One of the positive things that came to the light in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in Washington DC and New York City was the importance of community and the role that organizations — many of them non-profits — play in the communities we reside in.

Within Kitsap County, one of those organizations is Kitsap Mental Health Services, a non-profit agency providing educational programs, crisis counseling and in-center and out-patient treatment for youth, adults, seniors and families affected by mental illness.

“We are a comprehensive mental health center,” explains Larry Keller, executive director of the Bremerton-based agency. “Our primary goal is to serve the mentally ill in the community and that service is provided twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.”

Keller, who estimates that the various departments within the multi-function agency serve more than five thousand Kitsap County residents each year, acknowledges that few individuals realize the scope of services that the agency provides.

“We offer a full continuum of care, from preventative treatment and educational programs within the school district all the way to secured psychiatric facilities,” said Keller. They field more than 17,000 crisis care calls a year and through InfoLink (an on-line referral web site that provides users a way to direct questions to professionals or to contact professional care agencies) saw more than 20,000 hits last year. Kitsap Mental Health Services also serves as the resource for emergency 911 calls that involve mental illness.

Since Sept. 11, some of the staff at Kitsap Mental Health Services have taken on a new role explaining the effects of stress, fear and depression to school children.

“We’ve always had programs that involve the schools, whether that’s been directly with students or as a referral source for teachers and school nurses,” explains Keller. “Now we’re seeing more requests to help students deal with issues that include suicide, depression and, in the last few months, the fear that comes with the terrorism attacks, being at war or having parents in the military.”

Keller is also quick to point out that the organization is a private non-profit, not a government agency. “I think that many people simply assume that because we deal in health issues and have a lot of contact with state and federal agencies that we are in fact part of the government. We’re not. We’re actually part of this community, governed by a volunteer board of directors, and we have the same issues that every non-profit does…how to manage our resources, our budgets and our staffing.”

And that staffing is impressive. Operating on an annual budget of approximately $13.5 million, the organization has more than two hundred and twenty employees (seventy-five percent of whom are professional staff) and an additional fifty to sixty temporary, on-call case aids available as work load — or an unusual crisis such as Sept. 11 — occurs.

Keller, a member of the Kitsap County Economic Development Council, is also proud of the reputation and job opportunities that Kitsap Mental Health Services provides to the Peninsula. Named by Washington CEO magazine as the best non-profit to work for in 1999, the agency boasts an employment roster that includes seven psychiatrists, ten nurses and more than thirty Masters-level professional case-workers.

“We’re a major employer in the county,” says Keller, “even though the average business executive in Kitsap County may not immediately know who we are. We pay competitive wages and have been very successful in drawing professionals — and keeping them — in Kitsap.”

Because of their professional expertise, some of the agency’s staff collaborates and cooperates with other agencies on behalf of mental health and safety issues, including Kitsap Mental Health Service’s current cooperation with the Criminal Justice Task Force on the growing use of meth-amphetamines in the county.

“The growing use of meth-amphetamines here — especially in older youth and young adults — has us especially concerned,” admits Keller.

“It’s become an epidemic really, and one of the biggest problems is that it’s extremely difficult for professionals (medical, mental health and law enforcement) to determine when someone is reacting to the drug or is exhibiting signs of violent mental illness.”

Besides a main office in Bremerton, Kitsap Mental Health Services operates or manages other facilities throughout Kitsap County, including two in-patient residential treatment centers, a number of group homes, managed housing and apartment complexes, and a satellite center at Harrison Hospital that works specifically with children’s issues. The organization also provides services at the county’s juvenile court and at Kitsap County jail.

“We’re a tremendous asset and resource to the community,” said Keller. “We’re there for anyone to call with questions or concerns or the need for a referral…individuals, parents, employers and teachers. If we’re not exactly the right group to help that person, we’ll find the one who is and, although we’re primarily organized to assist Medicaid clients, we’re available to anyone in the community on an emergency level. All anyone has to do is pick up the phone.”.