Renovations at a Joplin building are underway to house the new Child Trauma Treatment Center. The new treatment center will be located at the old Joplin dialysis building at 30th and McClelland Boulevard.
Renovations are funded under the $2 million announced in July by Governor Jay Nixon.
Ozark Center officials say the building will be very beneficial to the area.
"Those folks will be providing individual therapy, group therapy, family therapy, play therapy, parent-child interactive therapy," says Vicky Mieseler, Vice President of Clinical Services at Freeman's Ozark Center. "Families will be able to access psychiatric evaluations here and access medication. It's a one-stop-shop for children's services."
Mieseler will help run the new treatment center for children and young adults.
Before the May 22nd tornado officials with the Ozark Center center say they were denied grant money to open a special center just like this one.
The center was announced as a collaborative effort between Freeman, St. John's, the Mental Health Department and other agencies.
Mieseler says the $2.5 million building will be paid mostly by the state.
"We want it to be special," Mieseler says. "We want people to recognize it. We want people to utilize it."
There are case workers and therapists currently working within the school district. Clinical workers say their work within the school is only temporary, but with this building, services will become more structured.
Teachers and other school workers were given screening tools to find out if a child might need trauma care.
"It will be an easy way for the school team to collaborate with the trauma center to be able to refer kids and have that continuity of care," says Dawnielle Robinson of the Trauma Center. "I think it's going to absolutely be an icon in the community. I think it's a place where children can come, families can come, to get help. It's a place where the community is going to be able to come, the community professionals are going to be able to come and get training."
The facility will employ 35 people and will be outfitted with more than 20 treatment rooms.
It is expected to be open in November.
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