County Specific Suicide Resources
Sowing the seeds for success
More than 100 years ago, the Northern Rivers campus on Academy Road in Albany was farmland. As buildings went up and more youth made this place their home, much of the food they ate was grown right here. Working the land helped thousands of youth develop a connection with the earth and build skills to last lifetimes.
That tradition continues today with the Bella Greenhouse and Educational Center. Created in 2002 thanks to a lead gift from the Luzzi Family and a grant from Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Capital Region, Inc., and sustained by a 2018 gift from the estate of Sandra Ferri, and with additional support from the Capital Region Workforce Investment Board, Bella (an acronym for Botanical Expressions of Linda Luzzi Affection) Greenhouse is an integrated program of our Neil Hellman School. Bella Greenhouse offers horticultural lessons and workshops to classes, providing real-world, hands-on connections to classroom concepts, as well as vocational training for interested youth focused on developing job skills.
Under the leadership of a greenhouse coordinator, youth are involved in a variety of work:
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Youth focus on multiple study areas in horticulture, agriculture, and environmental stewardship, all of which illustrate the student’s part in the earth ecosystem. The greenhouse also provides a place for respite in its sanctuary with its pond with fish trained to eat from student’s hands, sensory plants (smell, touch, and taste), music. and wind chimes.
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A school community garden, cultivating vegetables, flowers, and herbs. Food will be shared with the school community, and the greenhouse will oversee flower beds throughout the Northern Rivers Albany campus. Using the principles of biodynamic gardening and farming, students will work through a program designed to teach soil studies that feed the soil first, so that plants produce food, herbs, and flowers within the ecosystem of the soils. The produce from these programs are used in Northern Rivers' daily food services offerings; the herbal classees teach students the power of herbs in wellness, and floral design, where students take part in the joyful sharing of their own designs with staff on the Albany campus
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Compost and vermiculture, helping youth to eliminate food waste, understand the importance of recycling, and learn more about our ecosystem.
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Click here to meet our Greenhouse Coordinator, Karoline Hart
As coordinator of the Bella Greenhouse and Educational Center, Karoline Hart develops and implements greenhouse operations to incorporate vocational, educational, and student support opportunities. She is the founder of Known Source Farm in Ballston Spa, a community-supported agriculture initiative. She also has nearly a decade of experience as a support worker with Schenectady ARC and serves as an ultimate Frisbee coach at Skidmore College. She earned her bachelor’s degree in geology from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and is an ongoing participant in the Cornell small farm education program. She is currently enrolled in a horticulture classes at SUNY Cobleskill.
Click here for fact sheet
There’s always something new coming up at the Bella Greenhouse and Educational Center. Here’s what’s been growing on lately:
March 1, 2022
It's been a busy season at the greenhouse, with a host of new activities and a whole lot of excitement around some great new programs. Whether it's growing herbs for the kitchen staff at the Neil Hellman School to use in preparing school lunches, training fish in the pond, or getting ready for Valentine's Day, there's always something going on.
Mobile Crisis Services
The team you need, wherever you are.
Our Mobile Crisis Services teams are comprised of licensed clinical supervisors and clinicians, family advocates, peer support specialists, and case managers. In teams of two, team members are deployed to assist adults, children, adolescents, and their families resolve emotional and behavioral health crisis situations.
We help prevent unnecessary hospitalization and emergency room visits by stabilizing the crisis in the most normalized, least restrictive setting.
Mobile Crisis teams function within a continuum of related services throughout the community to build an integrated crisis system that meets the needs of all children, adults, adolescents, and their families.
Our Goal
We strive to provide strengths-based and family-focused crisis solutions, where individuals and family are. Our community-based, culturally sensitive, and inclusive model preserves the family system, works to prevent unnecessary hospitalization, and gives hope to clients and families.
Our Approach
In the least intrusive manner, we:
- Maximize the strengths of the child and family system
- Collaborate with community agencies
- Provide timely and appropriate level crisis response
- Work to prevent higher, more restrictive levels of care using natural resources and community-based supports
Services
- Consultation and information
- Clinical assessment
- Crisis intervention and stabilization
- Referrals and linkages to ongoing community resources
- Follow-up case management
- Family or peer advocacy and support
How to Get Help in a Crisis
Parents, guardians, or adults should call 518.292.5499 for immediate live crisis support. When our teams are unavailable, you will be prompted to reach out to the nearest emergency responders, including 911, local hospital emergency room, or local mental health agency in your county for support.
