BOISE, Idaho — The Western Idaho Youth Support Center opens its doors on Monday. It is the fourth crisis center for children and teenagers in the Gem State and the second in the Treasure Valley.
"Unfortunately, youth are experiencing quite a bit of challenges," said Cas Adams, Southwest District Health program manager. "And we want to make sure that there's a resource available for them when they're experiencing a crisis."
Adams said services are entirely free. The center can serve up to six youth ages 10-17, who can stay for almost 24 hours. Those teenagers and children might struggle with thoughts of self-harm, severe bullying, the loss of a loved one, issues with substance abuse, etc.
Southwest District Health funded the center with help from the state. Pathways of Idaho will staff the center and run all the programming.
The goal of the center is to help de-escalate a crisis. When children and teenagers first get to the center, they will go through a security screening and take medical and behavioral health assessments.
Director of Operations Karleen Smith said parents and guardians should be present at first. In some cases, law enforcement might bring someone in.
"Once they've completed both those steps, we're able to work with them with a case manager," Smith said. "The case manager is able to link to resources, peer support, really be able to share their lived experience."
Parent Tricia Ellinger sits on the center's advisory board. Three of her children went through mental health crises during the pandemic. However, because of limited crisis support options, especially in rural areas, the family went to an emergency room.
Until the youth crisis centers started opening, Ellinger said emergency rooms were really the only options for families — where wait times for assessment, evaluation and medication sometimes exceed 70 hours.
"The doors for mental health for youth often don't open until Juvenile Corrections is involved, until the hospital is involved, until there's a school issue," she said. "The doors don't open until something major and bad happens. We don't want families to get to that point where you have to wait for something bad to happen."
She thinks the Nampa center will be a great resource and said she felt relief, joy and hope about its opening.
"Finally, there's a place that's safe for families and kids to go," she said, "other than a hospital environment that is not equipped to support these kids."
Even though the center can only sleep up to six children and teenagers, Smith said they will ensure nobody in crisis goes without help. That means referring them to the crisis center in Boise, which is slightly bigger, or connecting them to another nearby resource.
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