Experts share how to help youth, families in mental health crisis

Tara Carolan, case manager for Safe Talk for Teens, describes the services and goals her office in Reno provides for those in need of counseling Sept. 27, 2023.
Photo by Jessica Garcia.

Families seeking resources to help their children in crisis can call on a number of experts, community members heard during a parent night by Carson City Juvenile Services Wednesday.

Multiple agencies, including the Carson City Sheriff’s Office Mobile Outreach Safety Team (MOST), the National Alliance on Mental Alliance (NAMI), Nevada PEP, Safe Talk for Teens, the Children’s Mobile Crisis Response Team, Juvenile Probation in Carson City and Wraparound in Nevada, offered overviews on their services to youth in need when they’re experiencing mental or behavioral health issues covering depression, psychotic breaks and incidents involving or leading to criminal behaviors or offenses such as domestic battery.

Carson City Sheriff’s Office MOST officers Bekah Bock and Mike Gibson described crisis intervention and threat assessment. They said CCSO’s school resource officers conduct check-ins with social workers and parents in or out of school. They said Carson City often provides services for incoming referrals from surrounding communities, such as Lyon or Douglas, because there aren’t enough resources elsewhere. Bock and Gibson said collaboration is key. MOST works closely with partners such as Carson Tahoe Health’s Mallory Behavioral Health Crisis Center, its emergency department, Friends in Service Helping and the Ron Wood Family Resource Center.

Michelle Entz, Juvenile Services outreach specialist, told the Appeal the schools are communicating well with families about extra support available for students who are struggling beyond the classroom.

“During the school year, it’s very stressful,” Entz said. “It’s good the schools are the brunt of getting families to reach out and making that awareness that there’s all these resources outside of school and during the summer when they don’t have those supports.”

Entz said she enjoyed seeing the conversations arise between the agencies and the attendees who came about making better connections. For some families, Entz said, it can be overwhelming trying to identify where to go in the first place as they’re dealing with a crisis.

Patrick Rogers, behavioral health director for Nevada Health Centers and parent of a son in middle school, voiced his appreciation for the experts’ work Wednesday.

He recalled when a former gang member he worked with at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center came up to him frustrated that he didn’t have someone like Rogers sooner in life. At the time, Rogers, a licensed clinical social worker, offered classes for inmates.

“He was found guilty of killing three individuals, and that’s what he admitted to, and he’d come to all my classes,” Rogers said. “…But he wasn’t going anywhere, he was never getting out, like, this was it for him and he’d still come.

“One day he cornered me,” Rogers said. “He said, ‘I’m mad at you. Where were you when I was young? There was nobody that gave me a second look. They wrote me off. There was no help and if I had help, I wouldn’t be here, but because of that, I’m spending the rest of my life incarcerated, and it’s my fault. But it’s like, if I had that help, if I had people out there that helped me, I wouldn’t be here.’”

Rogers described it as a “heart-wrenching moment” working with a client.

“I appreciate everything everyone does in all your different capacities,” he said. “Whether it’s in crisis whether it’s in long-term, whether it’s in prevention, whether it’s working with the parents or working  in communities or in schools, it’s an important role that you play.”

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