The Hidden South East Corner of Hillcrest Family Services
August 24, 2015
When people hear someone talking about Hillcrest Family Services they most like start thinking something along the lines of “I know about Hillcrest, they are that big human service agency in Dubuque, Iowa.” While they are correct that the majority of the services offered by Hillcrest are located in the Dubuque area and the Dubuque Mental Health Center is the largest of the mental health centers operated by Hillcrest Family Services. What they might not know is that Hillcrest has been providing outpatient mental health services in Washington Iowa for over 12 yrs. This makes the Washington Mental Health Center the oldest of all the mental health centers operated by Hillcrest. An even smaller known fact is that Hillcrest has a total of three mental health centers located in the South East Region.
In February 2014, Hillcrest Family Services expanded their mental health services in to Mt. Pleasant and Wapello Iowa. In April 2014 services expanded again with the addition of crisis services to our Washington Mental Health Center. The purpose of the crisis services is to provide immediate support to individuals experiencing an increase in mental health symptoms.
All three of the SE sites currently offer daily crisis appointments to individuals who are in need of immediate support and we have developed partnerships with our local hospitals to support to individuals accessing the local hospital’s emergency rooms when having a mental health crisis.
The emergency room services are now available to the Washington, Henry and Keokuk County Hospitals. When the hospital contacts Hillcrest a crisis therapist is dispatched to the hospital to provide the client with support, provide a crisis assessment and work with the doctors to determine level of care needed.
An even further expansion of services occurred in July of 2014, when Hillcrest rolled out the Integrated Health Home Services at all three of the South East Iowa mental health centers. Integrated Health Home Services utilizes a team approach to help coordinate individual’s physical and mental health services.
With the addition of the two new sites and the Integrated Health Home Services, the number of staff employed by Hillcrest in the South East Region has more than tripled in the last two years.
It has been an honor to be a part of this growth and a joy to watch the sites grown and to personally experience the impact it has had on the individuals residing in our community.
If you have any questions regarding these services please do not hesitate to call for further information or to reach out to me directly. It would by my pleasure to assist you in any way I can. If you are ever down this way, please don’t hesitate to stop by, I would love to show you around and share more about our local community.
Kristin Helm LISW, Division Director for SE Region Mental Health Centers
Washington Mental Health Center-319-653-6161, 2175 Lexington Blvd #2, Washington IA 52353
Henry County Mental Health Center-319-385-7177, 106 N. Jackson St, Mt. Pleasant IA 52641
Louisa County Mental Health Center-319-385-7177, 218 N. Second St, Wapello IA 52653