From a 292-bed state-funded psychiatric hospital in Texas to New Mexico’s only children’s emergency psychiatric unit, hospitals and health systems are expanding behavioral health access as demand continues to grow, representing more than $730 million in investment.
Here are 34 behavioral health projects Becker’s has reported on in recent weeks:
- Indianapolis-based Riley Children’s Health plans to open an 11-bed Pediatric Medical-Behavioral Health Unit this fall, Indiana’s first and among the first of its kind in the nation. The unit is expected to serve approximately 325 patients annually and will provide integrated care for children and adolescents who need medical and behavioral health treatment at the same time. The unit will include specialized dually boarded pediatrician/child and adolescent psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, therapists, social workers and other behavioral health specialists. It also includes a classroom, sensory room, recreation room and a dedicated space for art therapy and therapeutic programming.
- Kankakee, Ill.-based Riverside Healthcare opened its newly renovated adult inpatient behavioral health unit, the first completed phase of a nearly $30 million project to modernize and expand its inpatient behavioral health facilities. The project began in fall 2025 and is expected to continue through 2027. Riverside will temporarily suspend services in its inpatient child and adolescent behavioral health unit during the next phase of renovation, while children and adolescents experiencing a behavioral health crisis can continue to seek care through the Riverside Medical Center Emergency Department.
- Cranston, R.I.-based CODAC Behavioral Healthcare opened its second mobile medical van Aug. 17, offering medication for opioid use disorder in Washington County. The mobile unit is staffed by a peer recovery specialist and a nurse who mixes and dispenses methadone and buprenorphine for each patient, with a doctor visiting the site two to three times per week. It also offers counseling, blood pressure checks, glucose readings and mental health screenings.
- OSF HealthCare Sacred Heart Medical Center – Urbana in Illinois opened its renovated and expanded inpatient behavioral health services, with treatment programs focused on young adults and senior patients. The expansion includes 40 private inpatient behavioral health beds. Another 25 inpatient beds for medical detoxification or other conditions are opening late 2026. The hospital will offer 65 beds dedicated to mental health treatment. Its specialized programs focus on young adult patients ages 18-26 and senior patients ages 55 and older. US HealthVest will oversee the new units.
- Akron (Ohio) Children’s opened an expanded 30-bed inpatient behavioral health unit Aug. 25. The unit, previously 24 beds, moved from the 8th floor of the main hospital building to the 5th floor of Akron Children’s Kay Jewelers Pavilion. The space has capacity to expand to 40 beds. The unit features different levels of hospitalization and programming for patients ages 5 up to 18. Patients are assigned to a regular acute care unit, high acute care unit or crisis stabilization unit based on diagnosis and the level of support needed.
- UC San Francisco is creating a national Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders aimed at improving early identification and access to treatment. The center will train healthcare providers nationwide to identify and screen for eating disorders and connect children and adults with appropriate treatment. It will also develop educational and clinical tools and serve as a national hub connecting investigators across institutions and disciplines. The center is backed by a five-year federal grant of more than $9 million from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
- Nashville, Tenn.-based Centerstone held a grand opening for its first clinic in Buffalo, Mo., expanding behavioral healthcare services into Dallas County. The Centerstone Buffalo clinic offers outpatient therapy and counseling, medication management, community support services and substance use recovery treatment. The clinic also has a dedicated telehealth space and a group gathering space for group therapy and educational opportunities.
- Yankton, S.D.-based Park Haven Learning and Recovery Center, an 18-bed residential treatment program for women dealing with substance use disorder, opened its doors Aug. 24. The center is devoted to serving women, including pregnant women and mothers with dependent children. The private residential rooms feature private bathrooms, and accommodations allow women with infants or young children to stay with their mother.
- The Texas Health and Human Services Commission and Texas Department of Family and Protective Services opened Terrell Center for Youth, a specialized residential youth treatment facility for adolescents with complex mental health, substance use or intellectual and developmental disability needs. Operated by HHSC, the facility will serve up to 30 youth ages 13 to 17 years old who are under DFPS conservatorship.
- The New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute opened the Epi-Duran Substance Abuse Treatment facility Aug. 24 in Las Vegas. The 16,340-square-foot facility will offer 20 beds for residential treatment and eight beds for detox treatment. The program will provide substance use treatment for individuals in need of both detox and residential care. It will also create more than 30 jobs in the community.