What to Expect
Our clinician makes a telephone assessment and discusses interventions including:
- Telephone support
- Face-to-face intervention to further assess risk and de-escalate the situation
- Connection to appropriate community resources
In situations involving imminent risk, our clinicians will refer callers to appropriate emergency responders.
Service Area
The teams respond to adult, child, and adolescent crises in:
- Albany County
(child and adolescent services only) - Rensselaer County
- Saratoga County
- Schenectady County
- Warren County
- Washington County
Please note: Northern Rivers’ Mobile Crisis Services team in Albany County handles children and adolescent crises only. For an adult in crisis in Albany County, please contact the Albany County Mental Health Center Mobile Crisis Team at 518.549.6500.
Home Health Care Management
In order to help children, adults, and families get the most out of a complex healthcare system, Northern Rivers provides comprehensive Care Management services to Medicaid participants enrolled a Health Home. Care Management ensures that every client has both “voice and choice” when navigating the complex behavioral and physical healthcare system.
Each client receives personalized planning, community support and services coordination designed to improve health and overall wellbeing. These services are free, voluntary, and specially designed to assist and provide support to children, adults, and families managing chronic and/or acute medical and behavioral health concerns.
Available Services
- Comprehensive care management
- Care coordination and health promotion
- Comprehensive transitional care
- Individual and family support
- Referral to community and social support services
- Health information technology
Benefits
- Presence in 23 upstate counties that ensures continuity of care for a child, adult, or family who moves residences
- Standardized processes that provides ease of access to Local Departments of Social Services (LDSS) and community referrers
- Proven understanding of the unique needs of children and families
- Commitment to family-driven care (our model proposes coaching the family to manage their own care)
- Commitment to principles of Family Finding for disconnected youth
- Access to systemwide consultation for assistance with complex needs
Children’s Health Home Care Management services are available to children from birth up to the child’s 21st birthday who are or will be Medicaid eligible, reside in Albany, Clinton, Columbia, Essex, Delaware, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Hamilton, Herkimer, Montgomery, Otsego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, St. Lawrence, Schenectady, Schoharie, Ulster, Warren, and Washington counties and the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation.
Adult Health Home Care Management are available to adults who are experiencing two or more chronic conditions, or HIV, or have a mental health concern, including severe emotional disturbance (SED) or are seriously and persistently mentally ill (SPMI).
Family Peer Services
Talk about challenges with someone who knows how you feel.
Northern Rivers Family of Services offers family peer support programs for families of children from Albany, Saratoga, and Schenectady Counties with children in out-of-home placements in Residential Treatment Facilities (RTFs) and other facilities. Residential and community family peer advocates serve as bridges between families and service providers and can help families navigate complex systems of care to achieve better outcomes.
The Northern Rivers Difference
Our family peer support programs are staffed by knowledgeable, caring professionals who specialize in trauma-informed care and are invested in the success of everyone in our care. From the moment services begin, we work with each family to identify challenges, develop resources and community supports, and build on strengths.
Families United Network
Support for families of youth in Northern Rivers' Residential Treatment Facility (RTF) in Albany and Miriam House residential program. Helps families navigate the residential service system, provides peer-to-peer support, teaches parenting skills, and empowers families to advocate on behalf of themselves to promote shared decision making.
Services
- Peer-to-peer emotional support
- Referral and information services
- Individual advocacy within the educational, juvenile justice, mental health, and child protective arenas to help families access needed services
- Outreach
- Social and recreational activities
- Educational programs for parents
- Training regarding the parent–provider relationships
- Home visits as requested
Benefits
- Improved family access to the needed appropriate services for their child and family
- Increased ability to cope with difficult behaviors and to care for children at home or when they return home from residential programs
- Improved parental advocacy for their own children
- Developed natural support system in their own community
- Better understanding of the parent/caregiver “experience”
Getting Started
Families United Network is open to families of youth at Northern Rivers' Residential Treatment Facility and Miriam House programs. To learn more call 518.729.7574.
