Peace, Prayer, and Partnership: How WPR and View Point Health foster community well-being
Faith, prayer, kindness, peace and unity are the cornerstones of the World Peace Revival (WPR). Making a positive change in the community requires a collective effort of activists dedicated to serving and loving their neighbors. WPR supports various organizations that embody these values, one of which is View Point Health. With 50 locations across Gwinnett, Rockdale, and Newton Counties, View Point Health provides essential services to individuals who are uninsured, low-income or have developmental disabilities.
View Point Health was established by House Bill 100 in 1994 to offer behavioral health, substance use services, and support for adults with developmental disabilities.
“I love serving as a provider for the community versus a private practice or in a hospital setting,” said CEO Jennifer Hibbard. “I really feel that the individuals we serve who have low income or are uninsured deserve the best treatment and high-quality care. There’s such a great need.”
Jennifer has dedicated the majority of her professional career to View Point Health, serving for 21 years. Starting as a licensed clinician, she provided mental health service to individuals and children and later expanded her focus to include substance abuse services. For the past 10 years, she has served as CEO, advocating for increased community awareness and access to services.
The partnership with WPR began when Jennifer met DePriest Waddy at the Gwinnett Rotary Club. View Point Health recently received a $34,800.00 grant from the Gwinnett Rotary Club and an additional $5,000.00 from WPR, to support the Co-Responder program. “I am absolutely blown away by the dollar amount, and how far that’s going to go to help this community.”
The Co-Responder program pairs mental health professionals with police officers to respond to behavioral health crises. This approach helps de-escalate situations and provides support without the immediate threat of arrest.
View Point Health’s Marketing Director Debbie Varnes highlights the program’s impact: “One of my favorite things about it is that it’s so comforting for individuals in a behavioral health crisis. Our professionals are not in uniform; sometimes they might just be in a polo shirt with our logo. This calming presence helps de-escalate situations and significantly reduces anxiety.”
Jennifer underscores the program’s success with a striking statistic: “We’ve been on well over 5,000 calls and only 2% have resulted in arrest. Prior to the Co-Responder program, our police officers estimated that over 50% of these calls would have ended in arrests.”
Jennifer wholeheartedly supports WPR’s mission of fostering unity and the power of prayer.
Through her time in Rotary, she facilitated the building of a peace pole in Lawrenceville during the pandemic. This peace pole, inscribed with the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in multiple languages, stands as a symbol of unity and a testament to the shared commitment of creating peace and well-being in the community.
She also recounts a time where she recently witnessed the power of prayer. Both she and Debbie were unusually at View Point’s clinic office on a Saturday morning to open the building and allow a separate organization to use their conference room as a meeting place.
“While Debbie was letting people in the building, a young man was dropped off in our parking lot. He had actually been taking Fentanyl and he needed a detox. He was only 19 years old, and he was just dumped in our parking lot,” said Jennifer.
Because this was not during normal office hours, no staff was available to treat the young man, and the two women scrambled to figure out how they could help.
“I started making phone calls. The crisis unit was full. Our detox unit was able to take him there, but we had no transportation,” she said. Suddenly, Jennifer remembered a fellow rotarian who works at nonprofit Recovery Connections.
After a series of phone calls with him and his colleagues, they were able to arrange for the man to be picked up by Recovery Connections employees already en route to retrieve food donations.
“We had seven other staff members who were supposed to be doing other things who stopped what they were doing to help figure out how to get this young man the care that he needed to safely start his detox and recovery process,” said Jennifer.
This encounter was a catalyst for reflection. “I just think about how many other people have been dropped off in our parking lot when we weren’t here,” Jennifer said. “I’m not sure whose prayer it was that was answered, but it was absolutely a lot of divine intervention that got that young man to the spot that he needed to be that day.”
Through our faith in God, performing acts of kindness and partnering with organizations like View Point Health, we’re working to make our world a better place.
To learn more about View Point Health’s services, please visit www.myView Pointhealth.org.
