Heartland Behavioral Health Services Team Up with Nevada Schools
By: Melanie Huonker
Updated: January 8, 2013
NEVADA, MO.--- Heartland Behavioral Health Services and Nevada schools have been working together to help students get both mental health services and an education.
"Heartland provides us some space in the school to be able to provide some kind of intensive behavioral interventions while maintaining their educational program," says Dr. David Stephens, Nevada School Superintendent.
Superintendent Dr. David Stephens says those students were able to transition back with a lot more success.
"It's a nice resource for our district to have for some of our struggling students," says Dr. Stephens.
Heartland doesn't just help the Nevada district, but kids and teens from across the region and out of state.
"We have a large majority that come from the Joplin area, a large majority that come from the Springfield area, so really between here and 100 miles is really where our children come form," says Alyson Harder, Heartland CEO.
They've seen an increase in the need of children using their mental health services already in 2013.
"We've had 15 admissions in the last 3 days, so we went from a census from right around in the 20's to 40's, so we saw a 50% increase just in the past 3 days," says Harder.
She says that need has been growing the past couple of years.
"In 2011, we had to turn away 800 children, in 2012 we had to turn away 900 children, because we just did not have the bed availability to provide those needs," says Harder.
Harder doesn't expect their numbers to decrease this year, but rather remain steady.
"If we are still saying "No," I'm sure I'll manage to find a way to add some more beds because it's that important to us," says Harder.
She says that their partnership with the Nevada R-5 School District and teachers from their district, aids children before they leave.
"They're able to work with our children and provide education to them in this setting to ensure they can receive both quality education and quality treatment while they're here," says Harder.
The Heartland CEO says they doubled the number of beds in their hospital last year.
