RISE Prepares to Open First Capital Region Meatal Health Intensive Crisis Residence

This article was posted in the Daily Gazatte

People in the Capital Region experiencing mental health distress or a crisis will soon have a new place to seek care after RISE Housing and Support Services cut the ribbon on SunRISE Retreat Thursday.

SunRISE Retreat, an intensive crisis residential program on Kirby Road in Saratoga Springs, is set to open in a couple weeks, said RISE Executive Director Sybil Newell.

“It’s so exciting,” Newell said. “We’ve needed this in the community for a very long time.”

The idea for the intensive crisis residential program began in 2018, when the state Office of Mental Health began creating the regulations for such programs. At the same time, RISE was closing the Kaydeross House, a home for adolescent girls, and so Newell and Moira Tashjian, the executive deputy commissioner for the state Office of Mental Health, began discussions for the intensive crisis residential program.

“Hopefully it will be a safe haven for individuals who are in a behavioral health crisis,” Tashjian said.

The program is different in that it does not provide hospital-level care but rather an intensive treatment model to provide stabilization services, treatment and discharge planning so people can safely return to the community, according to a press release from RISE.

The program will be housed at the former Kaydeross House, according to Newell.

The home-like setting features 12 private bedrooms, including one accessible to those with disabilities, as well as on-site nurses, a social worker and other health professionals. The staff will aid in various therapy services, medication management and monitoring.

There is also a living room, dining room, kitchen and space in the basement where individuals can play games like checkers or chess or color in books.

To see if someone can get into the program, Newell said people only need to call, see if there is space, have a conversation about the person’s needs and then have that person get an assessment to see if they would be appropriate for the program. Newell said the program is a billable service for health insurance companies.

“There is some state funding available to cover those individuals who have no insurance,” she said.

She also said the maximum stay is 28 days, but it’s all dependent on what the person needs.