JOPLIN, Mo. —
The steel framing is going up fast for the interior walls of the new Joplin Child Trauma Treatment Center under construction at 1800 W. 30th St.
“Our goal is to be in here before the holidays,’’ said Vicky Mieseler, vice president of clinical services with Ozark Center, the mental-health arm of Freeman Health System. “It’s all about the kids and what’s important to them.’’
Mieseler said what’s important now is to get all of Ozark Center’s child trauma services under one roof to better handle the long-term fallout from the May 22 tornado.
“This is just not about how children were traumatized by the tornado,” she said. “It’s about how their parents are dealing with it and how that impacts their children. We are expecting to see more cases of domestic violence, substance abuse, gambling and child abuse.’’
Mieseler said the need for such a center existed before the tornado. Last year, Ozark Center saw 3,000 children.
“About 65 percent of them were experiencing some type of trauma,” she said. “It could have been complicated grief, divorce, a car accident, or the death or even the murder of a parent.”
When children experience multiple traumas, the therapists helping them often face a brick wall that they cannot get over. Each trauma the child experiences adds a brick to the wall, she said.
“Our goal is to get on the other side of that wall,’’ she said.
The 10,000-square-foot center should permit Ozark Center to serve between 500 to 1,000 more children than it saw last year, she said.
The structure, a former dialysis center, is being leased for three years. The storm caused roof and water damage to the structure. That had to be repaired before the interior could be remodeled.
Ozark Center is receiving a one-time, $2 million appropriation in general revenue from the state of Missouri to get the center up and running. The center will have four licensed therapists, a clinical trauma director and an adolescent/child psychiatrist. The support staff will total about 35.
The center will be used for multiple purposes, including the teaching and training of other providers. Among those who could be trained to help identify trauma in children are school officials, day care providers and Sunday school teachers. It also will be used to forensic evaluations involving child abuse, and parent-child interactive therapy.
When Gov. Jay Nixon announced the grant in early July during a news conference at North Middle School, he said mental-health experts were estimating then that 60 percent of the children in Joplin were directly affected by the tornado in some way.
Nixon said children “are amazingly resilient, but some will need additional help to move to normalcy. Some children will experience anxiety, depression, substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder.”
Until the trauma center opens, parents or other adults who know of a child in need of mental health services may contact the Ozark Center at 417-347-7600.
Agencies
Six partner organizations and agencies have signed an official memorandum of understanding to launch the center. In addition to Ozark Center, a subsidiary of Freeman Health System, they are St. John’s Mercy Hospital, the Missouri Department of Mental Health, Joplin School District, the Children’s Center of Southwest Missouri and the Missouri Institute of Mental Health.
Local News
Related Photos
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Salvador Maldonado goes about his drywall framing Monday at what will be the Joplin Child Trauma Center at 1800 W. 30th St. in Joplin. The center is being created by a partnership including hospitals, mental health agencies and schools. GLOBE | T. ROB BROWN
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