Tri-County to operate Marge Brewster Center

Mental health care services in Highlands County that have been provided by the Marge Brewster Center will continue with Tri-County Human Services stepping in to operate the center.

Tri-County Human Services will assume a lead-agency responsibility for the management and operation of the Marge Brewster Center in Sebring, according to Lance Anastasio, president of Winter Haven Hospital, which currently operates the center, and Robert Rihn, executive director of Tri-County Human Services,

The Center for Behavioral Health at Winter Haven Hospital announced in February that it would discontinue providing mental health services at the Marge Brewster Center.

The transition at the center, which is scheduled for this summer, affects about 15 jobs in Highlands County, according to a news release from Winter Haven Hospital. Rihn said that they expect that the majority of current employees will be retained after the transition.

The Peace River Center, which is based in Bartow, will also provide specialized mental health services for Highlands County residents, according to Winter Haven Hospital.

Rihn said, "The Marge Brewster Center program will enable us to further incorporate the mental health, forensic and substance abuse services as well as co-occurring disorders leadership already established at the Florida Center, currently located in Highlands County."

At Wednesday's meeting of the Children's Services Council of Highlands County, Sheriff Susan Benton commented on the efforts to transition to other mental health service providers.

"We are losing Marge Brewster, but I think we are going to be gaining 200 percent" she said.

Benton said there has been discussion about possibly operating a "reception center" in Highlands County that would be a step below the receiving facility in Bartow where individuals, who are a threat to themselves or others (Baker Act), are currently taken for evaluation.

The reception center is proposed to be located at The Florida Center For Addictions and Dual Disorders, 100 W. College Drive, Avon Park, which is operated by Tri-County Human Services, according to Benton.

Instead of taking the Baker Act individuals to Bartow, they would be evaluated in Highlands County and then released or sent to the appropriate facility, which could be in Polk or Highlands counties, she said.

"We will know locally when they get released," Benton said. "When they go to Bartow, we have no clue when they get released or when they come back or whatever."

The system will have a "forensic piece" to try to keep the mentally ill people out of the county jail, which in part accounts for about one-third of the jail's population.

The Peace River Center is a private, not-for-profit, community mental health organization that was founded in 1948.

Tri-County Human Services Inc. is a private not-for-profit organization providing substance abuse and co-occurring and mental health disorders treatment.

Both organizations provide services to residents of Polk, Hardee and Highlands counties.