Residential treatment center for children to open in Cold Spring in 2022

This piece originally appeared in the St. Cloud Times

COLD SPRING — A short-term residential treatment center that would provide psychiatric and behavioral services to children plans to open mid-February in Cold Spring.

Developed by Grafton Integrated Health Network, a Virginia-based behavioral health care organization, the facility is intended to provide up to 30 beds and services in areas such as life skills and family and individual therapy at 224 Krays Mill Road. Educational services would be provided in partnership with Benton-Stearns Education District, according to the company.

Services will focus on children who need additional behavioral support, such as children with developmental disabilities, autism and mental health disorders, said the center’s Executive Director Lori Schmidt. It will take a comprehensive approach, said Operations Administrator Abdus Samad.

“We’re going to have a very strong emphasis on family therapy because we know that’s where good treatment starts, when you start incorporating the families, extended families, social support groups, that kind of thing. We’re going to be training our staff to provide therapeutic sessions daily to these clients,” Samad said. “We’re also working with some of the community providers to secure psychologists and neuropsych providers to do assessments and these could be psychological assessments, diagnostic assessments, those kinds of things.”

Read the full article here.