With the announcement this week that Burrell Behavioral Health, based in Springfield, is closing its four locations in Arkansas, several area schools are left without mental health services for their students. Burrell has locations in Mountain Home, Harrison, Springdale and Rogers. There are 17 employees in their Mountain Home office and 23 in Harrison.
The company provides multiple mental health services to area residents, but the biggest impact of the closure will be on students they serve. The Mountain Home office serves students in the Mountain Home, Cotter, Norfork and Yellville-Summit school districts. The Harrison office serves students in Harrison, Valley Springs, Omaha , Jasper and a few other schools.
Matt Sutton is the Director of Mental Health Services for the Mountain Home School District. He says losing the services Burrell will be a big blow.
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Sutton says it’s not the first time Mountain Home schools have lost their mental health provider.
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The other company Mountain Home schools work with is Hometown Behavioral Health out of Hoxie.
Sutton says the Mountain Home School District has been working towards meeting their students’ needs from within the district.
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Burrell will be terminating client services June 30. They declined to be interviewed for this story but provided the following prepared statement:
Burrell Behavioral Health has made the incredibly difficult decision to close our in-person clinics and terminate client services in the Arkansas Region effective June 30, 2022.
The continuation of care for our clients is our primary concern at this time, which is why we are allowing more than eight weeks for clients to find alternative services in their communities. Information and resources, including use of Burrells crisis telephone line, will be available to our clients through June 30.
As a result of this decision, approximately 40 staff will be laid off effective June 30. All displaced staff will be invited to apply for open positions at Burrell for which they are eligible.
We do intend to keep our Rogers office open as a landing spot for virtual providers serving clients in Missouri, though we will not be physically seeing clients in this space. Our goal is to remain an employer of choice in Northwest Arkansas for any provider able to gain dual licensure in the state of Missouri and willing to practice remotely. We also plan to continue certain non-clinical education, awareness and public training programs in Arkansas where possible.
We thank the State of Arkansas and the Department of Human Services for the opportunity to serve the citizens of Arkansas.
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