Gerald Atchley, director of children’s services for the Associated Centers for Therapy (ACT), a non-profit community mental health center, was immediately enthusiastic when the idea of what is now ACT’s newest program came to his attention. But it wasn’t just his experience at ACT, his Master’s Degree in Human Relations or his experience as a licensed professional counselor that fueled that enthusiasm. It was the need he saw as a police detective, and the images he has carried since, that told him the new Center for Adolescent Life Management (CALM) would fill a critical need in the Tulsa area.
Atchley retired from the Tulsa Police Department’s Exploitation Unit in 2002. He remembers dealing with many children and adolescents who might have been rescued by a center such as CALM, a 15-bed, short-term residential facility for youth who need immediate assessment and time away from emotional, behavioral or substance abuse crises.
Even if the children he dealt with were molested, they might end up in a shelter, Atchley said. They needed a safe place to help them get through one of the worst points in their lives.
One of only three such facilities in the state, ACT will operate the center through a contract with the Oklahoma State Mental Health Department. The other two facilities are Red Rock in Oklahoma City and Green Country Behavioral Health Center in Muskogee.
Open 24/7, the CALM Center will treat youth ages 10 to 17 who are going through an emotional or behavioral crisis that is more than their families can handle. Referrals come from health professionals, schools, law enforcement and community professionals. But a referral is not necessary. A simple call for help is sufficient. No one will be turned away because of inability to pay. At CALM, children and adolescents may receive three to five days of intense treatment in a safe, residential care setting.
ACT offers a wide range of behavioral health and substance abuse services for adults and children in the Tulsa area. And ACT works with other community agencies, organizations and government representatives to insure that gaps in mental health services are filled. According to ACT material, the CALM Center completes the circle of service for youth “when outpatient care is not enough and hospitalization is not necessary.”
After receiving the CALM Center’s intense residential treatment, counseling and life management education, youth and their families may be referred, if necessary, to adequate and appropriate after-care and continued therapy.
Each family and adolescent who leaves the Center will have the support of clinicians, care coordinators and/or family support providers from Wraparound Tulsa, a program with which Atchley volunteered before joining ACT.
The CALM Center is located at 6126 E. 32nd Place in its own newly renovated building. At this writing, ACT was just waiting for inspections and certificates from various building and city inspectors to open the doors.
For help or more information, you may call 394-CALM (2256). |
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