River Ridge Behavioral Health marks 50 years of service, community support

VICKSBURG, Miss. (VDN) — River Ridge Behavioral Health, formerly Warren-Yazoo Behavioral Health, celebrated 50 years of service with a ceremony held Thursday afternoon.

Since its founding in 1975, the organization has provided mental health services to thousands of individuals and families across the region. Deputy Executive Director Don Brown credited the community for the organization’s success.

“I just want to mention how much we appreciate everybody’s support,” Brown said. “This community has always been very supportive. I think we’ve been a model for any community mental health center. With the partnerships we have, we’ve always had the lowest recidivism rate—meaning admissions to the state hospital—of any region in the state.”

Brown added that he would put River Ridge “against any behavioral health organization in the country.”

“It’s because of the partnerships we’ve had—with our schools, our hospitals, law enforcement, and the community in general,” he said. “That’s a claim to fame I know we have.”

Steve Roark, former executive director of Warren-Yazoo Mental Health Service from 1986 to 2013 said that the work the organization does is a “calling.”

“What we have here is not just a job,” Roark said. “It’s not just to come to work and be a paid employee. It’s to serve people who are not being served anywhere else. This has to be a calling for you to be here, and that’s the definition of this organization.”