Peace, Prayer, and Partnership: How WPR and View Point Health foster community well-being
Faith, prayer, kindness, peace and unity are the cornerstones of the World Peace Revival (WPR). Making a positive change in the community requires a collective effort of activists dedicated to serving and loving their neighbors. WPR supports various organizations that embody these values, one of which is View Point Health. With 50 locations across Gwinnett, Rockdale, and Newton Counties, View Point Health provides essential services to individuals who are uninsured, low-income or have developmental disabilities.
View Point Health was established by House Bill 100 in 1994 to offer behavioral health, substance use services, and support for adults with developmental disabilities.
“I love serving as a provider for the community versus a private practice or in a hospital setting,” said CEO Jennifer Hibbard. “I really feel that the individuals we serve who have low income or are uninsured deserve the best treatment and high-quality care. There’s such a great need.”
Jennifer has dedicated the majority of her professional career to View Point Health, serving for 21 years. Starting as a licensed clinician, she provided mental health service to individuals and children and later expanded her focus to include substance abuse services. For the past 10 years, she has served as CEO, advocating for increased community awareness and access to services.
The partnership with WPR began when Jennifer met DePriest Waddy at the Gwinnett Rotary Club. View Point Health recently received a $34,800.00 grant from the Gwinnett Rotary Club and an additional $5,000.00 from WPR, to support the Co-Responder program. “I am absolutely blown away by the dollar amount, and how far that’s going to go to help this community.”
The Co-Responder program pairs mental health professionals with police officers to respond to behavioral health crises. This approach helps de-escalate situations and provides support without the immediate threat of arrest.
View Point Health’s Marketing Director Debbie Varnes highlights the program’s impact: “One of my favorite things about it is that it’s so comforting for individuals in a behavioral health crisis. Our professionals are not in uniform; sometimes they might just be in a polo shirt with our logo. This calming presence helps de-escalate situations and significantly reduces anxiety.”
Jennifer underscores the program’s success with a striking statistic: “We’ve been on well over 5,000 calls and only 2% have resulted in arrest. Prior to the Co-Responder program, our police officers estimated that over 50% of these calls would have ended in arrests.”
Jennifer wholeheartedly supports WPR’s mission of fostering unity and the power of prayer.
Through her time in Rotary, she facilitated the building of a peace pole in Lawrenceville during the pandemic. This peace pole, inscribed with the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in multiple languages, stands as a symbol of unity and a testament to the shared commitment of creating peace and well-being in the community.
She also recounts a time where she recently witnessed the power of prayer. Both she and Debbie were unusually at View Point’s clinic office on a Saturday morning to open the building and allow a separate organization to use their conference room as a meeting place.
“While Debbie was letting people in the building, a young man was dropped off in our parking lot. He had actually been taking Fentanyl and he needed a detox. He was only 19 years old, and he was just dumped in our parking lot,” said Jennifer.
Because this was not during normal office hours, no staff was available to treat the young man, and the two women scrambled to figure out how they could help.
“I started making phone calls. The crisis unit was full. Our detox unit was able to take him there, but we had no transportation,” she said. Suddenly, Jennifer remembered a fellow rotarian who works at nonprofit Recovery Connections.
After a series of phone calls with him and his colleagues, they were able to arrange for the man to be picked up by Recovery Connections employees already en route to retrieve food donations.
“We had seven other staff members who were supposed to be doing other things who stopped what they were doing to help figure out how to get this young man the care that he needed to safely start his detox and recovery process,” said Jennifer.
This encounter was a catalyst for reflection. “I just think about how many other people have been dropped off in our parking lot when we weren’t here,” Jennifer said. “I’m not sure whose prayer it was that was answered, but it was absolutely a lot of divine intervention that got that young man to the spot that he needed to be that day.”
Through our faith in God, performing acts of kindness and partnering with organizations like View Point Health, we’re working to make our world a better place.
To learn more about View Point Health’s services, please visit www.myView Pointhealth.org.
