Fairfax County is taking a new approach to help kids struggling with opioid addiction. Instead of making families travel far for treatment, the county is bringing mental health services right to their neighborhoods.
Dana Johnson, behavioral health manager at the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board (CSB), recently spoke on a recent edition of the “County Conversation” podcast about two programs that are making a real difference in young people’s lives. The Youth Medication Assisted Treatment (YMAT) program and community-based services are helping kids get clean and stay alive.
What is the Community Services Board?
Virginia has 40 community service boards spread across the state. Every person in Virginia lives in an area served by a CSB. These boards provide safety net services for people who need help with mental health, substance abuse or developmental disabilities.
The Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board serves local residents. People can walk into the Sharon Boulevard Center (formerly called Merrifield) Monday through Friday during business hours. Emergency services are available 24/7 for people in crisis.
“If somebody is really in a crisis, they can be evaluated by emergency services,” Johnson explained. “Emergency services is at the Sharon Boulevard center. They’re open 24/7. And that would be if somebody needs a high level of care, like maybe a hospitalization for a mental health crisis.”
The CSB also provides therapy, case management, and developmental disability services. Staff can help people sign up for health insurance and food benefits too.
Bringing Services to the Community
In 2020, the community asked for more help for kids overdosing on fentanyl. County leaders used heat maps to find three areas that needed the most help: Herndon, Falls Church, and Alexandria.
The county partnered with Neighborhood Community Services (NCS) to put mental health services right in community centers. Now kids can see a psychiatrist or therapist in the same building where they play basketball or do arts and crafts.
“When people are going to a community center [already], they can just go down the hallway and meet with their psychiatrist or their therapist,” Johnson said. “So, it really shifts that perspective of maybe going into an old fashioned type of setting where you’re going to see your doctor and your therapist.”
One office at the James Lee Community Center in Falls Church shares a window with a basketball court. Staff wear headsets because it gets so loud when kids are playing. But the setup works.
Most of the kids getting help at the Herndon site walk to their appointments. Many of these families couldn’t make it to the traditional therapy site in Reston often enough for treatment to be effective.
Youth Medication Assisted Treatment Program
The Youth Medication Assisted Treatment program started with funding from opioid lawsuit settlements. It helps kids ages 12 to 22 who have opioid addiction problems. The program recently expanded from serving only 12 to 18-year-olds.
Kids in the program get medications like Suboxone, Naltrexone or Vivitrol. These medicines help with withdrawal symptoms and cravings. The program also offers individual therapy, group therapy, family support and care coordination.
One big difference: the program will pay for cab rides to appointments. This removes a major barrier for families who don’t have cars or reliable transportation.
The program focuses on harm reduction first. Some kids might still want to use marijuana, but staff meet them where they are to reduce the risk of overdose.
“Our YMAT program really is laser focused on preventing opiate overdose,” Johnson explained. “And so we start from that point, from that harm reduction point.”
The program has peer support staff who have lived through addiction themselves. Many kids don’t want to talk to doctors or therapists at first, but they connect with peer supporters.
To get into YMAT, kids need to be Fairfax County residents with a primary diagnosis of opioid use disorder. The program charges based on income, so uninsured families with very low income pay less.
What’s Next
The CSB is working to expand YMAT services to other community service boards in the region. Region 2 includes Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria, Loudoun County, and Prince William County. This expansion would help even more kids in Northern Virginia get the treatment they need close to home.
For more information about CSB services, visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/community-services-board.
The County Conversation Podcast
The “County Conversation” is a podcast featuring employees and subject matter experts from the Fairfax County Government discussing programs, services and items of interest to residents of Fairfax County. Listen to past episodes of “County Conversation.” To find other county podcasts, visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/podcasts.
SIGN UP FOR DAILY EMAIL HEADLINES