Sara Stadem | Editor
Although Rising Hope Counseling, LLC might be new to the Hartford Community, the care provided are not new to founder Jill Janecke, MS, LPC-MH.
Janecke originally opened Rising Hope Counseling, LLC in Pierre, SD in 2013. As her practice grew, she realized other rural areas did not have access to mental health providers. So, in March 2020, Janecke decided to expand throughout the state of South Dakota with her most recent opening taking place in Hartford.
Doors officially opened on May 10 with the staff of Tammy Top, nurse practitioner, and Naomi Colberg, MS, LPC.
Colberg currently comes once a week right now on Thursdays and was formally the school counselor at West Central.
Top, previously a family nurse practitioner since 2016, just graduated this month as a psychiatric nurse practitioner. Top explained her role is medication management; treating brain health with medication. She collaborates with the patient’s therapist to see if they need medication to treat any depression, anxiety, mood disorders, anything pertaining to those concerns. “It’s really focused on helping the patient figure out what the best route of care is for them and collaborating with their therapist to find that solution for them,” Top said.
Janecke and Top explained when a patient comes to the Hartford office at Rising Hope Counseling, LLC, it’s not like going to a physician for medication.
“It’s not like going into a clinic. It’s much more personalized,” Janecke said. “It’s about talking about what’s going on, seeing what we can do to help you out.”
Top added, “My office is set up more like a medical office, not an exam office. With mental health, the initial exam is 60-90 minutes and a follow-up is 30 minutes so that is something that makes us different than going to a medical doctor for this care.” She continued, “On the medical side, you are lucky if you get five minutes with your provider.”
As to how often Top sees patients, she explained that depends on each scenario. According to Top, when a patient starts a new medication, the patient should be seen every 4-6 weeks. Once they are stable on their medication, it’s about every six months. However, depending on their diagnosis, it could be more frequent.
So, how does it work?
If someone is looking to get services through Hope Rising Counseling, LLC, they would call the office in Pierre at 605-494-1500 or visit their website at www.risinghope605.com. Everything online is done through a new client portal with the office initiating the follow-up contact.
Janecke also indicated that normally insurance covers for the services as well, along with Medicare and Medicaid.
“Our mission is to be able to remove the barriers for people. If they need counseling, we want to remove the barriers for that and if they need medication, we want to remove those barriers for that. We want to do that for them,” Janecke said.
She indicated that is why she moved her business to rural areas, thinking about the people that can’t leave their smaller communities to get the help they need, whether it’s due to the inability to drive or the ranchers that can’t leave because they are calving. If they don’t have a clinic around them, Janecke is hoping she is able to provide that care for them now because she has a Rising Hope Counseling, LLC around their area.
Top said, “When Jill approached me with this opportunity and said where do you want to work, I want to be in Hartford where I live. We have all of these smaller towns around us even though we are close to Sioux Falls.” She continued, “We are giving a closer option than Sioux Falls for the outlining communities where there might not be services.”
“With COVID, when I was finishing my training, we were seeing much more depression and anxiety. COVID gave us the ability to improve our telehealth and to be able to reach more people but it made us realize there are so many people out there with mental health conditions,” Top said. She continued, “COVID just exasperated all of that. With that, it means that our mental health providers are booked.”
Janecke said what she is excited about with Top is that Top is honored to serve her community and has been very passionate about it. “That was very important to me,” Janecke said.
“I’m honored to serve rural South Dakota because that’s as important as the bigger cities like Sioux Falls,” Top said.
Rising Hope Counseling, LLC hours are 8-4:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10-6 on Tuesdays and 8-12 on Fridays. They are located at Hwy 38 Suite 126.
For more information, visit their website at www.risinghope605.com.