Life is a journey, filled with smaller paths we all must take. Some paths are easy; others are difficult.

For those facing mental health and substance abuse issues, the journey can be especially tough and often requires help and guidance.

If you're seeking that help, you're in luck. Baldwin County’s newest recovery treatment center celebrated its opening last week.

A ribbon-cutting for Longleaf Recovery Baldwin was held in Spanish Fort on Thursday, July 11, featuring Alabama Department of Mental Health Commissioner Kim Boswell and Baldwin County Commission Chair Billie Jo Underwood.

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"We need this for Baldwin County and for the Gulf Coast area because if you need these kinds of facilities, you have to either go upstate or out of state, and that is another traumatic thing that happens with families,” Underwood said. “In my journey as county commissioner, I did not realize how much mental health impacts everyone, and I am so excited that our citizens and the people of this area can get help locally."

According to the organization’s website, Longleaf is inspired by the longleaf pine, which can endure and recover from fire stronger than before. This represents regrowth and strengthening through adversity. They use this principle to elevate standards of care through their people and practices, empowering patients to change and heal.

“We want these facilities to address the lack of access and to provide quality treatment care for the people of Alabama,” said Thomas Harris, chairman of the board of Longleaf.

Harris noted that a national mental health and substance abuse epidemic is impacting Alabama. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 41% of Alabama adults sought medical treatment for a mental health issue between 2017-2019. In Alabama, 794,000 adults have a mental health condition, more than three times the population of Birmingham, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Serious mental illness impacts some 214,000 Alabamians, according to NAMI. Almost 3 million people in Alabama live in areas with a shortage of mental health professionals. According to recent data, 823 lives were lost to suicide in Alabama, with 165,000 adults having suicidal thoughts within the last year. In 2021, 43% of adults in Alabama reported symptoms associated with anxiety or depression.

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“There is such a need for more options for both substance use treatment in Alabama,” Longleaf CEO Colin Harris said. “Treatment options are typically hard to find or inaccessible to so many in our state. We wanted to change that, and by opening our center in Baldwin County we are doing our best to make it better.”

Longleaf Recovery Baldwin is the fourth treatment center for the organization. In addition to the flagship facility, Birmingham Recovery Center in Hoover, it operates Longleaf Recovery and Wellness, also in Hoover, and Longleaf Recovery Huntsville in Madison.

Longleaf Recovery Baldwin is at 13920 Cypress Way in Spanish Fort. For more information about Longleaf’s substance use disorder treatment programs, visit www.LongleafCenters.com or call (251) 272-7070.

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