- Coastal Pines Behavioral Health marked the completion of its 144-bed acute behavioral health hospital in St. Augustine, Fla., with an Aug. 14 ribbon-cutting ceremony. The hospital is expected to begin serving patients in the coming weeks. It will offer inpatient psychiatric treatment for adults and senior adults. Franklin, Tenn.-based Acadia Healthcare operates Coastal Pines Behavioral Health, which plans to expand its programming in future phases of development.
- Wellstar Golisano Children’s Hospital of Georgia in Augusta cut the ribbon on the Kisner Foundation and Friends Center for Pediatric Development, Behavioral Health & Wellness in Augusta, Ga. The facility consolidates pediatric clinics that had operated across different locations on the hospital campus, bringing specialists together in one location. It offers pediatric rehabilitation, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, developmental behavioral pediatrics and pediatric neurosciences. Pediatric psychiatry services are also expected to be added.
- Hendersonville, N.C.-based UNC Health Pardee completed construction of the 23-bed inpatient Pardee Adolescent Behavioral Health Center at Pardee Hospital with an Aug. 12 ribbon cutting. The center is awaiting final state licensure review, according to an Aug. 13 news release from the system. UNC Health Pardee said it plans to open the center after final approval from the state.
- Ann Arbor-based Michigan Medicine broke ground on the Janice M. Granger Behavioral Health Building, a 64-bed, $83 million behavioral health facility, during an Aug. 5 ceremony in Lansing, Mich. The facility will serve adult, geriatric, and child and adolescent patients.
- Rochester (N.Y.) Regional Health opened a new facility on East Ridge Road to expand its mental health services through a $5 million investment. The new location brings the health system’s mental health and addiction recovery services together in one facility to improve access to care, according to the information provided. The facility serves people 18 years or older.
- Plano, Texas-based Oceans Healthcare opened Oceans Behavioral Hospital of Greater New Orleans — Kenner West in Kenner, La. The campus occupies the facility previously operated as Perimeter Behavioral Hospital of New Orleans. The campus provides inpatient behavioral healthcare services for adults and older adults, as well as outpatient behavioral health programming.
- Sauget, Ill.-based SIHF Healthcare will build a $231 million hospital in Cahokia Heights that will replace Touchette Regional Hospital. The new campus will increase Touchette’s psychiatric bed count, from 38 to 96, split among 24 adolescent beds, 24 senior beds and 48 adult beds.
- Stamford (Conn.) Health opened the Bennett Child & Adolescent EmPATH Unit and PATHways Program located within the Stamford Hospital Emergency Department to expand behavioral health services for children and adolescents in Fairfield County. The Carl & Dorothy Bennett Foundation contributed $1 million to support the initiative.
- Yale New Haven (Conn.) Children’s Hospital unveiled a Crisis Intervention Center, a dedicated behavioral health treatment area within its emergency department. The center will begin caring for patients in August. The new space uses the Emergency Psychiatric Assessment, Treatment and Healing (EmPATH) model, which focuses on rapid evaluation, crisis stabilization and connecting patients with ongoing behavioral health services in a therapeutic environment.
- San Bernardino County opened the Kern Street Adult Residential Facility, a 30-bed licensed residential care facility for adults ages 18 and older with serious mental illness, June 25. The facility was developed by San Bernardino-based Helping Hearts California in partnership with the county, Inland Empire Health Plan and Molina Healthcare. San Bernardino County provided $2.5 million in Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention funding. The project also received $1.69 million in Housing and Homelessness Incentive Program funding from Inland Empire Health Plan and Molina Healthcare.
- Sweetser, a nonprofit behavioral and mental healthcare organization in Saco, Maine, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new youth psychiatric residential treatment facility. The facility will provide 24/7 intensive care for Maine youth under 21 with acute behavioral healthcare needs. It will have 16 beds and be staffed with psychiatrists, behavioral care and mental health experts, and qualified nursing staff.
- Ascension Wisconsin in Glendale invested $10 million to renovate and open a new behavioral health unit at Milwaukee-based St. Francis Hospital. The center officially opens July 1 and will serve 61 adults and children in need of behavioral health services. The hospital expects the new unit to serve an additional 1,000 patients in its first year.
