Former U.S. and Georgia First Lady Rosalynn Carter was the special guest yesterday for opening of Grady Health System’s new comprehensive outpatient mental health facility, the Auburn Avenue Recovery Center. Known worldwide for her work to improve the quality of life for those suffering from mental illness, Mrs. Carter joined health system officials in celebrating the expansion of mental health services available for adults, adolescents and children in Atlanta and the state.

Grady’s Auburn Avenue Recovery Center will centralize outpatient mental health services into one convenient location. The new center expands upon the first-class mental health services already offered by Grady to provide more outpatient services in one location and help encourage clients to use the services offered.

“We are honored that Rosalynn Carter joined us today as we cut the ribbon for our new home” said Michael Claeys, Executive Director of Behavioral Health for Grady Health System. As the only 24-hour psychiatric emergency service in Georgia, Grady receives more than 15,000 patient visits a year and its psychiatric emergency service is one of the five busiest in the nation. Grady’s mental health services include:

- Community outreach: Grady provides psychiatric services to homeless shelters, supportive living facilities, geriatric living facilities and other community-based programs serving patients who are unable or unwilling to come to Grady on a regular basis to receive mental health care.
- Child/adolescent care: Grady provides the largest community mental health program for disadvantaged children in Georgia and specializes treating serious mental illness, psychological trauma, autism and youth suicide in children ages 2 to 17. It also serves as a training hub for more than two-thirds of the child psychiatrists in Georgia
- Day program services: Grady provides day program services (FOCUS) for uninsured adults with severe and persistent mental illness. This program has earned recognition by the American Psychiatric Association as a national award winning teaching facility.
- Forensic Psychology: Grady provides the only forensic psychiatry training program in Georgia and one of the first programs accredited in the United States. Grady also provides pretrial evaluations for Fulton County courts as well as treatment and support services in the Atlanta City Detention Center to help reduce psychiatric emergency visits.

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