There will soon be a single community hub for people to get help with a host of tough mental hurdles, like mental health, crisis intervention, pregnancy support and substance abuse services. On Thursday, the Putnam County Wellness Center at 320 S. State Road 19 in Palatka hosted a small unveiling to community members. But it will take a little more time for the center to fully open to the public.

Jacqueline Cox, Wellness Center director, said Friday that a few checklist items remain to finally open the doors and begin holding office hours, but those hours will be announced as soon as that checklist is complete. In the meantime, more than 25 resource organizations representing Putnam County were on hand for Thursday’s event, along with 60 families.

Cox is excited about bringing a one-stop shop for navigating resources to the county.

“Many times people do not know where to go to receive help and get assistance with a need,” she said. “Sometimes they get lost in the system and often do not find what they need.”

Cox wants to make sure the new Wellness Center is there for the community.

“We are providing a service of great importance,” she said. “We do not want to duplicate services already being offered to the community, but we want to fill holes or gaps in those services or provide resources to needs not being met. We want to create a place where people can go to get the help they need.”

It has been a group effort by the Children’s Home Society of Florida, Lutheran Services of Florida and Care Connect+ of Flagler Hospital.

According to Cox, there has never been a one-stop shop for the residents of Putnam County to receive assistance with these needs.

“We are currently researching Putnam County and the greatest needs of this community to build the other resources we hope to have in the Wellness Center,” she said. “We are partnering with other providers in the county to make sure we know the needs are being met and what we can do to help.”

Cox said the center will offer mental health and substance abuse services, as well as individual and group therapy.

“We also have other partners housed in the Wellness Center that provide services,” she said.

Those partners include Mobile Response Team providing 24/7 on-call crisis intervention services for individuals of all ages in Putnam County; and Healthy Start, which provides support and guidance to pregnant moms until the child is three years of age.

Other partners include St. Augustine Youth Services Coaches Program, which is dedicated to assisting youth ages 6-21 who face unique challenges, such as a lack of support network, behavioral health issues, and difficulty accessing essential mental health services; and Care Connect+ of Flagler Hospital, which will have a kiosk available for telehealth and insurance assistance.

“We hope to add to these services, as this is just the beginning,” Cox said. “We want to be a hub in the community, a centralized place for Putnam County residents to go to receive assistance on their needs though the center or through a referral.”

Since the center is not fully staffed yet, Cox said the hours and days of operation are yet to be announced.

“With all of the partners, cumulative, we plan to have 14 staff members,” she said.

The mission and focus behind the Wellness Center, Cox said, is simple.

“The Children’s Home Society of Florida’s vision is ‘A world where children realize their full potential.’ Our mission as a whole is ‘Building bridges to success for children.’ By partnering with the Children’s Home Society of Florida, Lutheran Services of Florida and Care+ of Flagler Hospital, we want to create this oasis of support for Putnam County.”

Special guests at the event were Palatka Mayor Robbie Correa and County Commissioner Leota Wilkinson, while speakers included Dusty Pye from Lutheran Services of Florida.

“God bless Putnam County,” Pye said. “We want to thank all the organizations here today. We are so excited to be here and look forward to doing great things in Putnam County.”

Speaker Ernest Hamilton from Children’s Home Society of Florida, agreed.

“We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time,” he said. “Our dreams are coming true for this community. We are excited we have our community service center right here in Putnam County.”

Paige Stanton from Care Connect+ Flagler Hospital, also spoke at the event and said the services the Wellness Center will offer are desperately needed in Putnam County.

“We are so pleased to be here and look forward to serving the community,” she said. “That means so much to us from Flagler County.”

For details on the center, email putnamwellnesscenter@chsfl.org or call 386-481-3471. Cox said that while the doors may not yet be open, people can still reach out by email or phone if they need help.

By Trish Murphy

Originally posted by Palatka Daily News