Persons supported at RHA’s Gastonia Unit enjoyed a Wine & Design-style outing — minus the wine, of course! Each participant followed the example from the instructor to create their own painting on canvas. Brightly colored owl paintings and bright smiles were signs of a fun and creative outing.
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Over the summer, students at the Hunter McKnelly School at RHA Health Services’ Clear Creek location completed a project titled “From Hidden Figures to the Moon.” The project commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing on July 20, 1969.
Over the summer, students at the Hunter McNelly School at RHA Health Services’ Clear Creek location completed a project titled “From Hidden Figures to the Moon.” The project commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing on July 20, 1969.
Its intent was to also highlight the historically overlooked but extraordinary contributions of three African American women — Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughn. Their work helped America win the “Space Race” and fulfill President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 vision of getting a man into space and then safely to the moon and back.
Katherine Johnson’s work as a “human computer” had direct impact on making John Glenn the first man to orbit the Earth and later on Neil Armstrong becoming the first man to walk on the moon.
The Hunter McNelly School plans to make the “Hidden Figures to the Moon” diorama a permanent display and interactive piece at the school.
Trauma is pervasive and affects everyone, whether or not one has directly experienced trauma. Without effective education and intervention, trauma will transfer, perpetuate and worsen. With this understanding, RHA Health Services has focused on becoming a Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) organization.
Trauma is pervasive and affects everyone, whether or not one has directly experienced trauma. Without effective education and intervention, trauma will transfer, perpetuate and worsen. It is a local community and world health concern.
Understanding the impact of trauma in a person’s life is so important that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have focused efforts and research toward better understanding of this issue.
With this understanding, RHA Health Services has focused on becoming a Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) organization.
Since 2018, over 100 RHA leaders have participated in our Trauma-Informed Care training, focusing on trauma and attachment, vicarious trauma, trauma-informed care (TIC), and TIC for Administrators. RHA is leaning on community partners as well, including utilizing a trauma-informed psychoeducational curriculum in use by Buncombe County in North Carolina.
RHA has Trauma-Informed Care Champions at all of our behavioral health locations that promote a trauma-informed culture and has a standing committee that includes representatives from throughout the organization that meets multiple times per year.
• Understands the role that violence and trauma play in the lives of people seeking mental health and addiction services.
• Recognizes that trauma results in multiple vulnerabilities.
• Providers have a duty to possess a basic understanding of trauma and trauma dynamics.
• Become trauma aware and knowledgeable about the impact and consequences of traumatic experiences for individuals, families, and communities.
• TIC is the framework that guides treatment and intervention.
• Pays attention to the “Here and Now” needs of the person in front of you.
• Realizing the prevalence of trauma.
• Recognizing how trauma affects all individuals involved with the program, organization, or system, including its own workforce.
• Responding by putting this knowledge into practice.
At RHA, we believe in developing and promoting our staff — so much so that we have ~200 promotions per year! Below is a list is notable promotions and new leaders starting new roles in 2019.
At RHA Health Services, we believe in developing and promoting our staff — so much so that we have ~200 promotions per year!
Below is a list is notable promotions and new leaders starting new roles in 2019.
Promoted and New Corporate Leaders |
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| States Served | Name of New/Promoted Leader | New Role | Manager of New/Promoted Leader |
| All | Crystal Stanley-Wood | Executive Director of Program Development for Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities in North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. | Jennifer Lineberger, Chief Operations Officer, Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities |
| FL & NC | Amber Duggins | Promoted to Director of Quality Assurance for Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities in North Carolina and Florida. | Carmela Phillips, Compliance & Quality Assurance Executive Director |
| All | Sulaiman Majroh | Financial Planning and Analytics Director. Includes HR/Financial reporting, operational analytics for IDD and BH, budgeting and forecasting. Based in Atlanta, GA. | David Hecht, Financial Services Senior Vice President |
| All | Kevin Porter | IT Software Development Director. Based in Atlanta, GA. | Denise Redfearn, Chief Information Officer |
| All | Breanne Marie West | Finance Director. Leading RHA’s Accounts Payable and Payroll teams. Based in Atlanta, GA. | Jennifer Lozano, Financial Services Vice President |
| All | Mary Ellen Dendy | Marketing and Communications Manager. Based in Asheville, NC. | Bob Turner, Director Marketing & Communications |
Promoted and New Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Leaders |
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| State | Name of New/Promoted Leader | New Role | Manager of New/Promoted Leader |
| GA | Thindiwia Meredith | Woodstock, GA Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Administrator | Georgia Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Vice President of Operations. |
| NC | Michelle M. Robertson | Regional Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Operations Director for Clear Creek, Statesville and Maiden Units in NC | Jennifer Lineberger, Chief Operations Officer, Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities |
