By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WARSAW — CARES was established a few years ago under Mayor Joe Thallamer and has blossomed into a larger program that provides mental health assistance and other support and often addresses issues that dispatchers and law enforcement previously attempted to handle.
CARES stands for Community Assistance Resources & Emergency Services.
At the same time, the program struggled over the years to find a permanent home, but that changed with the opening of The Gathering Place in downtown Warsaw, which is operated by Fellowship Missions.
The Gathering Place is a facility that has been transformed with $300,000 in support to create a place for those in recovery as well as a home for public meetings and small gatherings.
Fellowship Mission has shifted its offices to The Gathering Place and Allendale Treatment of Fort Wayne also has an office in the building.
Mikaela Bixler, the community health coordinator for CARES, said the new office arrangement is a perfect fit.
“We work with Fellowship Missions a lot and it’s nice to just have a place we can bring people. Maybe we’re out on the street with someone who just needs a safe place to go,” Bixler said.
“So now we have that public space that we can take someone where there are already caseworkers there,” she said.
Bixler, along with Public Information Officer for Warsaw Police, Chris Francis, talked bout the CARES program during a taping of In The Know, the public affairs program that can be heard on Kensington Digital Media radio stations this weekend.
In addition to new offices, CARES is getting more support through crisis intervention training efforts involving a wide variety of law enforcement and criminal justice professionals. Those include probation officers, corrections officers, deputies, and even teachers.
Some 40 people have already graduated from the training and another class is in the plans.
Francis said the program is another layer of support by eventually ensuring that somebody trained in crisis intervention is available at all times.
“It’s something we can apply on the streets at the time of the incident and really be able to try to get the appropriate help versus just taking somebody to the hospital or taking them to jail,” Francis said.
Bixler said that while CARES provides a wide variety of assistance, they’re also there to help in moments of great tragedy when those in crisis just need a shoulder to lean on.
“That’s something, really, we’re honored to do to support people and be with them on what might be the worst day of their life,” Bixler said.
You can learn more about CARES at its website here.
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In The Know can be heard at the following times:
News Now Warsaw (99.7 FM and 1480 AM):
Fridays at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Saturdays at 7 a.m.
Sundays at 7 a.m. & 2 p.m.
WRSW (107.3):
Sundays at 6 a.m.
Willie (103.5 FM):
Sundays at 6 a.m.
