Episode:
#023: Rural Telehealth: Transforming Child Mental Health
Explore the mental health crisis among youth with Billy West, CEO of Daymark Recovery Services, a leading not-for-profit community behavioral health provider in North Carolina. Serving over 50,000 individuals annually across 38 locations, Daymark addresses mental health and substance use issues. Billy discusses the post-COVID-19 mental health landscape, challenges faced by children, social media impacts, and struggles within the social welfare system. He highlights Daymark's use of telehealth to bridge gaps in rural areas, their role in schools, crisis care approach, support for parents and children, and insights into funding challenges and policy changes needed to improve mental healthcare accessibility.
SALISBURY — The Rowan County United Way is nearly finished with a passion project of theirs. Since 2019, the RCUW has been steadfast in establishing a behavioral health urgent care for those in who require treatment for substance abuse or if they are mentally struggling.
Last week we "cut the ribbon" to officially open the new Behavioral Health Urgent Care facility in Rockingham County, and this week we welcomed our first clients to the facility.
We are thrilled to serve the community of Rockingham County with this new service, which allows those experiencing a mental or behavioral health crisis an alternative option in their time of need.
Daymark CEO, Billy West, explained "Without the vision of the Rockingham County Commissioners, hard work of the Rockingham County Managers Office and Rockingham County Legislators we would not have the vision nor funding for a BHUC." He added "Without the support of Vaya Health, we would not have the continued support to sustain services like these."
We are thrilled to share that Daymark Recovery Services is now celebrating twenty years of dedicated service to the communities of North Carolina.
While founded in August of 2003, Daymark officially took over services from the Davidson County Mental Health Center (a county department of government) on January 1, 2004, and delivered our first day of services in Lexington on January 2, 2004. Over the past twenty years, we have provided care to 349,645 unduplicated persons.
At Daymark, we are passionate about whole-person care and the use of technology to improve the way we deliver it. At the recent i2i conference in Winston Salem, we were presented with an award that highlights our accomplishments in Technology Innovation. Both Billy West, CEO, and Jerold Greer, CIO, recognized various teams across the organization for their contributions to the delivery of Technology-Enabled Whole Person Care.