The $12.5 million in additional funding, which was earmarked in the state budget for Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services’ pediatric center, brings the West Michigan nonprofit one step closer to its goal.
Bob Nykamp is Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Pine Rest. He says the earmark was supported on both sides of the aisle, speaking to the need for greater mental health access for our state’s youth.
“These $12.5 million will be used to obviously help build the brick and mortar of that center but also to train and hire staff who specialize in pediatric, urgent psychiatric care.”
Originally announced in July 2022, Pine Rest has so far raised $89 million in public and private money toward the $98 million project, with about two-thirds of the fundraising total coming from the state.
“So we are just shy of $10 million remaining in our capital campaign, and that was out goal from day one: to have this new facility and all the equipment and furniture that’s included in it, to be paid for with philanthropy and grant dollars so that those costs don’t have to be spread to the vulnerable people who needs those.”
Construction on the facility has already begun and, when opened in spring of 2026, Nykamp says the facility will feature inpatient and outpatient treatment for children and adolescents, psychiatric urgent care, a crisis stabilization unit, and specialty outpatient clinics to prevent mental health crises.
“One of the good things that the pandemic did was it taught Pine Rest and taught our clinicians pretty quickly how to provide high-quality services via telemedicine and so because of that incredible tool, not only will we be able to treat people face-to-face in our new facility, but also children from all over the state of Michigan via telemedicine.”
