaurant, the newly opened breakfast and lunch spot on Canaan’s main street, on the morning of Monday, Jan. 10.
I was meeting a Canaan Lions Club member to collect signatures he had gathered on a petition for a Town appropriation request for Canaan voters to decide whether or not to fund mental health services provided by West Central Behavioral Health for another year. It’s an annual process, and one that doesn’t usually make for interesting news.
But this year was different, because what I found in Canaan on a chilly January day went far beyond signatures on a page—I experienced the generous warmth of a small town that cares deeply for, and talks openly about, the mental health of its residents.
Sue, the owner of Chappy’s, served me a lovely breakfast of two eggs over-easy, wheat toast, home fries, and a sausage. This was their Basic Breakfast with eggs perfectly cooked to my liking. Soon, Harry Armstrong hobbled in slowly. I recognized him by his Lions Club cap. He has a prosthetic foot that makes walking troubling—though his cane helps, the cold weather does not. He did some quick fraternizing with others, then sat at my table to chat. Harry’s an easy guy to get to know. He’s open, honest, and willing to talk about most things, especially his Lions Club volunteer work. “We Serve” is their motto, and he embodies it well as a volunteer. Within a few minutes, he welcomed the local plumber, George Lazarus, to our table. After a few stories and some talk of mutual friends, they got down to the work of suggesting who I should ask for signatures.
One hour was all it took to fill a sheet with signatures and to get a good dose of the Canaan vibe. I was pleasantly surprised at how open people were about discussing mental illness, and how important access to treatment is to them. Harry, George, and I were surrounded by a warmth of spirit and desire to ensure West Central’s success in this year’s petition effort. The Town’s process is not quite as easy as it seems, but the townspeople were more than willing to help me meet their fellow residents to ensure community mental health services remain available.
One woman mentioned that her daughter had been treated successfully by West Central as she added her name to the list. An older gentleman said that he had spent time shuttling an elderly neighbor back and forth to our Lebanon clinic for therapy. Harry, George, and others encouraged me to visit Jake’s Market & Deli, Canaan Hardware, Canaan Village Pizza, the Haphazard Quilting shop, Mascoma Bank, and the Dollar Store. As I made the rounds people welcomed me and were happy to learn West Central is expanding its range of services with the advent of in-person mobile crisis support.
The new New Hampshire statewide toll-free crisis number as of January 1 is 833-710-6477. This replaces the many New Hampshire community behavioral health center crisis hotlines (as it paves the way for a single, national 988 number in July). It’s also accessible at NH988.com with online chat availability now. Callers will speak with trained crisis clinicians and peer support specialists at the New Hampshire Rapid Response Access Point call center. This operates 24/7/365 to assist people in crisis by phone or text before contacting West Central’s mobile crisis teams. This approach will help minimize hospital admissions by getting people the treatment they need immediately, then offering additional care options with a therapist. Over time, this will offer better care and save costs over the previous default option of emergency room admissions with long waits for beds.
As West Central rolls out its mobile crisis efforts, know that the Rapid Response Access Point call center is a tried-and-true approach. It expects to resolve about 80 percent of crisis calls over the phone before calling out a mobile crisis team. But when it does, you’ll get the warmth and compassionate care from West Central mobile crisis clinicians equal to, and perhaps only surpassed by, the warmth and friendly acceptance I received from the townspeople of Canaan willing to speak openly and with passionate compassion about the need for community mental health services in their town.
Dave Celone of Sharon, Vt., is director of development & community relations for West Central Behavioral Health, one of 10 community behavioral health centers in New Hampshire, with clinics in Claremont, Lebanon, and Newport. Dave may be reached at [email protected].
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