Trinity Care grand opening turns a family’s fatal addiction battle into critical health services in Henrico and beyond

The Nov. 15 grand opening and naming ceremony for Trinity Care’s Taj & Najee Callender Crisis Receiving Center, marks a new site in Henrico for critical addiction and behavioral health care.

“The mission of Trinity Care Crisis Receiving Center is to make sure that we are providing a quality life for those needing services for mental health, substance use and intellectual disabilities,” said Trinity Care CEO DaVonne Garner during the ribbon-cutting event. “Our core values are that we lead with heart. An integral part of our value system is family and kindness.”

Garner is the aunt of Taj and Najee Callender, twins who were born in 1999 and died of drug addiction in 2021 and 2023, respectively. The Henrico County Police Department data showed the dramatic impact of drug addiction. In 2021 there were 532 overdoses and in 2023 there were 477 overdoses. Last year the number of people who experienced drug overdoses came down to 277, with 17% fatal.

Naming the new healing site for her nephews, who would have been 26 this year, is her attempt to give new life to others dealing with health challenges.

Garner described the opening of the two-story facility (located near the intersection of 295 and Route 1 at the end of a residential cul de sac) as a proud and emotional day. She was closely involved in her nephews’ lives during their childhoods, as well as when they started using drugs and as their addiction took hold. She recounted sleepless nights tracking her family as emotional and taxing.

Because of the turmoil she experienced personally and as a mental health professional, she believes her authenticity strengthens her as a health care executive leader.

Trinity Care is an independent, state licensed, mental health-focused agency with about 60 employees that provides mental health, substance use and intellectual disabilities services.  Garner also operates Heart of Trinity, a non-profit geared to providing resources for those experiencing mental health crises and active addiction. 

Trinity Care has a residential treatment license to provide low-intensity services in Henrico. The treatment home is located in the Eastern Henrico area and houses as many as eight residents.

At Trinity Care’s corporate location in North Chesterfield, the agency is licensed to provide approximately 10 different services treating substance use and mental health issues.

Emotional turmoil, mental health support

Remarks during the opening ribbon cutting ceremony hit on both the emotional turmoil and spiritual issues surrounding addiction and struggles associated with behavioral health.

Nakea Callender, Taj and Najee’s mother, focused her dedication speech on spiritual and Biblical references developing the idea that Jesus’ humble beginnings did not limit him and brought positivity to others despite his limitations.

“Light is a presence. Grief reveals the depth of love. Darkness is lack. And lack only becomes meaningful because presence exists. You can't create darkness. You can only remove light,” Callender said.

Callender is a registered mental health nurse and Garner’s sister. During a break in the festivities following the opening event, she reflected on her sons’ lives cut short and the toll her their addiction took on her family.

“I am elated to mark their lives with this agency with wraparound services,” Callender said. “I am grateful to be here.”

Critical stabilization

Trinity Care is a “23-hour crisis receiving and stabilization center,” which is a non-hospital, community-based setting, open 24-hours a day that provides crisis intervention and assessment for people experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis, meant to stabilize people and connect them with the appropriate level of care as an alternative to hospitalization.

Substance abuse support services at Trinity Care also include outpatient therapy and intensive in-home counseling.

Equipped with 12 recliners in private and semi-private rooms allows the agency staff to see from 12 to 24 patients in the office. Rooms are devoted to triage and consultations. Full bathrooms and a kitchen address hygiene and health needs of clients that may not be getting met in the community.

Lee A. Burge, Trinity Care's director of strategic initiatives and Garner's husband, said that clients in crisis can be transported to the facility via police car or ambulance.

“We take them all,” Burge said. “The first thing that we want to do is we want to make sure that they're stabilized. We always have minimally two nurses on at any time. The first thing we do is stabilize them medically, then we start to make sure that they're appropriate for this level of care.”

Clients receive an orientation and case management care. Space allows for individual consultations where confidentiality is needed.

“It's extremely temporary. No one resides here. No overnights. This is a triaged stabilization, referral situation,” Burge said, calling the Trinity Care facility a first of its kind operation. “We have a full continuum of care that allows us, whatever the problem is, within reason, to be able to deal with it from the top, all the way down to the bottom. We have a full gambit of referral sources.”

He said the Trinity Care center is a solution to expensive insurance and taxpayer costs for hospital stays.

“Our hope is also to be able to support first-responders,” Burge said. “I do ride-alongs, and I know the frustrations that first responders have because there are no beds at other places. So this offers first-responders an immediate option to be able to bring appropriate clients here to be stabilized versus having to go and try and sit them at a hospital or try and take them to a psychiatric ward and have them admitted.

“We're here to help that first-responders and to fill that gap. So, taxpayers don't have to carry the burden of unnecessary hospitalizations.”

Family and community support

Taj and Najee’s grandmother, Katrina Bagley, drove through a hurricane to be there when they were born. She described her grandsons as balls of energy growing up. Their parents were in the Navy, and the family resided in the Norfolk area.

“I always wanted to rescue them, but I didn’t have the skills. We all wanted to try to make sure that this doesn't happen to another family, to do whatever we can,” Bagley said after the ceremony, during a celebration with a food, clothing and coat drive.

While watching her grandsons go through their drug addiction, she emphasized to family members that they needed to support each other during the difficult times. Bagley reflected on the bittersweet moment of witnessing her daughter now leading a behavioral health facility named in honor of her grandsons who struggled through addiction that took their lives.

“I know it makes them happy that it's done,” Bagley said. “I'm happy because there's a reason and there is a purpose to our tragic loss.”

Dina Weinstein is the Citizen’s community vitality reporter and a Report for America corps member, covering housing, health and transportation. Support her work and articles like this one by making a contribution to the Citizen.