GREENFIELD — Patients in Hancock County will soon have a new option for receiving mental health services: The Landing Place will begin offering a range of care, including medication-assisted addiction treatment, in partnership with an Indianapolis-based health care provider.
The Landing Place was established in 2013 to provide a support group for teens in recovery from substance abuse issues. The nonprofit has since expanded to offer services including a crisis intervention hotline, a support group for family members of those struggling with addiction and individual counseling. The new program is designed to treat those of all ages.
Now, the Landing Place will begin providing a space for psychiatric and substance abuse recovery services through Miller Care Group. Patients can now make appointments Thursdays and Fridays to see a psychiatrist or licensed social worker. Medication-assisted treatment, which assists in recovery from substance abuse through the use of prescription medication that relieves cravings or blocks withdrawal symptoms, will also be offered.
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Dr. Michael Miller, CEO and medical director of the Miller Care Group, said the goal is “to try and put together a whole continuum of care.”
“Most mental health organizations have mental health, but they don’t have a medical arm. Conversely, when you’re looking at the substance abuse entities, they have a medical arm, but 80 percent of substance abusers have mental illness — what we call dual diagnosis — so you can’t separate that out,” Miller said. “To come in with a full spectrum of programming, including psychiatric care, is unique (in Hancock County). No one else is doing it.”
Miller Care Group partners with nonprofit organizations in several Indiana counties to offer services to their clients. Linda Ostewig, executive director of The Landing Place and the Talitha Koum Recovery House, said Miller contacted her after reading about the recovery house.
The two organizations decided to work together after discussing the needs Ostewig sees in her work with those in recovery. Ostewig said the existing mental health providers in Hancock County are often “inundated” with patients, leaving them waiting weeks to access care.
In their annual report on county health rankings earlier this year, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute found a large gap in mental health access in Hancock County. According to the report, there are 1,740 residents for every mental health care provider in the county. The state’s ratio is almost two-thirds less: 670 to 1.
Ostewig said young people who need intensive outpatient treatment often travel outside the county to get it. Patients who want to receive a Naltrexone shot — an extended-release medication that blocks the effects of opioid medication — previously needed to travel to Indianapolis. Now, that treatment will be available closer to home.
“What we want to do is bring on more partnerships, so that we can add to the community and bring on what needs to be done, because there’s this huge gap,” Ostewig said.
The Hancock County Probation Department is also involved in the new partnership. Court treatment specialists Amy Ikerd and Erin Davis will begin providing referrals for court-ordered drug treatment as well as for people on probation voluntarily seeking psychiatric treatment or counseling.
“We really were interested, because the service delivery approach is different,” Ikerd said. “Sometimes, agencies open and say, ‘This is what we’ll do,’ and it’s not always what you need. Hancock County very much appreciates when someone will say, ‘What do you need?’”
Medication-assisted treatment
As opioid addiction has become an increasingly common problem for communities across the country, experts have focused on an approach that combines counseling with prescription medication that can treat the physical symptoms of drug dependence and withdrawal. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recommends the treatment as the most effective methodology.
Miller, whose practice provides medication-assisted treatment for both opioid and methamphetamine addiction, said his approach is focused on eventually weaning patients off these medications.
“We do not believe in trading one addiction for another,” Miller said.
Miller said prescriptions of some medications used to treat addiction, such as suboxone, need to be monitored carefully because they can be resold on the street. At the Landing Place, patients will be able to receive seven-day prescriptions by attending weekly mental health counseling.
Services will be provided at the Landing Place’s location in Greenfield, located at 18 W. South Street, by Amanda Gilbert, a licensed clinical social worker, and Dr. Paul Smith, a psychiatrist.
Miller Care Group will accept all major insurers as well as Medicaid and the Healthy Indiana Plan. Patients do not need to be involved with a Landing Place program or be referred by the probation department to make an appointment.
“It’s a community-based initiative,” Miller said.
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Miller Care Group will provide services at the Landing Place, located at 18 W. South Street in Greenfield, Thursdays and Fridays.
Prospective patients can call (317) 469-0061 to make an appointment.
Miller Care Group will accept all major insurers as well as Medicaid and the Healthy Indiana Plan. Patients do not need to be involved with a Landing Place program or be referred by the probation department to make an appointment.
For more information on the Landing Place, visit thelandingplacehc.com. Information on Talitha Koum Recovery House is available at talithakoum-for.org.
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