Staff report

Daymark Recovery Services has assumed management and clinical responsibility for the operation of the Sandhills Center’s outpatient clinic in Rockingham as well as eight other counties.

Sandhills Center will continue to fund and monitor the operation of the clinic.

The center provides oversight services for mental health, developmental disabilities and substance abuse in Richmond, Anson, Harnett, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, and Randolph counties.

“This is the final step for us to comply with North Carolina’s decision to privatize the delivery of government-supported services,” said Michael Watson, chief executive officer of Sandhills Center.

“Actually, we don’t expect those who use the services of the clinics to notice any difference,” he said.

“Every service available today will continue under the same conditions, at the same locations, and largely with the same staff,” Watson said.

The Richmond County walk-in/crisis clinic is at 116 S. Lawrence St., Rockingham.

Watson said that delivery of the majority of services available to the public through Sandhills Center was contracted out to private providers several years ago, but Sandhills continued to directly operate walk-in clinics in each of its eight counties.

“I think we made the right decision at the time,” he said, “to maintain as much stability as possible in a rapidly changing mental health environment.” He added that no private providers came forward in the early days of privatization to offer access to psychiatrists and medication management services.

Since 2001, the state’s preference has been that Sandhills Center and the other 23 Local Management Entities of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services operate as pure managers of access to services, he said, while they provided no services directly with their own staff.

“A conflict of interest was perceived by some that while our role was to oversee private providers of services, we continued to be a provider ourselves,” Watson said.

He said several recent decisions by the state made it clear that Sandhills Center had no option but to cease direct operation of outpatient clinics and to contract their operation to a private provider.

“After an extensive search, we found that provider in Daymark Recovery Services,” he said. “Daymark is prepared to offer the same array of psychiatric, walk-in crisis and routine outpatient services that we have provided.”

Watson said Daymark will assume another important function previously handled directly by Sandhills Center: Interacting with local law enforcement and judicial officials in instances of involuntary commitments to psychiatric hospitals.

“Daymark has a proven track record in all the functions covered under their contract with us,” he said. “Their values mirror ours, and we look forward to a working relationship that will best serve the public.”

Daymark is a not-for-profit corporation based in Concord. It already operates similar, highly-regarded mental health outpatient clinics in Davidson, Forsyth, Rowan, Stanly, Union and Cabarrus counties, he said.

Daymark executive director Billy West said, “We are very excited about this opportunity to serve as a provider for Sandhills Center. We and they are committed to providing high-quality, professional services.”

In its role as a local management entity for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, Sandhills Center contracts with numerous providers to deliver a wide array of services to the public in the areas of mental health, developmental disabilities and substance abuse.

The center is staffed every day, 24 hours a day, by licensed clinicians available at (800) 256-2452. In routine or emergency situations, anyone can call for information, an initial assessment and an appointment with a provider of appropriate services.

Sandhills Center is governed by a board of directors composed of county commissioners and their appointees. Representing Richmond County are Commissioner Thad Ussery and Glenn Alexander.

Under state policy, the center conducts annual and on-going needs assessments.

Included in the services available through the private contractors in addition to those mentioned are addiction recovery, detoxification, job training, housing assistance, education, behavioral counseling, geriatric specialties, supported employment DWI counseling, caregiver training, vocational development, guidance for troubled youth, peer support, school counseling, family support specialists and skill building.