New Outpatient Services Center Opens with Donor Support

On September 15, 2022, The Menninger Clinic celebrated the completion of a new Outpatient Services Center alongside community leaders, staff and donors whose generosity helped bring the center to fruition.

 

At a time when the need for mental health treatment among adults and adolescents is surging, the facility will allow Menninger to expand outpatient visits from approximately 15,000 visits to 25,000 visits annually. Designed by Kirksey Architecture and constructed by Tellepsen, the 33,000-square foot, two-story building is the eighth to be constructed on Menninger’s 50-acre campus, located at 12301 Main Street, just south of the Texas Medical Center.

 

“The need for expert mental health care continues to grow in the Greater Houston area, and the increased capacity this new facility offers is an important step in helping more people get help when they need it,” said Menninger President and CEO Armando E. Colombo (pictured above, right). “We are grateful to the many donors who join us in recognizing the need for expanded mental health access in the community and generously supported the campaign to make it a reality.”

 

Following a successful $14 million capital campaign, the building broke ground in November 2020. Funds raised during that campaign also enabled updates to existing campus space to establish the new Stuart C. Yudofsky, MD, Education Center, which provides flexible meeting space and access to state-of-the-art video conferencing technology to connect Menninger’s leading researchers and clinicians with colleagues around the world.

 

The first floor of the Outpatient Services Center houses the Center for Brain Stimulation, Sleep Medicine Service and Outpatient Services, including assessment, medication management and therapy for both adolescents and adults. The building’s second floor, anticipated to be complete in 2023, will house a new Center for Addiction Medicine and Recovery.

 

“The mental health professionals in our outpatient services are offering therapies that can make a lasting difference in people’s lives,” said Chief Medical Officer Cory Walker, DO (pictured above, left). “They ensure that each patient receives information about the treatment options so they can make the choice that is right for them.”

 

The Outpatient Services Center expands capacity for Menninger’s highly regarded comprehensive outpatient assessment, a four-and-a-half day assessment in which an interdisciplinary team takes a 360-degree view of the factors impacting a patient’s life, including medical, genetic, psychological and social issues. Following the assessment, patients receive a precision diagnosis and recommendations for next steps personalized to their needs. Patients come from all over the country for assessments at Menninger because of the hospital’s thoroughness, broad expertise and ability to provide one-stop results in a week.

 

In addition to the assessment services, the Center for Brain Stimulation offers life-changing and potentially lifesaving options for patients when standard treatments aren’t sufficient. The Center provides neuromodulation therapies, including electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and ketamine infusion, which are often coupled with pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy for conditions like treatment-resistant depression.

 

Menninger’s Sleep Medicine Service is one of the first of its kind to be embedded within a psychiatric hospital. The service was developed based on Menninger’s own research showing that sleep difficulties are common among people with mental illness and that improved sleep has wide-ranging effects on the outcomes of mental health treatment. Through the sleep medicine service, patients are provided with evidence-based treatment, such as cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia and image rehearsal training for nightmares, as well as education services, such as how to better use a CPAP machine.

 

Watch a video tour of the new Outpatient Services Center.