Nexus Family Healing Announces it will Open New PRTF and Launches Groundbreaking Youth Care Transition Program
June 12, 2023 - Dr. Michelle Murray, CEO of Nexus Family Healing, announced that the agency will open its first psychiatric residential treatment facility (PRTF) in Minnesota later this year in East Bethel, located approximately 35 miles north of Minneapolis. It will be the fifth PRTF in Minnesota. In addition, Dr. Murray announced the launch of the agency’s innovative youth care transition program (YCT), created to support youth in their successful transitions home from Minnesota PRTFs, the Willmar-based Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Hospital (CABHH), and soon, Twin Cities inpatient psychiatric hospitals.
These initiatives address two significant challenges in care today for Minnesota youth with higher levels of mental and behavioral health needs: creating more beds for those who are in need of assistance; and building paths to success for these youth when they’re ready to transition back into their communities, making room for those who are waiting for PRTF support.
Minneapolis-based Nexus Family Healing and its network of agencies has supported the mental health of Minnesota youth and families for more than 50 years through its outpatient/community mental health services, foster care and adoption, and residential treatment.
Nexus-East Bethel
The new PRTF is targeted to open in December of 2023, and will eventually serve up to 40 children, male and female, aged 10-19, who are dealing with higher levels of mental and behavioral needs. When fully operational, the agency is expected to employ approximately 90 Nexus associates, accommodating higher staff-to-youth ratios and other specific care needs. Nexus will be moving into an existing building in East Bethel, originally built to serve as a PRTF but unused for the past two years.
“Minnesota urgently needs more options for young people with behavioral health needs,” said Eric Grumdahl, Assistant Commissioner for Behavioral Health, Housing, and Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services for the Minnesota Department of Human Services. “We are grateful for Nexus Family Healing’s work to create this PRTF and will continue to partner with them and all providers who are standing up new programs and capacity to meet these critical needs.”
“As an organization, we have a successful history of creating solutions for gaps of service identified by ourselves or our partners at the state and local community level,” said Dr. Michelle Murray, CEO of Nexus Family Healing. “In this case, we know there is a serious need for this level of care to help with the growing mental health needs in our communities, and we are honored to be working towards a PRTF opening later this year that will expand opportunities for these youth and their families.”
Nexus Youth Care Transition Program
The Department of Human Services (DHS) identified a gap in service to youth who were transitioning out of any of the state’s PRTFs or the CABHH. The creation of a program that provided holistic support for their successful transition back to their family homes or other appropriate community environments would benefit these youth.
Nexus conceived of and then built a model for the youth care transition program, which finds the right placement for these youth and then provides intensive support throughout their transition and stabilization period, working side-by-side with caregivers and community services.
Currently, the YCT program serves youth returning to the Twin Cities metro area (Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsay, Scott, Washington counties) as well as southern/ southeastern Minnesota (Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Mower, Olmsted, Steele, Waseca counties).
The program will soon expand to include Twin Cities metro hospitals assisting youth needing transition out of inpatient psychiatric hospitals and placement into the appropriate care.
The nine-member YCT team brings diverse expertise to advocate for the youth in transition and partner with their families. The individualized partnerships begin when the youth are still residing in a PRTF, CABHH, or a psychiatric hospital setting, first building a trusting relationship with them and then providing intensive services post discharge, generally for 90 days. The program is funded by DHS, so no cost is incurred by families.
“We had no model to follow when we created this program,” explained Murray. “We pulled together our clinical leaders and applied our deep understanding of family systems and wrap-around models, understanding the breadth of support these youth and their families need to guide their successful transition to the community or the next step in their treatment journey.”
“YCT reflects our long history of partnering with states, local counties, communities and health care organizations, thinking outside the box to create innovative programs that fill specific needs as we also provide our day-in, day-out programming,” continued Murray.
Find out more about the YCT program.
About Nexus Family Healing
Nexus Family Healing is a national nonprofit mental and behavioral health organization based in Minnesota. For over 50 years, our network of agencies has used innovative, personalized approaches to heal trauma, break cycles of harm, and reshape futures. We provide outpatient/community mental health services, foster care/adoption, and residential treatment to help thousands of children, families, and adults each year struggling with emotional, behavioral, and mental health issues. We’re especially passionate about bringing hope to the most challenging situations. Learn more at NexusFamilyHealing.org.