What is offered at SLVBHG?
The San Luis Valley Behavioral Health Group (SLVBHG) is committed to offering a comprehensive array of useful services, including prevention, intervention programs to mental health outpatient, addiction treatment services, and judicial and offender services.
Specific behavioral health services include crisis intervention, psychiatric, mental health outpatient services, and substance abuse treatment. We also offer supportive services such as housing and client and family resources. By providing these supports, we provide recovery-oriented services that treat the whole individual, not just the illness.
SLVBHG also offers innovative prevention/intervention services and works with the community on various coalitions and task forces.
Core Services
- Individual Therapy
- Group Therapy
- Couples Therapy
- Substance Abuse Services
- Play Therapy
Case Management Services
- Homeless Outreach Services (PATH)
- Assertive Community Treatment (ACT)
- New Beginnings Wellness & Recovery Agency
- IPS (Individual Placement Support)
Psychiatric & MAT Services
- Medication Management
- Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)
- Vivitrol
- Suboxone
- Mobile Health Unit (MAT services)
Emergency Services
- On-call Emergency Mobile Response
- Inpatient placement
- Discharge planning
- Mi Esperanza Wellness Center ~ Walk-in Crisis Center
The Mi Esperanza Wellness Center (walk-in crisis center) is a safe, calm place where community members receive immediate support and treatment to focus on recovery.
Psychological Evaluations/Testing
Evaluations of intelligence and personality for children, adolescents, and adults.
Specialty Services
- SafeCare Colorado
- PSSF
- School-based Mental Health
- HealthySteps
- Sexual Offender Treatment Program (SOTP)
Care Coordination Services
Assisting with healthcare needs and community education on available services.
Transportation Services
Genoa Pharmacy
Genoa is an on-site pharmacy that can fill all medications. They provide convenient pick-up and delivery options, at no additional cost.
Open Monday – Friday 8:30 am – 5:00 pm
genoaHealthcare.com | 719.937.4750
The Jail Based Behavioral Health Services (JBBS) Substance Use Disorder (SUD)
Services program supports county sheriffs in providing screening, assessment and
treatment for substance use disorders and co-occurring substance use and mental
health disorders to people who need such services while they are in jails.
OBH
Core Services (adults and children)
- Individual Therapy:
Includes services such as EMDR, AcuDetox, and DBT. - Group Therapy: Non-court orders group therapy classes such as AcuDetox, Stress Management, and Chronic Pain.
- Couples Therapy: Works with couples to resolve conflicts and improve/strengthen their relationship.
- Substance Abuse Services: Includes services such as individual therapy, group therapy, medication-assisted treatment (MAT), and dual-diagnosis therapy.
- Play Therapy: Therapeutic play helps children with social or emotional deficits learn to communicate better, change their behavior, develop problem-solving skills, and relate to others in positive ways.
- Parenting/Co-Parenting: Classes teach positive skills and child development concepts to parents of children of all ages.
Emergency Services
SLVBHG has a mobile response team that will respond to crisis calls 24 hours and day 7 days a week.
Individuals, family members, schools, community agencies, medical and emergency response personnel can call SLVBHG’s Mobile Response Team for consultations, evaluations and emergency support.
SLVBHG Emergency Services offer services and support to:
- Prevent the need for higher levels of care (e.g. Inpatient Hospitalization)
- Inpatient placement and Discharge planning: When a higher level of care is needed, the Emergency Services team will assist with placement in an inpatient facility as well as develop a plan once release to give the individual the best chance of remaining stable in the community.
- Reduce symptoms and improve functioning through education and other supports.
- Promote safety and emotional stability of individuals in crisis
- Assist individuals in developing better coping skills
- Educate family members, friends, and caregivers to support the individual in crisis.
- Assist individuals with mental illness or emotional crises to obtain ongoing care and treatment
Seek immediate help if you or someone you know may be thinking about ending a life or hurting others. Making choices that put you or a loved one in serious danger, becoming unable to care for yourself or struggling with addiction/ substance use issues are other signs that may need immediate help.
