New mental health clinic set to open in Des Moines in 2025

UnityPoint Health-Eyerly Ball is undertaking a $10.4 million project to centralize mental and behavioral health services in Des Moines onto one campus.

Officials with the community mental health care provider said Monday the multi-million effort will allow them to better streamline existing services as well as expand highest need areas for care. In doing so, officials hope to respond to the growing need for services in Central Iowa.

“There continues to be a growing need for services," said Cynthia Steidl Bishop, chief executive officer. "This is not going to completely meet that need of course, we need all the services in the community that currently exist. With this building and expansion, we will be able to help that need.”

As part of the project, Eyerly Ball will be constructing a two-story, 15,000-square-foot community mental health facility on Pennsylvania Avenue that's expected to open sometime in early 2025. Officials have not determined when construction could start.

The new mental health clinic will replace Eyerly Ball's two Des Moines facilities on Center and 19th streets. The Center Street location will serve as an administrative building, while the 19th Street location will likely be sold, Steidl Bishop said.

A portion of that project will also be used to renovate two floors of the Penn Medical Plaza on Pennsylvania Avenue, next door to the proposed construction site of the new clinic. That space will not be used for patient care but will house offices for care coordination staff who see clients out in the community.

$4.4 million of the total cost will be covered by grants Eyerly Ball received from local and state officials, Steidl Bishop said. That includes $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars from the Polk County Board of Supervisors and $2.4 million from a state infrastructure grant.

Steidl Bishop said officials will also be launching a capital campaign to raise $500,000 to cover costs of the building construction and the renovation of the new space within the Penn Medical Plaza.

“For both of those entities to really recognize the importance (of behavioral health services) and give us those dollars really was the game-changer in making this project happen,” she said.

Eyerly Ball to expand children's, substance use services

The new mental health care facility will house all of Eyerly Ball’s client-facing services, including its outpatient programs and its peer drop-in center. In addition, officials will also open a pharmacy within the building, the first time the mental health provider has had an in-house pharmacy, Steidl Bishop said.

The move will also allow Eyerly Ball to hire more mental health providers and expand services for the highest needs in the community, including mental and behavioral health care services for children. Officials also plan to expend substance use-related services and will offer medication assisted treatment services for those patients.

The facility will be constructed across the street from Iowa Lutheran Hospital in Des Moines, giving the new clinic close proximity to the emergency department, the hospital's inpatient mental health services and other out-patient programs, such as the Powell Chemical Dependency Center. The clinic will also be close to the UnityPoint Clinic Behavioral Health Urgent Care.

The location of the new building was intentional, according to Steidl Bishop, who said centralizing these services on one campus will help ensure clients have ease of access to all UnityPoint Health behavioral health services.

“It’s such a great opportunity for clients and the community to come to one location where they can receive all the behavioral health services that they need," she said.

Mental health expansion comes as demand grows statewide

The move comes as mental health care providers in Iowa, and across the country, have seen a surge in demand for their services in recent years. In some cases, that demand has surpassed some providers' ability to meet those patient needs.

The advocacy group NAMI Iowa stated historically, around 600,000 Iowans, or about one in five, were affected by a mental health condition each year. But after the pandemic arrived in 2020, those estimates "are now closer to one in four," officials said.

Iowa has a critical lack of health care services to address this need, with 89 of Iowa's 99 counties ranked as a mental health professional shortage area by the U.S. Health and Resources Administration, according to a report from NAMI Iowa. As of 2020, Iowa had fewer than 100 psychiatrists, including 31 child psychiatrists, who were accepting clients.

"Iowa also lacks community-based clinical and wrap-around social services necessary for people with severe and chronic mental illness to live in recovery such as transportation and supported housing," the NAMI Iowa report states.

Nationwide, it's estimated one in five U.S. adults experience some sort of mental illness and one in 20 adults experience a serious mental health condition each year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). In addition, it's estimated one in six children aged 6-17 nationwide experience a mental health disorder every year.

Resources available to those who need help

If you are in crisis, free help is available 24/7 through the national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Individuals can connect with counselors anytime by calling or texting 988.

If you someone who may have be struggling with suicidal thoughts, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline can also help you get your loved one the help they need.

Michaela Ramm covers health care for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at mramm@registermedia.com, at (319) 339-7354 or on Twitter at @Michaela_Ramm

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: UnityPoint to open new Eyerly Ball mental health facility in Des Moines