There is a growing mental health crisis in Green Country, and the Saint Francis Health System says it wants to help by expanding the Laureate Psychiatric Clinic.

They broke ground Tuesday on a $70 million expansion that should be complete in May of 2025.

The new expansion to Laureate will bring 60 new beds, 11 new crisis stabilization chairs where people can be treated for a short period of time, and expansions to therapists’ offices and the kitchen.

Laureate says it has about 60,000 outpatient visits a year, and they hope by expanding, they can treat even more.

"We have an epidemic of untreated mental illness in this country, quite frankly, but also here in Green Country,” said Dr. Cliff Robertson, the CEO of the Saint Francis Health System. “It's been high on our list to continue to expand our capabilities to care for those with mental illness."

They say treating more people not only helps the people with mental illness but also helps the community.

"Severe, untreated mental illness is a key driver of violence, homelessness, incarceration, and being able to provide treatment can prevent some of these problems,” said Ken Moore, the President of the Laureate Psychiatric Clinic and Hospital.

G.T. Bynum, the Mayor of Tulsa, says he’s glad to see the expansion and hopes it will help the city address some of the problems we see daily in the Tulsa area.

"You see the outcomes of that when it is not treated, in the homelessness epidemic that we have in Tulsa, in the youth suicide rate that we have in Tulsa County right now, which is the worst in the state of Oklahoma,” said Bynum. "We're trying to do our part at the City of Tulsa through a number of other programs, but the reality is, we need healthcare providers to be leading the way on this, and St Francis Health System is doing that."

They hope people understand how important it is to get treatment and not put it off because treatment can help.

"Behavioral health is a necessary component of healthcare; mental illness is treatable, and there are professionals here to help do that,” said Moore.

"Mental illness, it touches all of us,” said Robertson. “It touches all of our families; it touches everybody in this community both directly and indirectly, and we're committed to improving the health of eastern Oklahoma."