From left: Bill Charles, therapeutic care specialist at Cross Creek Hospital; Cross Creek CEO Kevin Burgess; Greg Casar, District 4 Austin City Council member; Mia St. John, world-champion boxer and mental health advocate; and T.J. McDow, director of business development at Cross Creek, celebrate the grand opening of Cross Creek Hospital on May 29.[/caption]

As the Austin area continues growing so does the need for more access to mental health care. That is the goal of a new psychiatric facility, Cross Creek Hospital, which held a ribbon cutting May 29 at its location in Northeast Austin.

Cross Creek offers adult psychiatric services to treat depression, anxiety and schizophrenia as well as detox services for substance abuse. This summer it will offer treatment for adolescents and children. The facility, which opened March 2, is located at 8402 Cross Park Drive just east of Cameron Road.

“This is a community effort,” CEO Kevin Burgess said. “It’s not just a hospital or therapists. It’s everyone working together to truly have the impact we want and decrease the stigma of mental illness.”

Mia St. John, world-champion boxer and mental health advocate, discussed her experience with drug and alcohol abuse and mental illness at the May 29 ribbon cutting ceremony for Cross Creek Hospital, a 90-bed psychiatric facility in Northeast Austin. St. John was also presented with a plaque for her dedication to improving access to mental health care.[/caption]

Cross Creek invited the community and its partners to tour the 90-bed facility following the ribbon cutting. Burgess said the facility used to be a psychiatric hospital and was the former home of Austin Recovery, an addiction treatment center. The community has also been welcoming of the hospital, he said.

“What I continue to hear is there’s a nice knit community of people who are really concerned and care about the mentally ill and [those struggling with] substance abuse,” he said. “That was exciting because in other areas [people say], ‘No not in my backyard.’”

World champion boxer Mia St. John spoke at the ribbon cutting ceremony about her own struggles with drug and alcohol abuse as a teenager. She found sobriety at age 21, but after graduating college with a degree in psychology, she had a breakdown and was hospitalized, she said. There she was put on medication after being diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.

“That was the missing link—my mental health,” she said. “The drugs and alcohol were just self-medicating for the underlying real problem.”

St. John is now an advocate for mental illnesses and works to improve access to care in Los Angeles. In 2014 she lost her son, Julian, who committed suicide in 2014 after a battle with schizophrenia, she said.

Because of her experiences with mental illness and losing a child to a mental illness, St. John said Burgess’ statement on treating the patients as people resonated with her.

“Everybody is just so passionate about this place, and I just see so much hope,” she said.

Cross Creek also offers free assessments to people needing treatment, Burgess said.

“A very small percentage of people who come here for help actually end up in a hospital,” he said. “… We’re happy to at least help them through that moment’s crisis and get them connected with some type of help [through our partnerships].”

Anyone interested in receiving a free assessment may call 512-215-3900 or visit www.crosscreekhospital.com.