This Navigating the Community post is a bit different. I was given the opportunity to tour The Hope Center in Fuquay-Varina, NC and felt like this space would be great to capture for families. Knowing what to expect, might make it easier for some families to utilize the behavioral healthcare when they need it.
As this blog post is written (December 2023), The Hope Center has 2 services currently available and one coming soon. Currently, The Hope Center is open 24/7 for behavioral health urgent care for children 5-20 years old and they can stay there for 23 hours. Urgent Care entails meeting with a clinician, getting family and individual support, and making a plan with a safe space for the child for up to 23 hours.
MORES or Mobile Outreach Response Engagement Stabilization is available for youth ages 3-20 in Wake, Johnston, Orange and Durham Counties, 7 days a week from 10am-10:30pm. This crisis service comes to you and helps stabilize your child where you are to avoid further trauma and can be there within the hour.
Coming soon in early 2024 is Facility-Based Crisis, a 16-bed staff-secure service, providing 24/7 inpatient therapeutic programming for children from 6 to 17 years of age.
The Space
When you walk in, all the colors are very calming. The front desk is straight ahead and is very colorful and rounded. There are beautiful murals on the walls and screens showing calming pictures. The space is quiet. The chairs are nice and soft and there is even a tumbling mat area in the corner if that is what your child needs. Once you check in, you will very quickly be met with an intake clinician (an actual clinician, not just an intake staff person). They will take you back and speak with you and your child. We were told that sometimes children don’t need to be admitted to the urgent care and just speaking with the clinician can be enough to give the support a family needs. But, if your child needs more, they can be admitted to the space from there.
All of the rooms have calming colored glass, quotes on the walls and calming art. In addition, Kidspeace made sure there are sensory toys and bins of different activities to meet each child’s needs. They shared that they want children to have space to express themselves in a safe way. Youth are encouraged to engage in whatever activity will help them in that moment.
For the Urgent Care space, each child has own room with a reclining chair and themed art on the wall. The rooms are spacious and calming. Oasis rooms are sensory calming rooms a child can go to in order to climb, push, punch or just be in a safe place to calm down. There is a tv with music available and feelings/calm down strategies on posters. In the open area, there are comfy chairs, a table with chairs, soft items to squeeze, and a tv. The Hope Center provides children with meals and snacks. Hot meals are catered but cold meals are available at all times.
The Facility-Based Crisis space has many areas that children and adolescents can be in. Every child has their own room with a bed, a shelf and a white board. There are nightlights installed and colorful walls. The common areas have games, tables/chairs and TVs. Dining areas offer spaces for snacks as well as community eating. Each child will have their own space to lock up belongings. The Hope Center will provide schooling during the time a child is admitted and will coordinate with the local school system to help students not fall behind.
Safety and Security
Yes, I took pictures of the bathroom! The Hope Center was thoughtful in design and thought of every way a child could get injured. Door handles are flush against the door and items can not attach to them. In the bathroom, the shower head is flat against the ceiling. There is a space, if a child needed assistance with bathing, for a magnetic shower head to be attached with a hose. While showering, a privacy board is attached to the wall, but with any pressure it will fall to the ground and is soft. Toilets don’t have seats that can be removed. Lights are automatic or push, no switches. The furniture is solid and blocky with rounded corners for safety.
But my favorite part of safety and security- children and adolescents have freedom. They are not forced to stay in their rooms. They can access the Oasis room whenever they need it for sensory or emotional regulation. If they want to punch something, they are given a punching bag. If they want to go outside at 3 AM, they can go outside at 3 AM. Let’s reiterate that last one: they can go outside!
This outdoor space has a soft ground and space to run, jump, spin, play basketball, play other games, go in the garden or just sit. It’s surrounded by a very tall fence that blends in with the outdoors. Staff will go outside with kids to PLAY. We know physical activity can help many kids, especially with emotional regulation, so this was an important piece for The Hope Center to have!
Overall Experience
I have toured several facilities and this is the first one I wanted to write about. I feel like it was really created with the child in mind. With their needs in mind. With the family’s needs in mind. With healing in mind.
Many of us on my tour commented on how quiet and serene is was. Every hallway smelled sweet- not the normal hospital sterile smell. There is opportunities for art everywhere- from this coloring sheet on the wall to notes posted throughout the building, to options on the activity cart. All the staff I encountered seemed happy to be there, happy to help, ready to make a difference.
Getting behavioral health support for your child, of any age, is scary. The emergency room and spaces made for adults can further traumatize a child. Leaving your child can be traumatizing for a parent. My hope is that seeing this space, the areas your child will be in, will make both a parent and a child more comfortable as you navigate this community resource.
I am excited for a child/adolescent centered space to be available in the greater Raleigh/Durham area. I am excited to see how many children’s lives are impacted and improved by The Hope Center.
If you want to know more or contact them, their website is The Hope Center and phone is (877) 888-7849. For the mobile crisis (MORES), parents can call Kidspeace at (484) 215-6756.
If you need additional support trying to determine the step that is best for your family, reach out to me below!