A new Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare counseling center is set to open in Roanoke in 2025 and will centralize adult, children and youth services into one location.
The new facility, located at 3517 Brandon Ave., sold for $1.46 million in December and is estimated to need about $10 million in renovations. The financing of the project will likely involve the combination of selling current properties and using existing properties as collateral for loans, said Mark Chadwick, CEO of BRBH.
“[The building] opens lots of opportunities to serve communities better and in ways we haven’t even thought of yet,” Chadwick said.
BRBH is the public provider of outpatient behavioral health services for Roanoke, Botetourt and Craig counties and the cities of Roanoke and Salem. The organization serves about 7,000 people annually, providing treatment for mental health disorders, developmental disabilities and substance use disorders.
BRBH previously leased the space on Brandon Avenue but moved out about three years ago, opting to purchase a building on Franklin Road to house its children’s and family services. The Brandon Avenue building has been vacant since then and has fallen into disrepair.
“We are currently in the process of choosing partners to help us better understand the resources and the timing of resources to complete this project,” Chadwick said, adding that finding an architectural firm will be the first step.
In the Roanoke Valley, about 42% of the population is underserved when it comes to mental health services, according to the most recent community health needs assessment of 2021. Behavioral health care is considered the second most difficult service to access in the region and mental health crises are one of the top 10 reasons for emergency room visits at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
Throughout the commonwealth, 129 more practitioners are needed to meet the demand for services, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, an independent source of health data and policy research.
The provider shortage eased somewhat in 2023 for BRBH, said Chadwick, but there continues to be a deficit of credentialed practitioners.
A centralized location for adult and youth services will help to alleviate some of the staffing pressures, he added.
Chadwick hopes that the children and family services building on Franklin Road will be repurposed to expand community and education programs such as the Mental Health First Aid program, an eight-hour course that teaches community members about identifying the signs of a mental health crisis and how to support the individual.
The Burrell Center on McDowell Avenue will continue to operate as a BRBH facility, Chadwick said. The center provides treatment intervention and crisis services for individuals with behavioral health needs, developmental disabilities and substance use disorder.
A number of mental health initiatives have gone into effect in the last few years such as the national shift toward the 988 suicide hotline for people in crisis and Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Right Help Right Now plan to overhaul Virginia’s mental health system.