News
Lakeland Mental Health celebrates 60 years
11/23/2009
Lakeland Mental Health Center (LMHC) is marking 60 years of service in west central Minnesota.
The Fergus Falls-based organization currently provides mental health services to more than 6,000 people in six counties. It’s a big change from when Lakeland was established in 1949 as one of the state’s first rural mental health centers.
Roy Anderson, who later served as Lakeland’s program director, was instrumental in the organization’s founding. Established as a state clinic, the facility was staffed by a psychologist, a psychiatrist and a social worker for its first several years, according to Clair Prody, LMHC’s executive director. The clinic gained its current name in 1959, and by the late 1960s, the facility had moved from downtown Fergus Falls to its present location at the intersection of Cascade and Alcott avenues.
Cyrus Wright, a former president of Otter Tail Power Company, chaired the LMHC board from 1959 through 1966, Prody said, playing a crucial role in shaping LMHC into the organization it is today.
Most mental health services were provided in state hospitals or other inpatient facilities through the late 1970s, according to Bill Klein, LMHC’s site director. Yet an emphasis on outpatient services had taken root in the 1960s, and over the next few decades, these services became more specialized to address the needs of individual patients.
“It’s become more than just a general outpatient treatment model,” Prody said.
The advent of psychiatric medications beginning in the mid-1980s introduced patients and providers to a new generation of medications, Klein said. The decade also gave rise to increased research on the best ways for psychologists, psychiatrists and others to work with patients.
Public misperceptions about mental health issues have eased over time, Prody said, though they still exist. One misperception is that individuals with mental health concerns are dangerous. People also have a tendency to focus on more significant disorders like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, when some conditions like anxiety are often short-term and situational, Prody said.
As staff look ahead to LMHC’s future, they are anticipating the January opening of a new building off of County Highway 1 near RDO Equipment. LMHC’s current property has been purchased by Lake Region Healthcare Corporation, Prody said.
By Lauren Radomski – The Daily Journal
