County, state leaders say new Columbia behavioral health center is a step in the right direction
Nia Hinson
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The City of Columbia officially has a residential facility for adults undergoing treatment for behavioral health conditions
Burrell Behavioral Health hosted a grand opening for the center, located at 1611 Town Drive, on Tuesday. Burrell bought the property in January, after the former Rainbow House closed. The organization started the program in Springfield, Missouri and is now hoping to have success in Columbia.
The program will work to offer long-term residential treatment to individuals for a period of six months to two years, providing therapy and nursing care to clients. Director of Adult Community Services for Burrell Legacy Central Region Brenna Ishler said each client has an individual treatment plan, but on average, people participate in the program for two years.
The center has 16 bedrooms designed to house one person per room.
“They come to us from pretty restricted settings usually so they might be in the hospital, in a residential care facility, they may have been incarcerated,” Ishler said.
Ishler said the program is designed to provide structure to those who choose to sign up.
“Every day the clients follow a pretty strict schedule. So they wake up in the morning, they participate in household responsibilities and chores, they work alongside our behavioral health technicians. The behavioral health technicians teach them how to do those chores,” Ishler said.
Chores include cooking and doing laundry. Ishler said clients will also meet with a case manager and participate in social and skill building groups during the day. Clients will also go through individual and group therapy, as well as meet with a psychiatrist.
Ishler said one of the most important steps in the program is a white board posted in one of the community rooms.
The board allows clients to see their success and where they tested on different chores, allowing them to watch themselves progress toward successful graduation, Ishler said.
Burrell North Central Region President Matt Gass addressed people attending the ribbon cutting, saying the center also aims to provide people with hope.
“The belief that tomorrow can be brighter than today… at 1611 Towne Drive, hope has an address,” Gass said.
Boone County Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick attended Tuesday’s ribbon cutting, noting he has a personal connection to the work being done, having previously worked for Burrell. Kendrick said more can always be done, but the center’s opening is the right step for Columbia and Boone County.
“I hold a special place in my heart for all of the social workers out there who do this work because I know how challenging it can be and how important it is,” Kendrick said. “We know that more beds are needed but you can’t get there without starting, right?”
State Rep. Gregg Bush (D-Columbia) said the demand is something that representatives are also seeing, and are hoping to address.
“Families will actually ask me about this, ‘what are the services that I can have?'” Bush said. “Right now ,those resources are taxed and we’re doing our best to try to fill in the gaps and I’m really happy that we’ve been able to open up more capacity for the people that need our help the most.”
Ishler said clients will have to pay $600 per month for room and board. Treatment is billed through Medicaid. The organization is still waiting on official final approval to set a definitive open date.