Schenectady Peer Support Program
This new family peer support program Work with families whose children are living at Residential Treatment Facilities or other out-of-home placements to helps families navigate the residential service system, provide peer-to-peer support, teache parenting skills, and empower families to advocate on behalf of themselves to promote shared decision making
Services
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Peer-to-peer support to families in the community through groups and individual services.Peer-to-peer emotional support
- Referral and information services
- Individual advocacy within the educational, juvenile justice, mental health, and child protective arenas to help families access needed services
- Outreach
- Social and recreational activities
- Educational programs for parents
Benefits
- Improved family access to the needed appropriate services for their child and family
- Increased ability to cope with difficult behaviors and to care for children at home or when they return home from residential programs
- Improved parental advocacy for their own children
- Developed natural support system in their own community
- Better understanding of the parent/caregiver “experience”
Getting Started
Schenectady Peer Support Program services are available to Schenectady families who have a youth placed in a residential treatment facility. To learn more, call 518.729.7574.
Short-Term Crisis Stabilization
Help when you need it and a direction for tomorrow.
Northern Rivers Family of Services offers short-term overnight therapeutic programs for youth ages 5–17 experiencing a period of acute stress, mental health issues, or a psychiatric crisis that requires a 24/7 staff-secured nonhospital setting. These family-centered programs are designed to equip families and youth with a plan for success at home, in school, and in the community.
The Northern Rivers Difference
Our short-term programs are staffed by knowledgeable, caring professionals who specialize in trauma-informed care and are invested in the success of everyone in our care. From the moment treatment begins, we work with each youth, adult, and support system to identify challenges, develop resources and community supports, and build on strengths. We do more than help avert a crisis: We help children, families, and adults build and follow a long-term, client-driven plan for success. We offer a continuum of care providing just the right amount of intervention required.
Healy House
Support for families that includes programming for children ages 5–12. We provide customized supervision, clinical support, nursing care, and tutoring, focusing on helping children stabilize through a consistent, nurturing structure combined with behavior modification. Our primary goal is to stabilize a crisis situation to prevent the unnecessary use of a hospital emergency room or hospital admission.
Services
- Crisis stabilization
- Behavior support
- Case management
- Counseling
- Daily living skills training
- Education support services
- Health services
- Medication management, training, and monitoring
- Overnight room and board accommodations
- Socialization
Benefits
- Immediate stabilization of a situational crisis in a nonhospital setting
- Improved daily functioning at home, in school, and in the community
- For children living with their families, a plan to manage a child’s behaviors and emotional needs
- For children in foster care custody, a comprehensive document to offer guidance to services providers
- Assessment for social determinants of health and linkages to needed supports and services
Access
To be admitted to the program, a child needs to meet the following criteria::
- Be between the ages of 5 and 12 at admission
- Demonstrate functional challenges consistent with a DSM-V diagnosis, which can be expected to be resolved with short-term overnight therapeutic intervention
- Experiencing emotional or behavioral problems or experiencing a situational family crisis that cannot be safely managed in the home
- Requires a highly structured, 24/7 therapeutic environment to prevent hospitalization
To make a referral to Healy House, call 518.292.5499.
North Star
This new short-term overnight crisis stabilization program is for youth ages 12–17, which provides support for families and youth. Our primary goal is to stabilize a crisis situation to prevent the unnecessary use of a hospital emergency room or a hospital admission. As a youth’s crisis stabilizes, the program develops a plan of care to address underlying difficulties that led to the crisis, including making referrals for needed treatment supports and services for both the youth and the family.This new short-term overnight crisis stabilization program is for youth ages 12–17, which provides support for families and youth. Our primary goal is to stabilize a crisis situation to prevent the unnecessary use of a hospital emergency room or a hospital admission. As a youth’s crisis stabilizes, the program develops a plan of care to address underlying difficulties that led to the crisis, including making referrals for needed treatment supports and services for both the youth and the family.
Services
- Behavior support and crisis stabilization
- Case management and care coordination
- Comprehensive intake assessment
- Daily living skills training
- Education support servicesHealth services
- Individual, group, and family counselingMedication management, training, and monitoring
- One to one monitoring for recipients assessed with high risk behavior
- Overnight room and board accommodations
- Socialization
Benefits
- Immediate stabilization of a situational crisis in a nonhospital setting
- Dedicated 5-bed suite in a new state-of-the-art building designed specifically to meet the needs of youth and families dealing with behavioral health challenges
- Comprehensive services, supports, and care management
- Assessment for social determinants of health and linking families to needed supports and services
- A quick, safe return home with a plan and supports for long-term success
- A step-down from hospital level of care for a youth who is in stable condition but needs time to access needed home and community-based services
Access
To be admitted to the program, a child needs to meet the following criteria::
- Be between the ages of 12 and 17 at admission
- Demonstrate functional or mental health challenges consistent with a DSM-V diagnosis, which can be expected to be resolved with short-term overnight therapeutic intervention
- Experiencing emotional or behavioral problems or experiencing a situational family crisis that cannot be safely managed in the home
- Requires a highly structured, 24/7 therapeutic environment to prevent hospitalization[
To make a referral to North Star, call 518.292.5499.
