Hoover, AL (WBMA) — Longleaf Recovery and Wellness has opened its doors in Hoover to serve those living in the Birmingham Metro. The facility will offer outpatient care for people suffering a mental health crisis.
Individual and group therapy will be offered to clients. Along with case and medication management. The facility will also open its doors to support groups needing a space to host meetings and will host mental health programs that will be open to the community.
The implementation of this facility is apart of the first step to increasing access to mental health care across the state. A report published back in 2022 by Mental Health America ranked Alabama 50th out of 51 states and US territories in access to mental healthcare.
CEO of Longleaf Recovery Colin Harris says this facility is one of the first of its kind in the area. It is also one of few across the entire state.
“There are very few of these programs across the state and this is filling a huge huge gap in our community,” said Kimberly Boswell, Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Mental Health.
The creation of the new facility comes just a few years after the opening of the Birmingham Recovery Center, a mental health asset for those also suffering from substance abuse.
Harris says the opening of that center revealed an even greater need for a less intense primary mental health care.
“People who maybe struggled with severe depression severe anxiety but did not have a substance abuse disorder on top of that. At Birmingham Recovery Center we couldn’t treat them,” said Harris, “That was really when we first realized there was a major need for a facility like this because we were struggling to refer those people out to other places.”
The facility will start with five full time therapists. Each can serve 10 patients at a time. Boswell says this will fill the gap between those needing hospitalization for their mental health crisis and others only needing support.
“Not everyone who’s in a mental health crisis needs in patient care,” said Boswell, “Often times they can go to a program like this that’s five days a week and a full day everyday and get the treatment that they need.”
Commissioner Boswell is looking to implement 11 crisis care centers and 23 mobile crisis teams across the state. The Alabama Department of Mental Health’s budget for this year reflects the estimated costs for these resources. She expects that budget will be discussed this week in the legislature.
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