North Central Behavioral Health Systems buys new building, eyes expansion

North Central Behavioral Health Systems, located at 2960 Chartres St. in La Salle, has bought the former St. Margaret’s Health Hygienic Institute building next door with plans offer more intensive mental health services.

The organization plans to add specialty care programming, including a mental health-intensive outpatient program, psychosocial rehabilitation program and a behavioral health urgent care clinic.

The mental health urgent care clinic would serve anyone experiencing a type of distress, such as a panic attack and suicidal or homicidal thoughts.

“It is for that most extreme distressed situation that sometimes they would go to an emergency room for those symptoms,” North Central Behavioral Health Systems CEO Jodi Mahoney said. “They may not be at that level where they need an emergency room, but they need something right away to prevent their condition from escalating to that point. It’s almost like a diversion from the [emergency room].”

Mahoney said the mental health-intensive outpatient program would help patients with matters of daily functioning such as nutrition, hygiene and social skills that are lost because of an illness.

The psychosocial rehabilitation program is more of a therapy-based program rather than skill based.

“It will use an evidence-based program curricula, such as cognitive behavioral therapy,” Mahoney said. “It will help people in a systematic way process what is happening that is causing them to have the symptoms they have.”

NCBHS also plan to house its intense home community-based services program out of the new building, with behavioral health therapists who will work with individuals who are in the specialty programs.

The sale closed July 31, and Mahoney hopes to have the programs running by Feb. 1. They currently are in the process of getting the site licensed, which can take time.

Mahoney said NCBHS currently offers a variety of services, and these new programs will be more specialized in their intensity.

“A mental-intensive outpatient program has a special certification you have to apply for as a community mental health center,” Mahoney said. “This includes demonstrating they will meet the requirements of the program. For example, it needs to have 20 hours a week of service provision, and the service needs to be available four of the five days a week. There’s also a cap on how many individuals can participate.”

The psychosocial rehabilitation program has similar requirements. Mahoney said they offer psychosocial rehabilitation services now but more on an individual basis.

Mahoney said an increase in demand has facilitated a need for growth.

“We have seen an increase in service demand of about 33% to 35% across our total system,” Mahoney said. “We have other office locations in multiple counties, and that statistic holds true for all of our locations. In fact, in one of our locations, we’ve seen an almost 53% increase in demand, so the demand is there.”

The closure of St. Margaret’s Health in Peru and Spring Valley earlier this year also was a big driver behind purchasing the building, Mahoney said.

She added that NCBHS is looking for ways to collaborate with OSF Healthcare to fill service gaps, especially in the Illinois Valley.

“All of our locations [in La Salle County] are at full capacity as far as being able to continue to expand with our staffing, which is another piece we have been working on over the last few years,” Mahoney said. “Quite truthfully, we’re at the spot where we cannot fit another person in either one of our buildings. This will help us with our continued expansion to meet the need of the community as well.”

NCBHS provides mental health and addictions services through 10 service sites across eight counties in central and north-central Illinois.

In La Salle County, it has locations in La Salle, Ottawa and Streator, and in Bureau County it has a location in Princeton. It serves 9,310 clients annually.