Heather Rae

Background

About Heather Rae

As president and CEO of Common Ground, Oakland County’s largest provider of mental health crisis services, I am dedicated to ensuring that everyone, whether they are insured or not, receives the help that they need. Common Ground serves more than people each year with compassionate, professional services through our text, chat and call-in Resource and Crisis Helpline and in-person through our Resource and Crisis Center. But the need for mental health crisis services has never been greater and there are many more who could be served. To meet this growing demand, we have expanded our crisis text and chat capabilities to 24/7. We’ve launched a 24/7 crisis mobile team, partnerships with law enforcement and a human trafficking team and hotline. In April 2022, we open the area’s first Behavioral Health Urgent Care program. Common Ground is fortunate to have a very dedicated team of professionals and volunteers who work hard every day helping to move people from crisis to hope. Some of our team members are former clients who are “paying it forward” through their work with Common Ground. During my career, I have served as a Crisis Services Taskforce member for the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, as an expert panelist on crisis system public policy for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and as a white paper reviewer for the National Council on Behavioral Health. I have also lobbied for the passage of legislation to improve crisis services, including a bill updating standards for crisis stabilization units in Michigan.