- Oconomowoc, Wis.-based Rogers Behavioral Health opened two new facilities, including a 24-bed residential treatment site for adults with eating disorders in June and a 20-bed residential care center for young adults receiving treatment for OCD, anxiety and depression in August.
- Florence, S.C.-based McLeod Regional Medical Center opened a pediatric behavioral health crisis stabilization unit for children experiencing psychiatric emergencies. The new pediatric EmPATH — emergency psychiatric assessment, treatment and healing — unit includes 15 beds and is housed within McLeod Children’s Hospital. The program is designed to provide rapid psychiatric evaluation and short-term treatment for pediatric patients in a dedicated care environment.
- Sheridan (Wyo.) Memorial Hospital hosted an open house for the Path Behavioral Health Center June 24. In mid-July, the hospital’s outpatient behavioral health clinic will relocate from the SMH Outpatient Center to the Path. The clinic will continue providing psychiatric services from the new location. The facility’s crisis stabilization program is expected to open later this summer, followed by inpatient behavioral health services later this year.
- Greensburg, Pa.-based Independence Health System opened a 28-bed inpatient behavioral health unit at its Latrobe Hospital June 25. The unit treats adults experiencing depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation, among other behavioral health conditions. It is supported by a $2.5 million donation from the Latrobe Area Hospital Charitable Foundation.
- Tampa (Fla.) General Hospital Behavioral Health Hospital launched a partial hospitalization program to bridge the care gap between inpatient care and outpatient services. The structured daytime treatment program will provide intensive behavioral healthcare without requiring an overnight hospital stay.
- New Orleans-based LCMC Health broke ground on a behavioral health expansion at New Orleans East Hospital, creating the hospital’s first inpatient behavioral health unit since it opened in 2014. The project is intended to expand access to mental healthcare services for residents of New Orleans East and neighboring communities.
- Northwell Health Physician Partners opened a new standalone behavioral health practice in Melville, N.Y., expanding outpatient mental health services for patients of all ages in Suffolk County. The more than 5,500-square-foot facility offers psychiatric evaluations, medication management and therapy services and is modeled after the organization’s outpatient behavioral health practice in Manhasset, N.Y., which opened in 2013.
- The Texas Health and Human Services Commission and UT Southwestern Medical Center opened the Texas Behavioral Health Center June 23, a new inpatient psychiatric hospital in Dallas. The facility was funded with $384 million from the state and $261 million from Children’s Health and will have 292 beds when fully operational, including 200 adult beds and up to 92 pediatric beds.
- Ochsner Lafayette General and Plano, Texas-based Oceans Healthcare opened Ochsner Behavioral Health Acadiana-Lafayette, a new 62-bed behavioral health hospital in Lafayette, La., that will begin accepting patients July 7. The opening expands behavioral health access across Acadiana and increases the total inpatient capacity of Ochsner Behavioral Health Acadiana to 100 beds.
- Stamford (Conn.) Health will build a new cancer center and behavioral health facility as part of a $275 million expansion project. As part of the project, the health system’s existing Bennett Cancer Center will be converted into a behavioral health facility with inpatient and outpatient care capacity, with construction expected to begin in 2027.
- Edison, N.J.-based Hackensack Meridian Health opened Belle Mead, N.J.-based Carrier Clinic’s $40 million, 43,000-square-foot expansion project to expand care for children and adolescents facing mental health crises. The project adds 52 inpatient beds for youths and includes multi-sensory rooms, The Cohen Community Resource and Education Center as a family resource and training center, and a medical staff suite for teaching.
- Albuquerque-based University of New Mexico Hospital opened a $36 million, 32,500-square-foot Children’s Psychiatric Center, housing 36 inpatient beds and the capacity to expand to 52. The center is the state’s only children’s emergency psychiatric unit that serves patients regardless of ability to pay. It also includes a dedicated four-bed unit for the highest-acuity patients. The hospital expects to begin seeing patients in July.
At the Becker's Fall Behavioral Health Summit, taking place November 4–5 in Chicago, behavioral health leaders and executives will explore strategies for expanding access to care, integrating services, addressing workforce challenges and leveraging innovation to improve outcomes across the behavioral health continuum. Apply for complimentary registration now.
