Health Care Heroes 2025
MENTAL HEALTH PROVIDER/ADVOCATE (organization):
Tides Family Services, Children’s Mobile Response and Stabilization Services
Answers provided by Tides Family Services’ Children’s Mobile Response and Stabilization Services Assistant Director Peter Barbagallo.
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What led you to choose health care as your profession? Our team of individuals chose the health care field for a variety of reasons, but we are united by a common goal: To improve the mental health care systems in our communities. Many of us have witnessed or heard about individuals who have been unnecessarily removed from their homes, received inpatient psychiatric care, or become entangled in the criminal justice system due to circumstances beyond their control – situations that could often have been avoided with earlier intervention and support.
How have you helped boost the quality of access to health care? Our core belief is that no child should ever be left behind and we bring this mission to life through our work at Tides MRSS. By meeting families where they feel most comfortable and providing education on the broader system of care in Rhode Island, we help them better navigate available resources. This collaborative approach fosters trust, ensuring stronger engagement and a greater commitment to the next steps in treatment.
What more do you feel the state can do to help further support the health care sector in Rhode Island? Sustaining Mobile Response and Stabilization Services is an efficient approach to youth crisis response by providing immediate, on-site crisis intervention for [youths] experiencing behavioral health challenges, preventing unnecessary emergency room visits and out-of-home placements.