Mi Esperanza Wellness Center – Walk-in Crisis Center: A safe, calm place where community members receive immediate support and treatment for behavioral health symptoms so they can focus on recovery to feel more stable. Read more…
Mi Esperanza Wellness Center
Although we provide a variety of outpatient services, Inpatient Psychiatric Care is non-existent in the San Luis Valley. Individuals requiring inpatient psychiatric care often travel to Pueblo or Colorado Springs. This is not an option for many living within the valley. We believe that treating individuals within the community relates to more family involvement and better outcomes. To put this belief in practice the San Luis Behavioral Health Group developed a walk-in crisis center named the Mi Esperanza Wellness Center..
The Mi Esperanza Wellness Center is located at 311 San Juan Ave in Alamosa. This service is a bridge between keeping people safely in our community and sending them for psychiatric care elsewhere. Often individuals experiencing a behavioral/ mental health crisis go to the Emergency Room. The natural environment of the Emergency Room is driven by medical emergencies and is often overwhelming to those seeking behavioral health assistance. Through our partnerships with local emergency rooms, the Mi Esperanza Wellness Center provides a safe, calm space to receive attention and treatment from behavioral and mental health specialists.
The Mi Esperanza Wellness Center is a place people can go without feeling the stigma of having a behavioral/ mental health crisis. Providing a safe and private setting for individuals to receive the services they need to regain control. With an emphasis on recovery and linking individuals to services, SLVBHG can prevent visits to the ER or hospitalization outside of our community.
What services are provided at the Mi Esperanza Wellness Center?
- Education to reduce symptoms and improve functioning and access to other supports
- Trained staff to assist individuals in developing and/or enhancing coping skills and help support (family members, friends, etc.)
- Help individuals with mental illness or emotional crises to obtain ongoing care and treatment
When should you think about going to the Mi Esperanza Wellness Center?
- When you need extra support to cope with a stressful situation
- When you find yourself getting more anxious, depressed, and you are unable to function well and need help to feel more stable
- Call and ask to speak to an emergency services clinician if you are not sure if the Wellness Center is appropriate for you – 719-589-3671
FAQ: Frequently asked questions about the Mi Esperanza Wellness Center?:
What will happen while I am at the Wellness Center?
Staff will provide an assessment/evaluation with recommendations. These recommendations will include:
- Education on psychiatric and addiction conditions
- Professional and self-help alternatives
- Referral for continuing care following crisis resolution
- Other community services as needed
How do these services help people in a mental health crisis?
- Reduce symptoms and improve functioning through education and access to other supports
- Promote the safety and emotional stability of individuals with mental illness or emotional crises
- Assist individuals in developing and/or enhancing better coping skills and help support (family members, friends, etc.)
- Help individuals with mental illness or emotional crises obtain ongoing care and treatment
- Encourage services that may help individuals stabilize without having to go to an inpatient facility.
Why Hummingbirds?
Many have asked why hummingbirds were chosen as the animal to be painted on the front of the building.
Throughout the history of the world, cultures have revered the hummingbird for its majestic presence, magical characteristics and spiritual connections and gifts. The Native American cultures depict the hummingbird as a healer, a bringer of light, and a carrier of luck, joy, and love.
Even their movement symbolizes the enjoyment of life and lightness of being. As their wings move to form a figure eight, a symbol of infinity and empowerment, they appear to defy gravity. Beating their wings up to 200 times per second, their surroundings appear frozen in time. Symbolically exemplifying how we must move beyond time, to heal the past, and fully center our presence and awareness in the moment of now.
The hummingbird, in all its glory, is a symbol of hope, healing, and recovery
If you or someone you know is in crisis or in need of immediate assistance, call 719-589-3671 24 hours a day 7 days a week You can also call 1 844-493-TALK (8255) to be connected with a specialist from Colorado Crisis Services.
NOTE: If it is determined that a community member needs psychiatric inpatient care, the SLVBHG team will assist the client in finding an appropriate placement. This could be in a psychiatric hospital or an Alternative Treatment Unit (ATU).
Psychiatric (adults and children) & MAT Services
Psychiatric consultation and ongoing medication management for adults, adolescents, children, geriatric, and developmentally disabled individuals. These services include telepsychiatry as well as face-to-face appointments.
