Georgia mental health program seeks to help those with mental illnesses to stabilize in community

From the Savannah Morning News:

New leadership, a new program and light at the end of the tunnel have Jane Nangle (pictured) excited about the new year for Pine Woods Retreat.

"We have a solid business plan that should lead us to being self-sustaining within a year," said Nangle, a retired health care attorney who is board president.

She has pursued her dream for eight years to provide help for the seriously mentally ill.

"I'm pleased with where we are," she said.

Joining Nangle as executive director in May was C.J. Washington.

New since October is a partial-hospitalization program that provides five hours of treatment efforts five days a week at the Cornell Avenue site.

Washington said it responds to a need in the community.

People suffering from mental illness in a hospital often stabilize, then are sent home without tools to cope with or manage their illness on a day-to-day basis.

"There wasn't anything here to help them learn to live with their illness," Washington said.

There are now three participants in the program, which has a goal of serving 10.

The program helps avoid the cost and unpleasantness of hospitalization for treatment of conditions ranging from major depression to schizophrenia.

And the staff has grown to include two full-time therapists, a registered nurse and psychiatrist Dr. George Negron coming on board.

"We've got a great team," Nangle said.

Twenty-one local participants ranging in age from 14 to 67 receive services such as medication management and individual and family therapy.

The program is designed to assist adults suffering from serious mental illness achieve productive lives.

Chatham County Sheriff Deputy Col. McArthur Holmes calls Nangle's program "a new approach to dealing with mental illness."

He is a member of the advisory board for Pine Woods.

The program emphasizes keeping the person in as close to a home environment as possible through what he calls "individualized treatment."

"We've got a lot more to do," he said.

The program focuses on keeping people out of the hospital by providing effective treatment for serious mental illnesses, Nangle said.

"People who want to get better choose to be here," Nangle said.

The programs are voluntary.

A major challenge continues to be funding. A $1 million gift from the family of Leroy E. Harvey and Gertrude Gray Harvey, co-founders of Hargray Telephone Co., has enabled the nonprofit to hit the ground running since January 2008.

And additional donors have helped.

But still ahead is the challenge of getting Medicare and insurance companies to provide payments for services for patients who cannot pay.

It often takes months before the agency qualifies.

"We'll always be able to use charitable contributions to provides services for people who are uninsured," Nangle said.