PRS, Inc. and CrisisLink—leading local nonprofits serving those with serious mental health issues—are merging to transform the delivery of mental health services in response to the community’s growing needs and the changing mental health landscape. The organization will continue to be called PRS and CrisisLink will become a major program area.
PRS provides clients with intensive support to help them recover and rebuild their lives, including persons with emotional and/or behavioral disorders. Through its extensive volunteer network, CrisisLink serves people in crisis through a hotline as well as comprehensive crisis prevention, intervention and response programs. Together, the entities will be able to offer complementary, enhanced, innovative, and cost-effective services that reach more people.
Specifically, the merger will strengthen PRS’s ability to offer 24 hour support to clients—beyond what Medicaid and other funders cover—by incorporating CrisisLink’s respected, established programs, including its committed and trained volunteer base. In this way, CrisisLink’s services will remain accessible to the community and clients.
Also the efficiencies created by shared resources will enable PRS to explore offering tailored and expanded services that reach specific at risk groups and to have a greater physical presence that better serves the community. For example, PRS will be able to explore the expansion of new programming, such as a texting program to reach teens in crisis, an outbound calling program to remind clients about medications or meetings and to keep them from feeling isolated, and efforts targeted to families of deployed service members.
“As a board, we felt this merger was an excellent opportunity to better serve those living with mental illness by providing greater breadth and depth of services. With these two strong organizations joining forces, we know our region’s safety net will be stronger,” said Audrey Goldstein, PRS board chair.
“The marriage of these two outstanding nonprofits makes sense and will bring innovation and improved services to Arlington and beyond. We know this is the right move and our citizens and community will be the beneficiaries,” said Lauren Shields, former board vice president, CrisisLink.
Wendy Gradison will remain CEO of PRS and CrisisLink Executive Director Julia Stephens will become director of business development for PRS. In all, PRS will now have 88 employees.
Gradison said: “We recognize that the strength of our merged organization is based on the strong teams of employees and volunteers that we have in place. We are counting on their expertise, energy, and creativity to make this a successful transition and look forward to having our joint team shape the future of this organization.”
PRS will remain headquartered in McLean. It also has locations in Alexandria, Arlington, and D.C. and offers services throughout Northern Virginia, including in Loudoun and Prince William. With the addition of CrisisLink, PRS will now have an additional location in Arlington, enabling it to expand services to an even larger base of people. www.prsinc.org.