Mental health services center based in Washtenaw County, Garrett’s Space, will receive $373,306 from the Washtenaw County’s Public Safety and Mental Health Millage this year, allowing for an expansion of in-person wellness activities and support groups.
Established in 2017 by Scott and Julie Halpert following the loss of their son to suicide, Garrett’s Space provides mental health services for young adults ages 18-28 in a non-medical setting. Currently, the organization offers free virtual support groups and monthly in-person activities. The group is also planning to open a dedicated in-person wellness facility this year.
The in-person site, a 76-acre property in Superior Township, underwent an extensive approval process and still needs additional permits before the prospective opening date.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Scott Halpert described how he feels the services and activities provided could have helped his son with his mental health struggles.
“(It’s) a residential space where young adults could meet and support each other with the help of clinical social workers and engage in activities that are really healthy and healing for the young adult population,” Halpert said. “These are activities that our son really enjoyed and helped make him feel better, activities like movement, meditation, music, art, things like that … We wanted to create a non-institutional, healing environment.”
The property however was challenged in a lawsuit in Oct. 2023 challenging the legality of the rezoning of Garrett’s Space property. Gregory Need, a partner in Adkison, Need, Allen & Rentrop, PLLC., represented thirty-five residents who live near the Garrett Space property before the Township Planning Commission and Township Board and in court.
In an email to The Daily, Need explained how residents in this area will be negatively impacted by the rezoning, expressing that different land consistent with Township plans should have been used for the project.
“Our view is that this proposal should have been put in an area that was properly zoned for that use and an area that is consistent with the Township’s master plan,” Need said. “This use should be placed in an area that has public water and sewer. The proposal relies on a large septic field situated in almost immediate proximity to wetland areas. There will be an impact on surrounding properties visually and due to noise generation.”
Dr. Victor Hong, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan and an early partner in Garrett’s Space, described the need for alternative care models — models different from clinics or hospitals — like this for young adults seeking mental health support.
“The emergency department can be very chaotic and busy and not really designed for mental health crises, it’s designed more for medical screening and evaluation,” Hong said. “If we design a place that’s more welcoming … rather than a hospital institutional feel, that some of those people who would not seek help, will.”
Hong pointed out that while other residential mental health programs exist, many are inaccessible due to high costs, a challenge Garrett’s Space is working towards addressing.
“Some of these (other) programs, if you stay there for three months or six months, or however long it is, it can be very long,” Hong said. “It can be $100,000 — and so who can afford that?It’s really only, what, the .1% of the country.”
Peggy Galimberti, clinical director at Garrett’s Space, told The Daily in an interview funding is still an ongoing challenge for the nonprofit. The center so far has reached $8.7 million of funding on the way to its $13.5 million goal.
“Funding is always something that nonprofits struggle with and I expect that will continue,” Galimberti said. “There’s a lot of competition and a lot of other nonprofits in Washtenaw County competing for those dollars. So that is always something.”
Halpert said the recent millage funding will go directly to programming, especially aiding in the transition to in-person services.
“The bulk of the funding is to really help Garrett’s Space to expand its programming,” Halpert said. “So it’s primarily for staffing costs related to the design and actual implementation of our programming and Garrett’s Space, including the in-person activities that we hope to begin in the relatively near future.”
LSA senior Joshua Lin, director of mental health awareness student organization CAPS In Action, emphasized the importance of having diverse mental health resources available to meet different needs.
“People have different backgrounds and I think having a more diverse set of resources can kind of hit on all those; where people are coming from depending on their cultural backgrounds,” Lin said. “I think some resources might just fit better with them.”
Daily Staff Reporter Elizabeth Stafford can be reached at libstaf@umich.edu.
The post Ann Arbor suicide prevention facility receives $373,306 in millage funding appeared first on The Michigan Daily.
Leave a Reply