In an effort to continue to address community need for behavioral health care, Providence Health Care has announced plans to open RISE, a new outpatient behavioral health program for adults and adolescents. 

Tamara Sheehan, regional director of behavioral health services at Providence Health Care says RISE, which stands for Resources, Insight, Support, and Empowerment, is an intensive mental health day-treatment program designed to increase access to care and help fill the gap between traditional outpatient care and hospitalization.

Located in the Providence Holy Family Hospital Medical Building at 235 E. Rowan, the RISE program is intended to benefit adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 and adults who suffer from mental health issues affecting their professional and personal lives.

“As we were looking around the community for gaps in care, we saw a need for this level of care in our community,” Sheehan says. “The program is based off a similar one developed by one of our sister hospitals in Portland.”

Sheehan says Providence held an open house early this month to introduce the community to the new clinic, which will begin offering services for adolescent patients Sept. 17, followed by adult patient services starting Oct. 15.

 “There is a prearranged patient referral process through individuals such as school counselors, mental health providers, and primary-care physicians,” she says. “We don’t take walk-ins, but patients can self-refer as long as they meet the insurance criteria.”

Sheehan says the program provides intensive behavioral health services to individuals who need a higher level of care than what’s provided in a traditional outpatient setting, but who don’t require inpatient psychiatric hospitalization. 

“We see a lot of patients come in to emergency rooms who are given a general diagnosis of depression and anxiety,” she says. “They need help, but don’t meet the criteria for inpatient care, so they’re given a list of community resources, places where lower-level mental health services are provided. However, there’s often a wait list for those resources and it’s particularly difficult for those with private insurance to gain access.”

Sheehan says Providence is currently working to ensure the RISE program is able to accept all forms of insurance, including Medicare. 

“We’re actively working on contracts to make sure the program is available to anyone with Medicaid, Medicare, or private insurance,” she says. 

Because RISE is a day-treatment program, patients are allowed to return home at night after participating in behavioral health services. Sheehan says the outpatient approach enables them to maintain family and community relationships as well as continue to fulfill work and school obligations.

“Patients have to be safe and healthy enough to return home at night and use the skills they’ve learned to manage their daily lives,” she says. “They can then return to the group and talk about their experiences and get advice and feedback on how best to use the skills they’re learning to better manage their mental health.”

Sheehan says the program is entirely voluntary and incorporates both group-driven sessions as well as individualized care from a team of social workers, nurse practitioners, psychiatrists, and psychologists. 

She says patients with a high level of need may attend the program five days a week, while those with lesser needs would likely only attend two or three days a week. 

“Patients may be in the program for several weeks or several months, depending on their progress,” she says. “Our goal is to help patients build the skills they need to maintain their mental health once they’ve completed the program.”

Sheehan says she’s excited for the clinic to open and begin serving patients. 

“I’m proud of Providence for looking into the need for this program and making it happen so quickly,” she says. “It’s wonderful that we’re now able to provide the same level of mental health care in the outpatient realm as we do in our inpatient realm.”

Providence Health Care is the Eastern Washington service area of Providence Health & Services and is a network of health services and facilities, including Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center & Children’s Hospital, Providence Holy Family Hospital, and critical-access hospitals in Colville and Chewelah. 

Providence Health & Services operates 51 hospitals, 829 physician clinics, senior services, supportive housing and other health and educational services. The health system and its partners employ more than 119,000 people in seven states: Alaska, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.