$114M Omaha mental health center for kids on track for 2026 opening

OMAHA — A “no wrong door” philosophy, which means every youth under 19 that walks in will be seen, is among the highlights of a new four-story pediatric mental health center rising in Nebraska’s largest city.

The Behavioral Health & Wellness Center at Children’s Nebraska is to span 107,250 square feet on seven acres of the Children’s medical campus at 84th Street and West Dodge Road in Omaha.

In the making since 2021, when philanthropist Ken Stinson convened a group of mental health professionals, the $114 million project is to begin serving youth and families in January 2026. 

Thursday, the center-in-progress was open for a “sneak peek” — part of an awareness campaign that Stinson hopes will alert parents and families to a place they soon will be able to take a youth to get mental health services that have been lacking in the region.

“It’s incredibly comprehensive,” said Stinson, with a “crisis assessment center” element that is to be the first of its kind in the region and one of a small number nationally. 

That 10,000-square-foot screening and stabilization station will feature a welcoming environment, he said. Children and families can get an immediate crisis assessment; their treatment plan begins during that same visit.

There are no exclusion criteria — hence, the “no wrong door” motto.

“I think it’s going to be the best of its type in the country,” said Stinson. 

He said he is no different from most families who have a loved one with a mental illness. Stinson, retired chairman of Kiewit construction company, and Rhonda and Howard Hawks were among a group that raised funds to in 2018 launch Omaha’s Lasting Hope Recovery Center, which offers mental health care.

Stinson said he expects the new pediatric mental health center to treat youths from beyond the Omaha metro area and throughout the state.

Of its total price tag, $16 million comes from federal American Rescue Plan Act funding earmarked by the Nebraska Legislature, $15 million from Children’s, which will operate the center and hire additional mental health care practitioners, and the rest from donors that saw the need to expand mental health services for children.

The nonprofit Mental Health Innovation Foundation led by Stinson is managing planning and construction of the center. 

Even before COVID-19, the foundation said, one in five children was experiencing a mental illness, and the pandemic led to increased problems and suicide.

Suicide is now the second-leading cause of death for youths, and Nebraska exceeds national trends for related deaths among teens ages 15 to 19, said a statement from the foundation. It said also that 20% of youths in Nebraska were diagnosed with a mental health condition needing treatment in 2021.

Leaders tout the center as an innovative model of care, strategically located near Children’s array of other pediatric health services.

Among the elements of what officials described as the center’s seamless continuum of care to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of youths:

• Inpatient care including 40 beds, with room for eight more. That more than doubles the capacity in the community, said MHIF representatives.
• Services such as diagnostic evaluations, family assessments, group therapy, social skills training and occupational therapy.
• Day treatment programs for behavioral concerns such as eating disorders and substance abuse.
• Outpatient services, nutrition education, family education and interventions and neuropsychological and psychological testing.