Individuals who need assistance with recovery and re-entry into the community now have a better path forward, thanks to years of planning, research, discussion and collaboration from members of Blount County, the state and the McNabb Center.
A green ribbon was cut Tuesday for the first-ever, all-in-one accessible campus in the state of Tennessee. McNabb Center’s Blount County Transition Campus will provide specialized services of co-occurring substance use and mental health treatment, individual, group and family therapy, medication evaluation and management, case management, life skills development, and recovery support services for successful reintegration into the community.
Those in attendance were Congressman Tim Burchett, Blount County Mayor Ed Mitchell, Director of Housing Neru Gobin TNDMHSAS, Blount County Commissioner Tom Stinnett, Blount CARES Committee members, and members of the Blount County community and McNabb Center leadership and staff.
“For what government won’t be able to accomplish, thank goodness to those at the McNabb Center and the work they all do. Some of the best people I’ve met in my life are in this room. You all represent the best in this country for what you do,” stated Burchett.
The five-building campus has created a milestone for helping incarcerated individuals with mental illness and substance use disorders whose needs are best served outside of jail.
“This has been a dream. Sixteen years ago, I was elected as the mayor and one of the things I ran on was substance abuse and our jail was overcrowded and it was drug-related and mental health-related. We are seeing this vision, this is people’s lives, long after we’re gone, I’m gone, who will still be benefiting because of what we are doing today,” said Mayor Mitchell.
This day became possible because of the funding from Blount County, an Opioid Abatement Community grant and two grants from the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Neru Gobin focused on the funding from the TNDMHSAS, saying, ”I would like to point out the value of integration of services and best practices and evidence-based practices on one campus …finding a place for folks to reside coming out of jail specifically designed to target that … providing the opportunity to help individuals, this cuts the cycle. This proves that we have a solution so that excellence is being done and the work is effective.”
The campus is inclusive of housing, transportation, job training, job placement, life skills, financial literacy education and specific treatment from a multi-disciplined treatment team to help each client transition successfully from incarceration into the community. For McNabb Center staff members to provide so many services, the campus map includes one re-entry residential building for 18 men, one residential recovery building for 16 men and women and three recovery cottages for men and women for long-term assistance.
The McNabb Center is the region’s leading nonprofit provider of mental health, substance use, social and victim services. We provide a quality and compassionate approach to care from infancy through adulthood. Since 1948, the Center has proudly served individuals with the most needs and fewest resources. Today, the McNabb Center delivers support to more than 52,000 people throughout East Tennessee each year. For more information, visit www.mcnabbcenter.org or call 1-800-255-9711.
