River Edge opens state of the art facility for mental health, disability care in Bibb

A new facility aimed at supporting individuals with mental health diagnoses and intellectual disabilities opened Wednesday after nearly two years of construction.

The Adult Peer Support and Community Integration Center, operated by River Edge Behavioral Health, brings together community support, services and skill building in a new and improved location at 2016 Ingleside Ave. in Macon.

Nancy Turner, day program coordinator with River Edge, said the facility will serve two separate populations: adults with intellectual disabilities and adults struggling with mental health and substance use issues. The building is divided into halves that are designed with their respective population in mind.

It’s a major upgrade from River Edge’s soon-to-be former locations in Bibb County, which consisted of a pair of older buildings located on opposite sides of town.

“We are extremely proud of (the new facility), extremely excited,” Turner said. “There are no words for our individuals to express how happy they are to be transitioning to this new location.”

New facility to offer classes, social spaces

Greta O’Dell, chief intellectual and developmental disabilities officer with River Edge, said that every inch of the Adult Peer Support and Community Integration Center was designed with clients’ needs in mind. The center will help them learn skills to live healthy, fulfilling lives.

Both sides of the building are outfitted with full kitchens to teach cooking classes. All clients also have access to computer classes that teach them how to use technology and the tools necessary for employment and managing everyday life.

Case managers also are available to help clients with a variety of tasks like finding housing, transportation to the grocery store and more.

While the two sides of the building have a lot in common, they are still specialized for the population they serve.

The side of the building known as the Adult Peer Support center serves adults struggling with mental health and substance use. Activities and classes are led by people who themselves have overcome issues with mental health diagnoses and substance use, a system known as “peer support,” River Edge staff members explained in a tour this week.

Many of those adult peer leaders are River Edge’s former clients who went on to become certified in mental health and addiction recovery.

“They have the ability to come here and learn life skills, and really just be able to learn from those who have been through the journey,” said Jen Holbrook, marketing and communications manager with River Edge.

Meanwhile, the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Community Integration center, or IDD for short, focuses its attention on adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Nearly all clients live with family members or in care facilities, Turner said, so River Edge’s goals revolve around teaching them skills and providing them social outlets.

They have access to a game room, arts and crafts room, music room and a gym that’s shared between both populations. Clients are free to move among classes, rooms and activities as it suits them, Turner said.

“We’re all adults, they get to choose what they want,” Turner said. “There’s always going to be staff in place monitoring, but we’re giving them the freedom to choose their days.”

A facility years in the making

In total, the building is more than 35,000 square feet. It took about two years and more than $13 million to build, with the money coming from a mix of grants, community partnerships and funding from the River Edge Foundation, the organization’s fundraising arm.

Turner and O’Dell said the Adult Peer Support and Community Integration Center will serve about 30 to 40 people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, and work with another 120 people struggling with mental health and substance use issues.

The River Edge Recovery Center — which houses many of the services moving into the Adult Peer Support Center — is located in west Macon on Mercer University Drive. The main Bibb County location for River Edge, meanwhile, sits along Emery Highway in east Macon.

Holbrook said the new location allows River Edge to be closer to the people it serves, and provides a bigger facility to offer more resources to those in need.

“Our individuals come from all over, but being in this area is closer, we meet people where they are,” Holbrook said. “It just made perfect sense.”