Family Service & Guidance Center
Interview with the Client:
KATHY MOSHER
CEO
Family Service & Guidance Center
Tell us about the Youth Crisis & Recovery Center.
The Youth Crisis & Recovery Center will be a state-of-the-art 24-bed, 24,000-square-foot facility that will house services for two dramatically underserved groups. First, the Center will provide enhanced services designed to support and stabilize children experiencing a mental health crisis. The stress of the pandemic has created a mental health crisis in our community not only because of a record number of children and teens needing services, but also the condition of those who do enter our doors is more severe than we have ever seen in our crisis programs.
In addition, the Center will house a treatment program for adolescents who are living with substance use disorders and mental health challenges concurrently. FSGC will take an integrated approach to care. That means that our mental health professionals will also be trained as Addictions Counselors, allowing adolescents in this program to receive all their treatment at the Youth Crisis & Recovery Center rather than having to see providers in two different locations.
Why is this build so critical?
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately one in five children ages 3-17 struggled with feelings of helplessness, depression and thoughts of suicide. The Covid-19 pandemic just made it worse, disrupting millions of children’s lives.
Unfortunately, for children and adolescents experiencing a severe mental health crisis, the wait for a psychiatric hospital bed in Kansas is anywhere from three to six months. The waiting list typically includes about 30 children and adolescents from Shawnee County alone.
When it comes to youth with substance use disorders, the situation is just as dire. There is a terrible shortage of substance use treatment providers for adolescents, including adolescents with mental health challenges. Our integrated approach will give them the best chance of a long-lasting recovery, but we needed a place that is tailored to provide these kinds of services.
What was important to you in the design of the building?
Members of FSGC’s Leadership Team made a number of visits to similar types of facilities in our region. We spoke at length with staff members at all levels and asked them questions about what worked and what didn’t. We quickly learned that there would be a delicate balance between safety and creating a welcoming environment. We considered that long-term psychiatric hospitals are all about safety to the point of being stark and institutional — about as far from “homelike” as they could get.
We must keep our children and teens safe, but we also need to create an environment in which our children and teens will open up and fully engage in their own healing.
One idea we’re considering to promote healing and recovery is planting a therapeutic vegetable garden. Research tells us that being in nature boosts a person’s mood and contributes to their overall health. By incorporating a garden and nature to help our patients reach their therapeutic goals, we would give clients a lifestyle skill that they can use to stay happy and healthy throughout their lives.
Interview with the Architect:
SCOTT GALES
Architect & CEO
What was important to you in the design of the Crisis & Recovery Center?
Our team at AO worked closely with the FSGC staff and leadership to best understand how their operations within the facility would function, and where we could design in efficiency. It was important for the space to create an experience opposite of being confined. The use of comfortable space volumes, natural light, soothing colors, and acoustically effective materials were constantly considered with every design solution we together on.
What made this process special or unique for you?
We were able to effectively work with the FSGC team to develop a great design solution despite all the challenges we were dealing with during the height of the pandemic. Everyone worked closely with great patience and grace will we worked through the entire process and develop a well-design building to best
serve their clients and the community.
As an architectural firm, what is the impact you hope to make on the community?
Topeka, and the other communities we have offices and work with clients in, are great communities full of great people working to leave them a better place for the next generation. We have a great team at AO who all understand the importance of this and understand the better we lead by example, the more opportunities there are to inspire others like we were inspired by those before us.
What is the economic impact of a build like this one for our community?
The impact of a facility like FSGC’s Crisis Center is immense. This state-of-the-art facility will not just serve a local market, it will be unique in the state of Kansas, so the impact is regional. The professionals that will work here are experts in this service they are providing their clients and this community. All of this is a financial impact on our local and regional community. The stress and challenges of the pandemic have dramatically increased the need for more-effective services and facilities to serve families, and specifically the children of these families. The construction of this facility in this part of the state will also have an economic impact.
It’s not uncommon for there to be 50+ contractors and suppliers involved with a project of this scale. Most of these contractors will be based locally, or regionally locally. All of those companies have payrolls and spend money in this community. Economic activity begets more economic activity.
