KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knoxville has a new 55,000 square-foot facility meant to help people struggling with emotional, behavioral and substance abuse disorders. It's called the Knoxville Center for Behavioral Medicine, and officials with the center gathered for a grand opening on Thursday.
The center has 64 beds for people who need care with psychiatric issues. It will open in phases, starting with geriatric care. Officials said they plan to open adult services soon.
The facility is part of a partnership between the National HealthCare Corporation, Tennova Healthcare and The University of Tennessee Medical Center. It is located at the Tennova Health Park at 1240 Tennova Medical Way.
Organizers also said they planned to hire around 200 people to work at the facility. They plan to offer an adult psychiatric program, an adult substance use treatment program as well as geriatric psychiatric treatment programs.
More than 800 people between 25 and 64 years old died by suicide in Tennessee in 2020, according to the state's department of health. More than 160 of those deaths were in East Tennessee.
Officials with the center said that around 186,000 adults live with some kind of mental illness in the center's service area, and the number of people over 26 years old who reported having serious thoughts of suicide is higher in Tennessee than the national average.