- Medication Management: Monitoring of the effectiveness of medication(s) over time to determine if the treatment meets the client’s goals.
- Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT): The use of FDA-approved medications, in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, to provide a “whole-patient” approach to the treatment of substance use disorders.
- Vivitrol Injections: Medication that is provided once a month to help prevent relapse from alcohol and opioid dependence.
- Suboxone: Medication administered as a sublingual film used to help prevent relapse from heroin and opioid dependency.
- Mobile Health Unit: A mobile clinic that travels around the San Luis Valley to reduce barriers to transportation. Read More…
Substance Abuse Services
- DUI/Treatment Classes: (Alamosa and Monte Vista only) Substance abuse, addictions evaluation, and treatment using individual, group, intensive, outpatient, Level I, and Level II protocols.
- Dual Diagnosis Treatment: A therapeutic approach to treat a mental health disorder and a substance use disorder together.
Case Management Services
- Projects For Assistance In Transition From Homelessness (PATH): Outreach and practical assistance for persons with behavioral illness who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
- Assertive Community Treatment (ACT):
(Alamosa, Conejos, Monte Vista, and Rio Grande counties) Assertive community treatment is an intensive and highly integrated approach for community mental health service delivery. ACT teams serve individuals with the most serious forms of mental illness, predominantly but not exclusively the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. In effect, by teaching coping and life skills while working in tandem with serious mental illness, ACT, when effectively executed, can reduce hospital stays and incarceration time for individuals as well. - New Beginnings Wellness and Recovery Agency: (Alamosa only) Services to help individuals regain purpose, skills, training, and confidence, with the goal of rehabilitation. The “therapy” at New Beginnings is meaningful work and the relationships and socialization that happen continuously within the program.
- Individual Placement Support (IPS): Assists individuals with mental illness secure employment and helps them develop the life skills to retain the job.
- Intensive Case Management (ICM): Intensive case management is the coordination of community-based services by a professional or team to provide people the quality mental health care that is customized accordingly to an individual’s setbacks or persistent challenges and aid them to their recovery. Case management seeks to reduce hospitalizations and support individuals’ recovery through a holistic approach that considers each person’s overall biopsychosocial needs without making disadvantageous economic costs. As a result, care coordination includes traditional mental health services but may also encompass primary healthcare, housing, transportation, employment, social relationships, and community participation. It is the link between the client and care delivery system.
- Bridges: Connecting Colorado’s Criminal Justice and Mental Health Systems. This program’s mission is to promote positive outcomes for Coloradans living with Mental health conditions who encounter criminal justice involvement by fostering collaboration between both systems.
Specialty Services
- SafeCare: This is a voluntary parent support program for parents and caregivers with children ages five and under who need extra support to keep their families safe and healthy. Parent support providers help families build on their existing skills in the areas of parent-child interactions, home safety, and child health.The program typically takes 18-20 sessions provided in the home or another convenient location.
- PSSF (Preserving Safe and Stable Families): This is a home-based program that offers care coordination needs, parenting and nurturing skills, and nurturing parents/father curriculum to promote a safe and stable home. This program is for families that are either at risk of losing or have lost custody of their children, have children removed from their home, are working to be reunited with their children, have children in foster care, or need assistance with kinship and adoption.
- School-based Mental Health: In-school services for individuals, groups, and families in most school districts of the Valley, including early childhood (Headstart and Daycare Centers). HealthySteps: is an evidence-based, interdisciplinary pediatric primary care program that promotes positive parenting and healthy development for babies and toddlers, with an emphasis on families living in low-income communities.
Sexual Offender Treatment Program SOTP: (Alamosa only) A structured offense-specific treatment program for persons who have committed sexual offenses.
Care Coordination
This program assists with healthcare needs and educates the community on available services. Care Coordinators aid clients that have obstacles preventing them from attaining care and services by connecting them with programs and resources to ensure they get the care they deserve and need. This includes setting up transportation, financial assistance with utilities, housing, food, and clothing. They also assist with legal services, paying for prescription drugs, vision, dental care, behavioral/mental health care, MAT services, and assisting a client in attaining Medicaid or Medicare.