| NC | Nesheil Blue | Benson, NC Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Administrator | Vanessa Burden, Regional Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Operations Director for Benson, Fayetteville and Lumberton, NC |
| NC | Johnathan Bostic | Maxton, NC Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Administrator | Jan Herring, Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Vice President of Operations – Eastern NC |
| NC | Melissa Herring | Bear Creek Center in La Grange, NC Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Administrator | Roger Jones, Regional Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Operations Director for Bear Creek, Greenville, Riverbend and Tar River |
| NC | Chris Houck | Statesville, NC Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Administrator | Michelle Robertson, Regional Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Operations Director for Clear Creek, Statesville and Maiden Units in NC. |
| NC | Michael Marshall | Maiden, NC Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Administrator | Michelle Robertson, Regional Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Operations Director for Clear Creek, Statesville and Maiden Units in NC. |
| NC | Sam Williams | Clear Creek Center in Charlotte, NC Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Administrator | Michelle Robertson, Regional Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Operations Director for Clear Creek, Statesville and Maiden Units in NC. |
| NC | Lisa Jernigan | Stones River Center in Murfreesboro, TN Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Facility Director of Nursing | Lisa Izzi, Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Administrator for Stones River Center in TN. |
| NC | April Minder | Clear Creek Center in Charlotte, NC Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Facility Director of Nursing | Samuel Williams, Clear Creek Center in Charlotte, NC Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Administrator. |
| NC | Scotty Baker | CAP Program Manager in NC. Based in Raleigh, NC. | John Gibbons, CAP Director |
| TN | Heather LeBlanc | Nashville, TN Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Administrator | Lori Shipley-Wooten, State Operations Director – TN Waiver |
| TN | Shelby Hobbs | Walnut Creek Center in Goldsboro, NC. Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Facility Director of Nursing | Linda Woodard, Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities Administrator – Walnut Creek Center in Goldsboro, NC. |
Promoted and New Behavioral Health Leaders |
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| State | Name of New/Promoted Leader | New Role | Manager of New/Promoted Leader |
| NC | Annie Beck | New Bern, NC Behavioral Health Operations Director and Clinical Program Manager | Chuck Hill, Behavioral Health Regional Director – Eastern NC |
| NC | Chip Callahan | START EAST Director | Michelle Kluttz, START Director – West and East START |
| NC | Brian Mingia | Wilmington, NC Behavioral Health Operations Director | Chuck Hill, Behavioral Health Regional Director – Eastern NC |
| NC | Kurt Wilder | Marion & Spruce Pine, NC Behavioral Health Operations Director | Laura McIlvaine, Behavioral Health Regional Director – Western NC |
| NC | Rachel Kilgore | Hilltop Comprehensive Substance Use Program Manager throughout North Carolina | Sara Huffman, Behavioral Health Regional Director – Central NC |
| NC | Angela L Ramsey | Leads RHA’s Mary Benson House program in Asheville, NC. | Krista Engels, Behavioral Health Regional Director – Asheville Area |
| TN | Bobby Brown | Knoxville Behavioral Health Operations Director and Clinical Program Manager | Sandy Feutz, Behavioral Health Vice President – Western NC and Tennessee |
In 2016, RHA’s Asheville ACT Team participated in a unique grant-funded project. This project involved the partnership of our ACT Team with a local federally qualified health clinic (FQHC) primary care provider. The model, which we called the “ACTT Plus” program, was developed to improve the coordination of care among some of our most severely ill individuals receiving ACTT services.
By Dr. Michael Murray, RHA Medical Director
The RHA Behavioral Health Assertive Community Treatment Team (ACTT) is a service that employs a team of mental health professionals to offer a full range of support services to people with serious behavioral health needs. ACTT promotes rehabilitation and independence by teaching people the coping skills needed to safely and productively live in their own communities, engaging them in normal daily routines and healthy social interactions. People receiving ACTT services often experience significant reductions in crisis situations such as homelessness, incarceration or repeated hospitalizations.
In 2016, RHA’s Asheville ACT Team (located at Asheville’s C3 Comprehensive Care Center) participated in a unique grant-funded project. This project involved the partnership of our ACT Team with a local federally qualified health clinic (FQHC) primary care provider. The model, which we called the “ACTT Plus” program, was developed to improve the coordination of care among some of our most severely ill individuals receiving ACTT services. Indeed, our ACT Team in Asheville has historically focused on the homeless population which had a high proportion of individuals without a primary care home.
The original pilot involved having a family nurse practitioner, Jacklyn Bandell, of the Appalachian Mountain Community Health Center’s Dale Fell Health Clinic, reach out to individuals on our ACT Team in concert with our ACTT nurses, to address primary care concerns among the patient population and provide these individuals with a primary care home — sometimes for the first time in years. Over the course of the first year of the project, 70 individuals on our 100+ patient ACT Team gained access to primary care, many of them for the first time in decades.
Following the successful completion of the grant-funded project, the program has expanded to provide ACTT Plus services to multiple ACT Teams in the community, including an ongoing presence with our Asheville ACT Team. While the original program has evolved and the current setup is significantly different from the original program, a weekly outreach component remains a key part of the program.
