Health care
BY CHLOE YOUNG
Rock Springs, a mental health and substance abuse treatment facility in Georgetown, celebrated the opening of a new 24-bed unit for adolescents ages 13-17 on Jan. 31. The $10 million wing aims to meet the heightened need for youth mental health care following the coronavirus pandemic, o cials said. “Early intervention with compassionate care can really stem o lifelong debilitating mental illness and substance use issues,” Rock Springs CEO Erin Basalay said. Rock Springs opened in 2014 and began providing in-patient adolescent services in March 2020, Basalay said. The need for youth psychiatric beds has risen over the last several years amid increases in suicide risk, emergency room visits for behavioral health issues, depression and substance abuse nationwide, she said. Youth mental health unit opens
The specics
Adolescent unit features
Bedrooms with two beds each
The 10,000-square-foot expansion has doubled the facility’s capacity for adolescents and freed up the original 12 adolescent beds for adult patients, resulting in 96 total beds across the facility. “We’ve been at capacity for the majority of the time we’ve been in operation,” Basalay said. “We hope with these additional beds ... that we’ll be able to reach more people.” The Williamson County Commissioners Court approved $3 million for construction costs and donated $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars to Bluebonnet Trails Community Services to pay for some operating costs and beds for uninsured families at Rock Springs, said Connie Odom, the county’s director of communications and media relations. The adolescent unit opened to patients in early February, Basalay said. Patients will see a psychiatrist and therapist daily, receive 24/7 monitoring by sta, and partake in in-person and virtual visitation, she said.
Quiet rooms
Dining hall
Multi-purpose space
Outdoor court-yard
Laundry rooms
Group rooms
Nurse’s station
Medicine room
Beverage and snack station
Lockers
SOURCE: ROCK SPRINGSCOMMUNITY IMPACT
What’s next
"Our mission really is to break down that stigma and bias about receiving access to mental health and substance use care. It really shouldn’t be any more dicult or stigmatizing than going to take your child to the pediatrician [or] to the dentist." ERIN BASALAY, ROCK SPRINGS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Precinct 3 Commissioner Valerie Covey said she hopes the expansion will prevent more youth in need of mental health services from entering the county’s juvenile system and jails. “The ever growing need is not being served by the state of Texas, and we won’t wait around for that to happen,” Covey said. “We’re not going to wait for them to create more beds.”
Rock Springs’ 10,000-square-foot adolescent unit opened to the public on Jan. 31.
CHLOE YOUNGCOMMUNITY IMPACT
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