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Guidance Center reports large increase in visits after CCBHC conversion; seeks space and staff to expand services
Summary
The not-for-profit Guidance Center told commissioners that converting to a certified community behavioral health clinic (CCBHC) has driven major service growth, created new programs and highlighted needs for more staff and facility space in Leavenworth County.
Stevie Durkin, chief executive officer of the Guidance Center, briefed the Leavenworth City Commission on service expansion since the agency became a certified community behavioral health clinic (CCBHC).
Durkin said the Guidance Center now operates both as a community mental health center and a CCBHC, a federal model administered in Kansas through the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services and aligned with SAMHSA standards. The commission received claims-based and program metrics showing substantial year-over-year growth: billed community-service visits increased from roughly 41,000 in early 2023 to more than 61,000 by the end of 2024; Durkin said the organization’s total visits, including services that were not billed, exceed 77,000.
Officials described sharper growth in targeted programs supported by the CCBHC model. Durkin highlighted a 65% increase in individual placement and support (job and housing support) and said the assertive community treatment team’s caseload is about 50 high-need adults. Crisis services and a crisis-stabilization center — Guiding Lights — both showed large increases in activity (Durkin cited an 81% increase in emergency services and a 71% increase in crisis-stabilization use) and the presentation listed Guiding Lights as having 12 beds. The Guidance Center reported that transportation rides serving clients rose from about 41,352 to 45,782 over the period shown in the slides.
Durkin said the Guidance Center has added services such as school-based clinicians, co-responder partnerships with local police, a jail-liaison program and new recovery and community-support services. She described partnerships with local universities for practicum placements and said the organization has hired a chief information officer to improve data collection and program planning.
The organization said staff shortages and physical space constraints limit further expansion. Durkin estimated a need for about 70 additional employees across the Guidance Center’s three-county service area (Leavenworth, Atchison and Jefferson counties) and asked the commission to consider shared community planning and site options. Commissioners asked whether staff enter potentially unsafe field situations; Durkin said co-responder and police partnerships are in place and clinicians do not go into unfamiliar settings alone.
Durkin also invited the city to participate in the Guidance Center’s upcoming strategic-planning work to guide where services should expand and what community data the agency should collect. The commission expressed appreciation for the center’s work and did not take formal action in response to the presentation.
