Clarksville mental health nonprofit plans $3M expansion
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A nonprofit mental health services provider has launched a campaign to support an expansion that would include a new facility on its Clarksville campus.
Personal Counseling Services Inc. has received a preliminary matching grant commitment of up to $1.5 million from Metro United Way in Louisville, and the organization’s New Expansion campaign aims to raise the matching funds needed for the project.
PCS President and CEO Doug Drake said the nonprofit has run out of space, and the new facility would allow it to provide mental health services for an additional 250 individuals and families per week.
“We’ve really grown and expanded, and we’ve gotten to the point where we’re out of space where we are today,” Drake said. “Prior to COVID, we would receive about 50 referrals a month. In November, we had referrals of 331, so building the new facility will help us to bridge that gap.”
PCS was founded in 1959 to provide psychotherapy services for individuals in three counties. Since then, the organization has grown to serve 17 Indiana counties—as well as four in Kentucky—and provide a range of services, including addictions therapy, outpatient groups for substance use disorder, medication management, and music therapy.
U.S. News & World Report’s Healthiest Communities dashboard indicates that 17% of adults in Clark County report frequent mental distress, Drake said. He also cited the a 2021 report from the Community Foundation for Southern Indiana that highlights priority issues of social concern among residents of Clark and Floyd Counties, all of which have some connection to mental health, including substance abuse for adults (75%) and youth (54%), plus mental illness overall (55%).
Drake said reason for the rise in demand for such services is multi-faceted.
“COVID had a grave impact with anxiety, depression, especially on young people; that isolation did something,” he said. “It was a crisis before COVID. Those of us in the field knew that it was already at crisis level. However, COVID shined a spotlight.”
He noted that country has done a better job of trying to eliminate the stigma associated with mental health, which has led to an increase in people seeking treatment.
The nearly 11,000-square-foot facility would be located next to the nonprofit’s current location at 1211 Applegate Lane in Clarksville.
While Metro United Way is based in Louisville, the funding for the project was made possible due to its membership in Indiana United Ways on behalf of the southern Indiana counties it serves.
Metro United Way Director of Strategic Initiatives Pam Ottersbach said the funding is part of a wider collaborative effort to reduce the number of children and adults experiencing mental health challenges and to increase access to and continuity of care.
“The number of additional children and adults that will be served each week by this expansion is huge,” Ottersbach said in written remarks. “Personal Counseling Services has been a long-time community partner of Metro United Way in southern Indiana. The new PCS facility sits at the heart of our community and offers a safe, welcoming space where all individuals and families can build healthy relationships, find hope and healing, and thrive.”
The expansion would also allow for the addition 10 clinicians, a psychiatric nurse, and five interns from local universities to meet with those in need of mental health services.
“We’re a practicum site for 14 universities, and we do get interns and practicum students,” Drake said. “However, we have no more space, so we can’t take any on. So the benefit that we give to the community is that we’re able to train new psychiatric nurse practitioners, new psychotherapists, new music therapists, whether they stay with us or not.”
PCS also received a $350,000 gift from the Hazel & Walter T. Bales Foundation, which Drake said will be used to complete all preliminary site work. He said when all the funding has been secured, it would take about six months to complete the project.
“The new building will enable a safe, trusting community where healthy relationships can bloom and every child and adult knows they have somewhere to turn for support,” Drake said.
PCS aims to raise the additional $1.5 million by the end of 2025. Those interested in donating can do so on the PCS website or by contacting Doug Drake via email or by phone at (502) 649-6911.
