EAST BETHEL, Minn. — In front of state leaders and dozens of guests, 14-year-old Luke Schneider spoke about the 10 months he spent there. nexus family care Mental health facility.
“The day I left the hospital, I didn’t want to go home because the staff were like family,” he said. “I made a deal with a staff member named Mikey, and that promise was that when I grew up, I would come back and work with him.”
His mother, Sarah Schneider, said the nonprofit provided updates during his stay.
“He grew emotionally and physically before our eyes,” she said. “Was he perfect? No, but was he a threat to our family anymore? No.”
There are different levels of care. While Schneider is staying at a residential treatment facility in Mille Lacs, Nexus Family Care plans to open a facility soon. Psychiatric residential treatment facility Located in East Bethel, Anoka County.
Credit: Kiya Edwards, KARE
Mental health experts who attended Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting explained that PRTF is a level above a residential treatment facility and below a psychiatric inpatient treatment facility.
The new facility is scheduled to open Nov. 29 and will be Nexus Family Care’s first PRTF in Minnesota. CEO Dr. Michelle Murray said it will eventually provide 40 beds for youth ages 10 to 19 who need long-term specialized mental health care. The average length of stay is expected to be approximately 9 months.
“We need to serve our most at-risk youth and their families and get them out of inpatient hospitals because there is a backlog,” Murray said. “We need to get them out of the police department. We need to get them out of the hallways of the county.”
Credit: Kiya Edwards, KARE
Nexus East Bethel has an admissions room, a video call booth, a main living area, a classroom, a shared bedroom, and a shared bathroom with a padded door in the booth.
According to Nexus Family Care, three girls have already registered. The facility says it intentionally gives priority to girls when necessary.
According to the Minnesota Department of Human Services, 439 youth between the ages of 6 and 18 have attended PRTFs in Minnesota since the state’s first PRTF opened in 2018.
Additional information about the new facility and the programs offered there available here.
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