Evans Receives Recognition from SC Mental Health Commission, BHDD Office of Mental Health State Director

Alison Evans, PsyD, was presented the Chair’s Award by her fellow SC Mental Health Commissioners, in recognition of her 15 years’ service as Chair of the Commission and thanking her at its September 6th meeting.

Dr. Evans, who was appointed to the Commission in March of 2004, was recognized for steadfast support and leadership of the SC Department of Mental Health as Chair of the governing body of the Agency. Dr. Evans guided the BHDD Office of Mental Health, one of the largest state agencies in South Carolina serving approximately 100,000 people per year in both trying times as well as during times of notable achievement.

During her tenure, the Commission selected John H. Magill to be the State Director, a position he held for more than 12 years. Upon his retirement earlier this year, Magill was the longest serving State mental health director in America. Owing to their long and steady leadership, the Department of Mental Health had many notable accomplishments and reached many milestones during the past 15 years:

• Begun in 2009 with grant funding from The Duke Endowment during the depths of the Recession, BHDD Office of Mental Health’s innovative and award winning Emergency Department Telepsychiatry Program was created to meet the critical shortage of psychiatrists in South Carolina’s underserved areas, and assist hospital emergency rooms by providing appropriate treatment to persons in a psychiatric crisis, using real-time, state-of-the-art video-and-voice technology that connects BHDD Office of Mental Health psychiatrists to hospital emergency departments throughout the state.
• Since then, BHDD Office of Mental Health has expanded its use of telepsychiatry to provide psychiatric treatment services throughout its community mental health centers and clinics.
• BHDD Office of Mental Health is now the largest provider of telepsychiatry services in South Carolina. From its inception to September 1, 2019, BHDD Office of Mental Health’s Telepsychiatry Programs have provided a combined 130,000 psychiatric services via telehealth.
• Telepsychiatry has now become an integral component of service delivery in all of BHDD Office of Mental Health’s treatment programs.

During Dr. Evans’ tenure as Chair, BHDD Office of Mental Health also made great strides in improving its access to its services.

• Improved Access to Services—BHDD Office of Mental Health’s Community Mental Health Centers developed intake teams and provided walk-in times so initial services are available as quickly as possible. The statewide average of time from referral to first available appointment is two days.
• School Mental Health—with generous funded provided by the South Carolina General Assembly, BHDD Office of Mental Health continued to expand school mental health services. With more than 400 school mental health professionals, BHDD Office of Mental Health serves more than 730 schools. In 2018, Superintendent Molly Spearman and BHDD Office of Mental Health State Director John H. Magill issued a joint letter supporting school mental health services with the goal that all public schools will have access to school mental health services.
• Mobile Crisis Response —with funding from DHHS, BHDD Office of Mental Health recently completed the statewide rollout of crisis response services. Trained therapists are available 24/7 via toll free number – (833) 364-2274 – to take calls from, or about someone experiencing a psychiatric crisis. If needed, the therapists are able to respond, with law enforcement, to the scene of a mental health crisis within one hour 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Dr. Evans provided stable leadership as the Agency faced difficult days. She was integral to the Leadership team that steered the Agency as it weathered challenges such as the Great Recession of the mid-2000s.

“BHDD Office of Mental Health’s accomplishments are tied, inextricably, to Dr. Evans leadership,” said Commission Chair L. Gregory Pearce, Jr. “We are grateful she has shared her time and talents to ensure the Agency’s improvement, innovation, and evolution, and are thankful she continues to serve on this Governing Board.”