Meet the Team
Coming soon.
Golden Club
The Golden Club helps reduce isolation and increase social interaction with a variety of social, physical, and educational activities in a social model day program. Funding is available for eligible senior residents of Saratoga County who are mental health consumers.
Eligible individuals may choose to participate every day or on a part-time schedule.
The Golden Club’s VIP activities include:
- Discussion of current events
- Crafts
- Low-impact exercises
- Group outings
- Instructional classes
- Counseling
- Speakers and films
- Memory activities
- Board and word games
- Gardening
Golden Club hours are Monday – Friday (excluding holidays), 8:30 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
For questions or more information contact:
Jennifer Myers
Program Director
518.587.2851, ext. 281
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Peer Supports
Peer Supports emphasize independence and self-reliance and help develop the skills needed to function in the community outside the mental health system. Peer Support Services are peer-delivered services with a rehabilitation and recovery focus. They are person-centered, and are designed with an emphasis on teaching independence and self-reliance. We provide these services through the perspective of a shared personal experience of recovery, enhancing individuals' sense of empowerment and hope.
We offer assistance with:
- Transportation to and from appointments
- Scheduling and organizing appointments
- Medical and legal advocacy
- Assistance with budgeting
- Help connecting to and navigating through available community resources
- General support and mediation for conflict resolution
- Warm Line for nonemergency situations
Referrals for Peer Support Services can be self-made or by a therapist, physician, or case manager. The Community Specialist assists clients with developing a specific goal plan to meet individual needs and complement any established treatment plan. All Saratoga County residents are eligible to receive Peer Support Services. Anyone may use the Warm Line regardless of receiving specific peer support services.
The Warm Line
The Warm Line, a service offered by Peer Support Services, is a safe place for clients to reach out to peers to discuss nonemergency situations. For questions regarding medications, if one is dealing with suicidal thoughts, or for any other mental health emergencies, individuals should call 911 or the Saratoga County Mental Health Clinic on-call number. Any Transitional Services Association clients should call their appropriate on-call number.
Warm Line Hours
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 4:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m.
Friday and Saturday, 7:00 p.m.– 9:00 p.m.
Anyone interested in becoming a Warm Line volunteer should contact:
Jennifer Myers
Program Director
Phone, 518.587.2851
Warm Line, 518.581.9809
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The Community Specialist is available during regular office hours, Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m., 518.587.2851.
Download and complete the printable application [HERE]. The completed application, along with the required supporting documentation, can be dropped off, mailed, faxed, or emailed to:
Unlimited Potential
36 Cady Hill Blvd.,P.O. Box 4656
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Fax, 518.587.4367
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Business Services
When you work with Unlimited Potential, you get more than just a job well done.
You’ll find efficiency when you use our bulk mailing services, and know the job will be completed on time, at a competitive cost. And there’s a less tangible reward you’ll discover—a sense of satisfaction. Because when you work with Unlimited Potential, you’re helping individuals ease their way back to the competitive workforce, supported by an environment that enables them to build new skills and discover new potentials.
For more information contact:
Jennifer Myers
Program Director
Phone, 518.587.2851
Fax, 518.587.4367
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Assembly Operation
Unlimited Potential’s assembly operation can handle myriad tasks, everything from shrink wrapping to fulfillment work to low-cost color copying to labeling to actual assembly. We help businesses with tasks that need to be completed on time and at cost.
Fulfillment Services: Unlimited Potential recently added fulfillment or “pick-and-pack” services to our capabilities. We will store your products and track your inventory. As you receive orders from customers, we will pack and ship those orders for you, allowing your staff the freedom to help your business grow. This can be a truly “fulfilling” service for you and for our people.
Bulk Mailing
We want to be your bulk mailing expert! Whatever your bulk mailing needs—from letter mailing to monthly billing statements or new product samples—on Unlimited Potential provides dependable, fast, convenient, professional service. We are bulk mailing specialists, dedicated to timely, efficient mail processing designed to reduce your costs whenever possible.
Business can:
- Save up to $.06 in postage for each mailing piece by taking advantage of presort discounts
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For more information, please contact
Jennifer Myers
Program Director
Phone, 518.587.2851
Fax, 518.587.4367
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