Ramsey County Opens Bridge to Health & Wellness
A Bridge to Health and Wellness
St. Paul, MN: Ramsey County Community Human Services is pleased to announce the grand opening of a new building: 402 University Avenue East: A Bridge to Health and Wellness. This new building will house Urgent Care for Adult Mental Health, Chemical Health Assessment and Placement, Detox, and the Second Judicial District Commitment Court. The creation of this building brings an unprecedented opportunity to improve and coordinate services to individuals experiencing either a mental or chemical health crisis, or both. The goal is to improve the availability of integrated, community-based, chemical and mental health services for this population.
Each program area provides a unique service for individuals in order to maximize the use of limited resources:
Urgent Care for Adult Mental Health helps individuals experiencing acute mental health symptoms receive the right level of care at the right time, focusing on recovery and peer support for these individuals. The program emphasizes community-based services whenever possible, offering emergency services through phone support, mobile outreach and walk-in services. Both mobile and on-site crisis intervention and stabilization services will be available, including: supportive counseling, information/referral, consultation to professionals, mental health education to family and community, crisis assessment and next step planning, crisis psychiatry, medication evaluation, and placement in crisis beds. Certified Peer Specialists will be added to the interdisciplinary team. Peers have personal experience with mental illness and are trained to work with people in crisis and support their recovery. The goal of this program is to expand its hours and to increase the capacity to serve people from the East Metro – Ramsey, Dakota and Washington Counties.
Chemical Health Assessment & Placement provides chemical health assessments and referrals to chemical dependency treatment CD case management and other services. This unit also serves as an access point for State licensed chemical dependency treatment services for qualified individuals meeting both State income and clinical eligibility guidelines for public funding. Referrals to supportive Group Residential Housing for eligible persons with chemical dependency are also available.
Detoxification services are provided 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, with assessment and referral to appropriate treatment programs. The Detoxification Center is a sub-acute residential facility providing medical monitoring and chemical dependency assessments and screening for individuals who are intoxicated or experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
The 2nd Judicial Civil Commitment Court has the legal obligation of determining if a person is to be committed to treatment centers. Civil Commitment hearings will be held in this new building.
The building is currently under construction, and scheduled to be open for services in mid-September. The new building is located in downtown St. Paul at 402 University Avenue East, across from the Union Gospel Mission. For more information call 651-266-4379 or visit www.co.ramsey.mn.us/home/.