Beacon Specialized Living continues to provide essential services for adults and children in need. New to the Fife Lake area, located in northern Michigan, Beacon has opened a new residential Home specifically to address crisis respite needs for children. The home provides an alternative for those receiving care for mental health needs.
“It is being developed in kind of response to the need that’s been noticed by our community mental health systems,” says Roxanne Goldammer, Vice President of Operations, North Region for Beacon Specialized Living. “If the youth are kind of having difficulties dealing with the life struggles, we would like them to have someplace that is more home like to receive some therapies, to keep them out of the hospitals and be able to return back to home in a more balanced way.”
The home is tailored to address the needs of children aged 6-17 and can receive services from 3 to 14 days.
“They might just be struggling with some trying to run away and elopement, ” says Goldammer. “We want to make sure that they stay safe and that the family unit can stay as cohesive as possible. So we do have our clinical staff that provide therapies both individually to the youth as well as as a family unit.”
Beacon offers other crisis respite homes in Michigan, but this is the only home in the northern part of the state that offers these services.
“We kind of want to look at it as a team with the community resources that are already there and where we are involved in that step,” says Goldammer. “If they’re starting to come along with some issues either with the law or with the home and you don’t want them in the hospital maybe they’ve already done that route and they’re trying to do a step down from the hospital to return back home. This home would be a great step for that. It’s a bridge to help those kids be a little bit more successful when they do return home and provide that safe environment where they can get the help from the clinicians or medication management.”
Providing a safe, comfortable home environment is paramount during an intervention. In line with Beacon’s ICARE values (Integrity, Compassion, Advocacy, Respect, and Excellence), the staff at the Fife Lake Crisis Residential Home strive to ensure that children can work through an intervention in a protected and careful manner.
“We want them to feel comfortable,” says Goldammer. “You’re able to benefit more from therapeutic interventions when you’re comfortable, when you feel safe. And a lot of people don’t necessarily feel safe in a hospital and we want that step down that transition so that they can be successful when they leave here.”
To view the full interview please visit Channel 9&10 News here.
