The Center for Children

A new day is dawning at New Horizons…our vision is The Center for Children to be located on a campus adjacent to our 4500 Midway Road location.   The Center will be a safe and caring place where troubled youth, experiencing a mental health crisis, come for emergency treatment.  It will also be a place where children and families come together for counseling and assistance in dealing with the child's emotional problems.

The Center for Children will be a place for hope and recovery for the boys and girls living in Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee and St. Lucie Counties.  When completed, the campus of The Center for Children will include a children’s crisis unit, a child advocacy center, a family service center, and a community resource center.

Children’s Crisis Unit

A 20 bed children’s crisis unit is the first phase of our vision for the Center for Children.   The crisis center is desperately needed.  In the aftermath of Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in 2004, the area lost 15 beds for children in crisis…the children’s facility on Walton Road was literally, blown away.  Currently, the four county area served by New Horizons has only four children’s crisis beds for needy boys and girls. The beds are located in Vero Beach at the Center for Behavioral Health.

This number is sadly inadequate.  From July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007, 792 children from our four county service area were admitted to a crisis stabilization unit.  The children were referred from parents, pediatricians, emergency rooms, schools, law enforcement agencies, New Horizons and other agencies serving children.   More than 300 of these boys and girls were sent to treatment facilities in West Palm Beach or Melbourne, making a traumatic situation even more upsetting for the children and their families.

New Horizons is seeking $4 million in support from the community to build this desperately needed facility.  The construction costs to complete the children’s crisis center are estimated at $6 million to be raised in public private partnership.  We have a good start:  a ten acre parcel of land has been purchased next to our main campus at 4500 Midway Road, Ft. Pierce and the state has allocated a total of $1,500,000 toward construction.