Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
The CEO of Ascend Mental Wellness — formerly Warren-Washington Association for Mental Health — plans to meet on Friday, Nov. 21, with neighbors of its Genesis House residence on Chester Street in response to their complaints.
The facility with space for 13 residents working through psychiatric disabilities has been on Chester Street since the 1980s, but neighbors say disturbing problems have arisen in recent years that they say have gone unaddressed.
Peter Taylor, who lives across the street, said he was speaking for about 30 residents when he addressed the Common Council on October 28. “I am here tonight because of the complete lack of oversight, supervision or any form of management at 11 Chester, which has turned our dream home into a nightmare.”
Ascend CEO Andrea Deepe wrote to Mr. Taylor that she hoped neighbors would join the Nov. 21 community forum “to understand a little more about Ascend and the services at Genesis.”
Mr. Taylor tells The Chronicle his family has lived across from Genesis House for about 20 years and have come to expect “levels of chaos,” at times. But “the last two years have been unbearable.”
He said, “The worst situation is the client that almost every day screams the F bomb at the top of his lungs. He also seems to dislike our Pride flag and yells, ‘F–k you, you f–king homo f-g…” in a voice loud enough for “a football coach.”
Andrew French describes incidents “at all hours of day and night” of an individual “ranting non-stop about what he perceives as persecution….
“Mainly his subject matter concerns “N—ers, J-ws, f—-ts and Democrats, and graphic descriptions of what he imagines these sort of people do in their spare time…entirely vulgar, disgusting, socially unacceptable.”
Mr. French said the shouts have targeted himself, his 9-year-old son and a teen in the household about whom the resident said “cut off his p–is.”
Mr. French says, “This is objectionable. It’s assault. The guy’s verbally abusing the entire neighborhood.”
Tammy Hunter-Heckenberg said, “I can no longer lead a Bible study at my home because I am afraid for my guests and the erratic behavior coming from across the street.”
The Chronicle met with six of the neighbors and read more than a dozen letters from neighbors citing problems.
“We have not used our front porch for over 10 years,” a resident wrote, echoing comments by several.
Another wrote, “Due to the deterioration of the quality of life on this street my partner and I have decided to move residences…Overall the unpredictablitiy and interruptive nature of Genesis is at the forefront.”
Another: “While I fully recognize…the rights of individuals with mental health challenges, I also believe the rights of neighboring residents deserve consideration.”
Neighbors said that when they tried to complain, on-site caregivers would hang up on them, “shrug their shoulders and say, ‘Clients are allowed to be symptomatic in public’ or ‘there’s nothing we can do.’”
“We were just completely ignored,” Mr. Taylor says. “We wanted to say, look, this is what’s happening.”
Neighbors say they took to recording happenings at Genesis House after their concerns were consistently unanswered.
Last month, Mr. Taylor says, he was assaulted after recording on his phone an outburst from the most challenging of the residents. As Mr. Taylor walked away, he said, “I suddenly heard him screaming in back of me…He rushed me, grabbed the phone out of my hand, and threw it to the ground” — breaking the phone and scratching Mr. Taylor’s hand in the process, says a police report on the incident.
The resident was arrested and charged with one count of Criminal Mischief in the 2nd degree, a Class D Felony, and one count of Harassment and Physical Contact in the 2nd Degree, a Violation.
The Chronicle spoke with Andrea Deepe, CEO of Ascend Mental Wellness.
She said she is not at liberty to discuss the legal matter, but that she believes “strongly…where we’re at right now” has to do with “one individual,” who “is creating this panic in their minds. This individual has raised it to a next level.”
“Primarily, I want to fix both sides of it. I want this individual to be healthy. He wants to be healthy. I want this to stop, so that the neighbors can have peace in their homes. It’s just continual work.”
Ms. Deepe had told The Chronicle she she was only aware of one neighbor reaching out one time to complain, but Mr. Taylor terms that “just not true.”
Ms. Deepe said she’s since met with both Mr. Taylor and Mayor Bill Collins.
“The reality of it is that there’s been, I’m going to say, a lack of communication,” says Ms. Deepe.
“As a human being, I sympathize and understand the concerns. I’ve apologized and I’ll continue apologizing. I know that there’s no easy answer for this.
“As human beings in the agency, we try to both support the individuals, as well as to educate the community on things they need to understand, but also to foster more of a relationship with the people they are living with in their communities.”
“The reality is, that’s a certified residence. We have the only ones like it in Warren and Washington Counties” — and both are necessary and fully occupied at all times, she said.
“We are not able to just move people. I’m not saying that calling people names or yelling obscenities is appropriate. It is not. We’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, because we’re dealing with human beings that, in some cases, are not even aware of the behaviors they’re having, because of their mental illness.
“It’s no easy fix. By human rights, these individuals have a right to not be medicated to the point where they’re ‘snowed.’ It’s our job to work with them and help them…get to a place where they’re healthy once again.”
Asked by The Chronicle what Ascend itself might do to improve the Chester Street situation, Ms. Deepe said, “We could always do better.”
She suggests “more ongoing training and support for our staff,” and “continuing to work with the therapeutic agencies that serve our clients.”
“We’re serving 1,600 people on average, a year, between Warren and Washington Counties in a variety of our services.”
She said it’s difficult to find staff with the necessary work ethic at the available salary level. “We need to hold them accountable,” she said. She noted that one staff member Mr. Taylor mentioned as especially dismissive has since been let go.
Ms. Deepe said, neighbors “are not seeing all the times that we’re going outside, and redirecting individuals, or taking people for walks because they’re having a hard time. We’re trying to do our work in a way that is beneficial for these individuals, as part of their healing process.”
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