A unique aspect of the program has been the ability to collaborate with primary care to an extent that is typically impossible within the framework of our current medical model. We hope that the evidence of this model’s impact will be compelling enough to expand it beyond our own community.
RHA Behavioral Health in Asheville has been partnering with the new psychiatry residency program at Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC), since the program’s inception in 2017
By Dr. Michael Murray, RHA Medical Director
RHA Behavioral Health in Asheville has been partnering with the new psychiatry residency program at Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC), since the program’s inception in 2017.
MAHEC developed new psychiatry and surgical residencies to add to their existing family practice and OB/GYN residencies. The new residencies were created in a unique manner, with MAHEC partnering financially with the state of North Carolina, in order to address a pressing deficiency in terms of the numbers of these specialists in Western North Carolina.
Dr. Steve Buie, the residency director, approached me to determine if RHA might be interested in providing a community psychiatry component to the unique longitudinal instructional program that the residency was developing.
Beginning in July 2018, MAHEC psychiatry residents began rotating through to provide outpatient psychiatric services at C3356, RHA’s Comprehensive Care Center located at 356 Biltmore Avenue in Asheville. Second-year (PGY2) residents rotate through every three months and work in concert with the full-time staff providing care.
Both the RHA medical staff and the residents have commented on the mutual benefit of this arrangement, with the residents providing updated information regarding best practices and the seasoned community psychiatric practitioners providing insights into the treatment of our unique population.
There are future plans — not yet fully developed — to have more senior residents in their PGY3 and 4 years participate in optional rotations at RHA, including the possibility of working in our more rural clinics in Yancey or Mitchell counties and/or working on an ACT team.
RHA Behavioral Health has always been committed to partnering with educational institutions in an effort to provide a unique experience for students. In this case, we hope such participation will also provide RHA with a unique recruitment opportunity as these psychiatrists graduate and begin looking for employment.
In October of 2018, Eastpointe reached out to RHA’s behavioral health team in the Lumberton area and asked them to provide recovery assistance to Hurricane Florence survivors in Robeson, Scotland and Bladen counties through the Hope 4 NC Crisis Counseling Program Grant (CCP).
On September 14, 2018, Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina and over the next two days produced record-breaking rainfall across eastern North Carolina. The storm caused major flooding and property destruction across eastern North Carolina.
In October of 2018, Eastpointe (Local Management Entity-Managed Care Organization) reached out to RHA’s behavioral health team in the Lumberton area and asked them to provide recovery assistance to Hurricane Florence survivors in Robeson, Scotland and Bladen counties through the Hope 4 NC Crisis Counseling Program Grant (CCP).
Hope 4 NC CCP is funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). RHA’s recovery assistance Outreach Team in Robeson, Scotland and Bladen counties worked in collaboration with Eastpointe, FEMA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the North Carolina Division of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS).
FEMA funded the grant in two phases: an initial 60-day phase to provide immediate disaster services and a second nine-month phase to provide regular services as needed for recovery. Each of the partners plays a role: SAMHSA provides technical assistance and training, NC DHHS oversees the implementation of the grant and Eastpointe serves as the liaison between RHA and NCDHHS and manages the funding from FEMA.
The goals of the Hope 4 NC CCP grants are:
Since October of 2018, the RHA Robeson, Scotland and Bladen Outreach Team, which consists of four Robeson County teams, plus one team each focusing on Scotland and Bladen counties, has reached out to tens of thousands of individuals and provided crisis counseling to many survivors. They have linked multitudes of survivors to much needed food and clothing and resources to get their homes repaired, started and/or participated in Long Term Recovery committees (LTR), and developed self-help groups. They are also visiting schools and daycares to provide disaster recover education.
Through our participation in the CCP grant we have provided important relief assistance to many individuals and will continue to do so until the grant ends on March 31,, 2020.*
*The government shutdown of 2019 caused the grant timelines to be extended.
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Brian, a person supported at RHA’s Springfield, Tennessee Unit, was invited to attend the Tennessee Department of Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities Employment Retention Service Award Ceremony on October 18.
Brian, a person supported at RHA’s Springfield, Tennessee Unit, was invited to attend the Tennessee Department of Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities Employment Retention Service Award Ceremony on October 18. The ceremony was held in the Debra K. Payne Conference Room at the Clover Bottom Developmental Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
The ceremony recognizes individuals receiving services who have held continuous employment in the outside business sector for five or more years. Over the past seven years, Brian has worked at Long John Silver’s and Lowes Millworks and he now works at O’Charley’s.
In his role at O’Charley’s, Brian is very proud of the work he does greeting guests at the restaurant, ensuring the dining room is clean and tidy, and helping with other tasks in the kitchen. He takes great pride in the paycheck that he earns, proudly telling everyone “I spend my money.” He has been able to purchase himself an iPad and a cell phone from his earnings. Brian is able to do his job with the support of his job coach, Brandy Gunter, who was able to attend the ceremony with him along with two of his friends.
Congratulations to Brian, Brandy, and the Springfield Unit on this achievement!
