QuickTake:

A 12-bed secure inpatient treatment facility in Eugene will serve youth ages 10-17 wo have acute behavioral health needs. Plans are to have the facility, run by Nexus Family Healing, open no later than next week.

Nexus Family Healing is opening a new 12-bed secure inpatient treatment facility in Eugene for youth who need months of behavioral health intensive services and care. 

The Oregon Health Authority and Nexus worked together to make the facility happen. The project received a $3 million grant through a funding package that lawmakers authorized in 2021 through House Bill 5024. The agency has been working for the last five years to allocate grants and start behavioral health housing projects for youth and adults with the bill’s funding, which totals $130 million — half state funding and half federal COVID-19 funding. 

The secure setting is for youth who have experienced lower levels of treatment and need more intensive services, usually with stays that range from six to nine months. That level of care is relatively rare in Oregon: The Eugene facility’s 12 beds will increase the state’s total count of secure inpatient beds by about a third — from 32 to 44. The facility will serve youth 10 to 17 years old.

Another two facilities that serve 32 youth combined are in Corvallis and Portland. 

“Expanding Oregon’s secure residential infrastructure is vital to ensuring that young people with complex behavioral health challenges receive the right level of care in a safe, therapeutic environment,” Jessie Eagan, Oregon Health Authority child and family behavioral health manager, said in a statement. 

Based in Minnesota, Nexus Family Healing began in 1972 when former professional boxer James J. Beattie founded a halfway house in downtown Minneapolis that served formerly incarcerated men. The organization has grown since then and opened a facility in Portland to serve youth in 2023. Nexus offers restorative services, working with youth in the justice system who need treatment to aid in their defense.

In addition to Oregon and Minnesota, Nexus facilities and programs are in three other states: Maryland, North Dakota and Illinois.

Margaret Vimont, the company’s chief operating officer, said the Eugene facility expects to open to youth later this week or early next week. The grant has gone toward renovation costs of the facility, which is in the 2600 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in an area that has other programs and providers for youth who need behavioral health care or who are in the juvenile justice system.

“The opening of this campus is a testament to the dedication of the many individuals who worked tirelessly to bring this project to life,” said Toni Miller, executive director at Nexus. “For the youth we serve, healing requires more than treatment alone. Every aspect of this environment was intentionally designed to support healing, learning, growth, and long-term stability. This campus reflects our commitment to partnering with the state to restore hope and help reshape the futures of Oregon’s youth.”

The facility, which will be staffed 24 hours a day, will have about 50 employees, Vimont said. 

The health authority also said Looking Glass, another provider in Lane County,  is receiving $11.5 million for projects, including the development of a 12-bed facility for youth that could open in mid-2027. 

The health authority said Oregon will exceed its goal of reaching 268 youth psychiatric beds overall in 2026 and expects to reach 311 by the end of 2027. (This count is for all types of youth psychiatric residential care, including short-term stays, which are different from more intensive care.)

At the same time, needs for behavioral health care in Oregon remain high. Like adults seeking behavioral care, youths face a shortage of available services. Often, they don’t receive the care they need until they enter the justice system and need court-ordered treatment when they face criminal charges.  

“We’re always very supportive of the expansion of child, youth and family services because it’s one of the smallest sectors, and there’s huge potential to help children, youth and families if we had access to more services in the state,” said Heather Jefferis, executive director of the Oregon Council for Behavioral Health, an industry trade organization. “We’re always looking to support those programs because unfortunately there’s just not very many of them. There’s not very many programs across the state.”

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Ben Botkin covers politics and policy in Lane County. He has worked as a journalist since 2003, most recently at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered justice, health and human services and documented regional efforts to combat fentanyl addiction. Botkin has worked in statehouses in Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and, of course, Oregon. When he's not working, you'll find him road tripping across the West, hiking or surfing along the Oregon Coast.