Transitions renovates to meet client needs

Burrell Behavioral Health is spending an estimated $1.4 million to expand and renovate its Transitions facility at 323 E. Grand.

According to Polly Vanden-burg, vice president of finance and administration for Burrell Behavioral Health, the construction will renovate 10,000 square feet of existing space and add another 10,000 square feet to the facility, which provides outpatient services to in-dividuals with serious and persistent mental illnesses. Those illnesses include schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression and some personality disorders.

"Most of the clients at Tran-sitions are stabilized on their medication and, with services, they have a pretty steady quality of life," she said.

Transitions was established in the mid-1980s, Vandenburg said.

"It kind of originated when the state mental health hospitals closed, and many individuals with mental illness were released into the communities and there wasn't any kind of rehab programming for them," she said.

Originally, Burrell formed Transitions just to handle case management needs, such as getting doctors' appointments lined up for the clients, Vandenburg added.

Transitions moved to the East Grand facility in the late 1980s, and it has now grown from just a few caseworkers to about 100 employees on staff.

"They've really been bursting at the seams there for a long time," Vandenburg said, and many staff members have been displaced working in leased space at other locations in the city. The construction will allow room for a central staff location, and it also will provide more room for the day programs offered at the center.

Transitions serves about 1,000 clients a year, Vandenburg said, primarily on an ongoing basis.

"They're folks that come into Tran-sitions to see their physicians, their psychiatrists, their therapists. There are also a number of case managers that work out of that facility," she said.

Burrell Behavioral Health officials considered moving Transitions to another, larger facility, Vandenburg said, but accessibility was a key issue.

Transitions serves clients from Polk, Dallas, Greene, Webster, Christian, Stone and Taney counties, but many of the center's clients live near the Tran-sitions office.

Those that don't, she added, need to be able to reach Transitions by bus.

The project also includes renovation of Caf Connections, an on-site eatery that serves lunch each day.

"Many of those folks, that's one good meal they get a day," she said, which is why the location needs to be convenient.

In addition to offering medical and psychiatric health-care needs, Transi-tions also helps clients utilize social services such as Medicaid and Social Security.

Transitions has some supported-living apartment programs, but in many cases, personnel work with clients to help them find appropriate housing within the community.

The center also offers services to help clients find employment. There also are several organized activities in which clients can participate when they visit Transitions.

"The goal is to meet the whole continuum of care that that particular clientele needs," she added.

Vandenburg said there's "lots of stigma" for people with mental illnesses, and Transitions employees work to correct it.

"So it's kind of an ongoing education process with employers, as well as with just people who serve them apartment managers, things like that. There's lots of education that has to take place," she said.

"Because it's really no different than any other disease. It's something that can be managed with medication, for the most part," she added.

MoDoCo is the general contractor for the Transitions renovation and construction, and Dennis Spencer is the architect. Vandenburg said the project should be finished by April 2002.