Carson Tahoe unveils plans for youth mental health services

Carson Tahoe Health is responding to a “desperate” need in the community for youth mental health services by retrofitting existing properties, planning a multimillion dollar facility and introducing an entire campaign to meet the issue head on.

The plan, dubbed ALIVE, was rolled out during the Critical Challenges Conference at Casino Fandango on Wednesday, an event organized by the Carson City Chamber of Commerce and cosponsored by the Nevada Appeal. The event covered mental health issues, housing challenges and education.

The segment on mental health started with Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong and members of the CCSO MOST units (officers paired with social workers) describing an overload of mental health incidents and law enforcement’s role in de-escalation with the goal of keeping people out of jail and the ER.

Two stigmas need to be confronted, Furlong said.

“The stigma of mental health,” he said. “The stigma of law enforcement — only coming to arrest people. Those are things that we are trying to overcome. That’s why police officers are in uniform. I want this community — I want the children in this community — to realize that that officer has the tools and the resources to help versus harm.”

CCSO’s two MOST units respond to 1,000 direct calls a year, not including calls to the city’s dispatch center, officers said. And Furlong said a third MOST unit might be needed.

The MOST units work with Carson Tahoe’s Mallory Behavioral Health Crisis Center, which sees roughly 1,500 patient visits a year for suicidal ideation, psychotic episodes and substance abuse problems, according to CTH CEO Michelle Joy. She explained psychiatric patients’ time in the ER dropped significantly between 2016 and 2017 when Mallory opened.

“I think it also made a difference for our law enforcement because they didn’t have to bring those folks to the ER, and they could take them directly to Mallory,” Joy said.

The problem is Mallory is only for adults, so children in crisis don’t have inpatient resources specifically designed for them. And the need is there, said CTH Community and Patient Experience Administrator Kitty McKay, citing a 2021 survey that found 1 in 10 high-school respondents in Carson City had attempted suicide.

“We have eight pediatric beds in our hospital, and on any given day, most of them are filled with psych holds of kids — 8-year-olds, 10-year-olds, 12-year-olds, 15-year-olds, 16-year-olds,” said McKay. “Psych holds. But guess what, they’re also being held in our emergency department.”

That’s going to change, she said. The ALIVE initiative stands for “being Aware, embracing Life, feeling Important, trusting your Voice and uplifting Energy.” The campaign aims to destigmatize mental health challenges, offer mobile therapy through partnerships with schools and community organizations and develop crisis stabilization and inpatient facilities for youth in need. The latter goal will start with retrofitting existing buildings off Fleischmann Way and ultimately end with a new facility at a location yet to be determined.

“The bigger plan is definitely in stages and waves,” McKay told the crowd, “but as described from January until now, what’s been happening with these legal holds, we’re desperate to open the crisis (center) for the kids and then the inpatient care.”

After their presentation, Joy and McKay told the Appeal the retrofit could cost $3.5 million, while the new building could cost more than $65 million. They said they will need help, whether from the state, the private sector or community organizations.

Partnerships were also a theme of a conference segment on housing that followed mental health. A range of industry experts discussed housing issues for developers, renters and owners at a time the median sales price for single-family home in Carson City was $585,000.

“Well, we need more housing,” said Dannett Michelini, digital marketing expert and board member of the Nevada State Apartment Association. “In Carson City, I believe there are at least 400 units under construction, so that’s probably close to a 10 percent increase in supply, and that is needed … People are moving to Northern Nevada, whether we want them to or not, and we have to respond to that.”

Michelini said extra housing will stabilize rents. According to Zillow (last updated April 22), the median rent in Carson City for all property types was $1,734 a month.

John Krmpotic, president of KLS Design Group, referenced the ongoing Carson City Master Plan update and said more land supply for all types of housing “would help to deliver more product and obviously put pressure on pricing.”

The Carson City Board of Supervisors is expected to adopt the update in 2025. Workshops on the update are ongoing and can be found at https://www.envisioncarsoncity.org/.

Teri Preston, a real estate agent and planning commissioner, said that luxury apartments are being built for high-income earners and subsidized housing for low-income earners, but working families in the middle are leaving the city.

Christine Hess, chief financial officer of the Nevada Housing Division, said there are opportunities for public-private partnerships, exploring the idea of businesses helping workers with closing costs or down payments for homes.

“There are lots of ways to do it, but we do need to be intentional for the segment of the population that may not have as many resources targeted to it,” she said.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, affordable housing is defined as “housing on which the occupant is paying no more than 30 percent of gross income for housing costs, including utilities.”

More information about Nevada Housing Division programs, visit https://housing.nv.gov.