A longtime Binghamton counseling center is expanding its services on the city’s west side. Family and Children’s Counseling Services recently started the construction of a new mental health facility.
The two-story 9,000-square-foot building will be next door to the mental health provider’s existing Binghamton location at 257 Main Street. The new facility will offer substance use disorder treatment, improved access for people with disabilities, and primary care.
The project is estimated to cost $5 million, with most of it paid for with grant funding from the New York state Department of Health. Additional funding is coming from Broome County and the city of Binghamton.
“We're very, very grateful for the financial support that they were able to provide,” said Lisa Hoeschele, the CEO of Family and Children’s Counseling. “Because for the past five years, mental health and addictions, we pay lip service to them, but we don't pay for them.”
Hoeschele said offering mental health care and addiction treatment in the same place is crucial. She said more often than not, resources for mental health and addiction care are kept very separate, with different requirements and expectations for patients and providers.
“That's not the way people function. Oftentimes, people come through our doors into the mental health clinic with a diagnosis of alcohol or substance use, but they don't want to tell us,” Hoeschele said. “So they want to get to a point where they trust the therapist, and then you can start to deal with the addiction side.”
The organization said they’re hoping to open their doors by this time next year.