Bartlesville Radio: The area’s best source for news, weather and sports!

Grand Lake Mental Health Center, Inc. breaks ground near downtown Bartlesville to establish the nation's first Brief Stay Therapeutic Home (BSTH).

The ceremony took place on Tuesday afternoon at 709 South Penn Avenue, directly across the street from the GLMHC Washington County Clinic.

Pictured left to right: GLMHC Board Member Charles Hamit, GLMHC Board Member Elaine Clugston, GLMHC CEO Larry Smith, Harvey Little with Parsons Foundation, Bartlesville Chamber President Sherri Wilt, GLMHC Chief Operating Officer Jash Cantwell.

Chief Operating Officer Josh Cantwell says Bartlesville is a community that rallies around its families and rallies around better health for those living in the neighborhood. Cantwell says Bartlesville is also a potential site for GLMHC's next 24 hour crisis center, which is a good fit for a home next to it. He adds that the Lyon Foundation and the Parsons Foundation generously gave donations to help establish the home, further showing how great community partnerships are when they come into play.

The Brief Stay Therapeutic Home (BSTH) is a concept to more effectively address challenging generational issues between families and their children. Families will be brought together for a short period of time – usually less than a week – to receive intensive treatment together as a family unit.

Currently in Oklahoma, children with extreme behavioral challenges undergo inpatient treatment at a facility or are removed from the home by the Department of Human Services and entered into foster care. Due to the entire family not receiving adequate treatment, the chances of positive change becomes limited and the cost of treatment is exceedingly high to Oklahoma taxpayers.

The goal of the BSTH is to bring the family together to focus on their real problems as a group. GLMHC professionals will be on site around the clock to provide a therapeutic environment where everyone works to improve family interactions and communication. 

The Bartlesville BSTH is expected to open in the spring of 2022. The single-family, 2,100 square foot home (pictured left) includes four bedrooms, and two bathrooms. It will be fully furnished with all the comforts of a typical home including living areas, kitchen, and dining area.

GLMHC has multiple referral services that they will be able to utilize. Cantwell says they serve plenty of kids in Bartlesville, so they will be able to identify risk factors. He says they know when kids are close to meeting the criteria needed for in-patient hospitalizations, which is one of the groups that will be targeted for the Bartlesville BSTH.

GLMHC anticipates that DHS will work closely with them and let them know when there are kids that are at risk of being removed from their home. Cantwell says they believe they will be in touch with foster care children and parents that could use extra assistance, too.

Cantwell says they want to try to treat the whole family. He says they want to teach the family unit coping skills together instead of sending the child or children to be treated somewhere far away from home.

GLMHC has 24 hour urgent care facilities in three municipalities throughout northeastern and northcentral Oklahoma. Cantwell says they have one of those facilities has a structure crisis center attached to it already. He says they will do some sort of combinations such as this in Bartlesville likely in the next 18 months. This will be an extension of the GLMHC site in Bartlesville at 709 South Penn Avenue across from where Tuesday afternoon's groundbreaking ceremony for Bartlesville BSTH was held.

Pictured below left to right: Bartlesville Mayor Dale Copeland, House District 10 Representative Judd Strom, Bartlesville Police Chief Tracy Roles, GLMHC CEO Larry Smith, Bartlesville City Manager Mike Baily, Bartlesville City Councilwoman Billie Roane.