Horizons Behavioral Health reports expanded crisis services, new crisis receiving center and local program outcomes

Melissa Lucey, CEO of Horizons Behavioral Health, updated the Appomattox County Board of Supervisors on the agency’s services, new programs and local outcomes during the board’s meeting on May 20, 2025.

Lucru’s report said Horizons has expanded both in-person and telehealth services and launched community-based initiatives aimed at reducing hospital readmissions. "These are the programs that also allow us to keep individuals who are in crisis in the community and prevent them from being removed and having to go into the hospital," Lucey told the board.

The presentation said in-person appointments increased from 61,802 in fiscal 2023 to 70,279 in fiscal 2024 (telehealth visits were reported separately). Lucey described two new programs — a co-responder program and a mobile response team — that began responding to calls in the summer of 2024 and are intended to provide crisis care in homes, schools and other community settings. She also said Horizons connected 27 people with severe mental illness to permanent supportive housing and that its intermediate care facilities organized 1,851 community events and trips for residents.

Lucru noted prevention activity as well: the prevention team recorded 12,211 face-to-face contacts in fiscal 2024, and Horizons trained local residents and professionals in suicide-intervention curricula, including 151 people in Mental Health First Aid. The agency’s Project Link program — intensive outreach and case management for pregnant and parenting women with substance-use disorders — handled 246 referrals from a local birthing hospital; six babies born to mothers enrolled in Project Link were reported substance-free at birth.

Lucru described the planned crisis receiving center as a regional facility that will offer walk-in mental-health evaluations, 23-hour observation, residential crisis stays and detox services and said renovations are ahead of schedule with completion expected in October. She told the board the project has an estimated cost of $15,100,000. "This project will greatly help them as well as help the community," Lucey said, referencing local law-enforcement officers’ time spent on emergency custody orders.

Board members asked several operational questions during the presentation, including where medication lockboxes are distributed (Lucey said prevention staff keep and distribute lockboxes and that they are available at the Appomattox office and at community events). The board did not take formal action during the presentation; Lucey’s remarks were provided as an informational update and to invite follow-up questions from supervisors.

The presentation packet provided to supervisors included an annual report and local performance figures; Lucey also encouraged supervisors to review client quotes and local partner feedback included in the materials.

Horizons’ update closed with an invitation to contact Jan Davis (identified in the presentation as head of Horizons’ prevention program) for local distribution of prevention materials and lockboxes.