November 2, 2021

People Incorporated is excited to announce the start of construction on a new Intensive Residential Treatment Services (IRTS) program with crisis bed availability on the site of our former Girard and Anchor House residences in North Minneapolis. These programs were devastated by a fire in October 2020. Preparation for construction of the new site began recently after months of planning and assessing the community’s needs. This new program offers trauma-informed care for individuals across the gender spectrum.

“It feels good to be rebuilding in the North Minneapolis community. We’re not losing beds in a community that needs them, in fact, we’re building more,” says Beth Allen, Vice President of Operations.

This new program will be modeled after our new Steiner Kelting Mental Wellness facility, which opened its doors on September 8. This dual Crisis/IRTS model allows individuals getting crisis care to transfer seamlessly to longer-term treatment without the stress and difficulty of changing programs, finding an open bed, and getting comfortable with new staff. Clients who have already experienced this transition at Steiner Kelting Mental Wellness have called this new option “life-changing” and “healing.”

“This model for Crisis and IRTS is fitting for the community, and we do this extremely well,” says Wendy Waddell, Chief Operating Officer. “The dual program model offers client continuity of care. They get to stay in their same room, in the same bed. When people transition from Crisis to an IRTS facility, we can lose them on the road to recovery. Many just don’t show up, because the idea of starting somewhere new is too stressful for someone who is already struggling with mental health issues.  Many of our clients need further services and supports, and at Steiner Kelting Mental Wellness continues their treatment in the same place. The model works, and we’re going to make it our standard of care going forward. We’re looking forward to creating this new, healing environment.”

“In addition to meeting the needs of individuals who may require more long-term supports, this new facility will also be designed with accessibility and comfort in mind. The structure will include individual rooms, personal bathrooms, and dedicated wellness and group meeting spaces. This layout is particularly important because each client has different needs for healing, and many may have never had a space to call their own.”

“As an agency, we haven’t had the opportunity to design and build a space from the start with accessibility in mind. This space will allow us to care for individuals with more barriers to care. Creating a healing space from scratch instead of designing it into an existing building is very exciting. It will truly be conducive to treatment and individual comfort – built in a way that is meaningful for clients.”

As individuals transition out of this program, they can continue to receive follow-up care through our Northside Community Support Program, located next door to the future site.

“Northside Community Support Program will continue to offer continuity of care for clients when they leave this program,” says Wendy. “We have plans to integrate some of their programming, so clients will have a seamless transition into another support system when they leave.”