YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY

Springfield, MO

Log in Subscribe

Burrell to take over Murney Clinic as Forest Institute closes

Posted online
Burrell Behavioral Health is slated to take over operation of the Robert J. Murney Clinic as the School of Professional Psychology at Forest Institute closes its doors at the end of the month.

Burrell President Todd Schaible said the Springfield campus of Forest Institute is scheduled to close Sept. 30, at which point it would dissolve. Forest Institute became a subsidiary of Burrell in summer 2013, he said. Burrell agreed to take on nearly $2 million in debt, and later submitted an undisclosed amount of additional loan funding so the school could close gracefully, Schaible said.

“Once they got to the place where it was clear that they weren’t going to be able to stay in existence, we were committed to ensuring that the existing students had time to complete transfers of credit to get accepted in other universities and to give the faculty sufficient time to find other positions,” he said.

The Murney Clinic, 1322 S. Campbell Ave., which is keeping its name but adding Burrell signage, would become a comprehensive substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation center led by Sally Gibson, Schaible said. The clinic’s current employees would have the chance to reapply for jobs at the center, which would employ at least 35.

Forest Institute’s 54-acre Springfield campus, 2885 W. Battlefield Road, is listed for sale at $5.9 million, according to a listing at LoopNet.com. It was originally listed for $6.4 million in mid-2012, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

Founded in 1979, Forest is a not-for-profit independent graduate school that taught master’s and doctoral students training to be psychologists, counselors, marriage and family therapists, and applied behavior analysts. Late last year, SBJ reported the school would teach out its current slate of students in preparation for a closure necessitated by financial difficulties.

Comments

No comments on this story |
Please log in to add your comment
Editors' Pick
From the Ground Up: Republic Intermediate School

The Republic School District is on track to open its Intermediate School for fifth- and sixth-grade students for the 2025-26 academic year.

Most Read
Update cookies preferences