This Work is VITAL
VITAL Spartanburg is a new community action plan to address our mental health crisis through real action and coordination. Bringing together healthcare providers, nonprofits, municipalities and philanthropists, VITAL will pilot innovative programs as well as support and expand existing work.
A Crisis that Called for a Community Response
In 2023, more than 75 community leaders, including healthcare providers, nonprofits and local philanthropists, came together to develop a plan to address the crisis in Spartanburg. It was a crisis of mental health affecting every part of our community:
- Spartanburg’s youth, new parents, and adults are suffering with persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness, which impacts well being, productivity, and suicide rates.
- Opioid overdoses and deaths in the Spartanburg region are still at record highs.
- Emergency rooms in Spartanburg see 5000+ patients whose issues could have been prevented with mental or behavioral health care.
- Vulnerable people in Spartanburg (e.g., those with addiction disorders or facing homelessness) have barriers to accessing care.
Collaboration on VITAL Goals
Rather than start anew, the community leaders worked to unite Spartanburg’s existing assets, galvanize key partners, identify gaps in care, and develop immediate, universal solutions. The plan, known now as VITAL Spartanburg, will both pilot new, innovative programs as well as support and expand existing programs and coordinate with those already working in the field.
Through focusing on two key target areas — youth and families, and people with Severe Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorder — VITAL Spartanburg has set actionable goals:
- Reduce mental health issues and frequent mental health distress among the entire population, including the most vulnerable
- Reduce behavioral-health-related hospital visits
- Reduce suicide rates
- Reduce opioid overdoses and death.
VITAL Spartanburg will work to accomplish these important goals by launching community awareness and stigma-reduction campaigns, coordinating better data-sharing and referrals among healthcare partners, improving affordability of mental and behavioral health services, and increasing the mental and behavioral healthcare workforce.
We are building on a track record of collective impact in Spartanburg, as well as past collaborative work in mental healthcare. We are motivated to overcome our current crisis and create a community where people receive the care they need, where prevention works, and where no one slips between the cracks.
This work is VITAL.
Read the Full Action Plan
Read the complete priorities, goals and strategies for VITAL Spartanburg.
VITAL Spartanburg Steering Committee
Cole AlversonSpartanburg County Dr. Octavia AmaechiReGenesis Health Care Tom BarnetBehavioral Health Task Force Dr. Russell BookerSpartanburg Academic Movement Dr. Jami Cokley, DMDReGenesis Health Care Polly Edwards-PadgettSpartanburg Regional Foundation Philip "Phil" FeisalSpartanburg Regional Healthcare System K. FredericksSouth Carolina Department of Public Health Dr. Ebony GaffneySouth Carolina Department of Mental Health Keisha GraySpartanburg Academic Movement Dr. Midas HamptonStrategic Spartanburg Michelle JohnsonSpartanburg County Sheriff's Office |
Mitch KennedyCity of Spartanburg Dr. Ken KiserSpartanburg School District 6 Virgil MurrayUnited Way of the Piedmont Carey RothschildSpartanburg Regional Healthcare System Jamison SmithThe Forrester Center for Behavioral Health Meghan SmithSpartanburg Academic Movement Paige StephensonUnited Way of the Piedmont Jeff StevensSpartanburg School District 7 Karly StokesStrategic Spartanburg Molly Talbot-MetzMary Black Foundation Rochelle WilliamsMary Black Foundation Ashley WhittSpartanburg County Foundation |