Manatee Glens Celebrates 50 years of Service to

Manatee County Citizens

By Jo Morello

In October 1955, three mental health professionals banded together to help the people of Manatee County conquer mental health and addictions problems.  They set up shop in an old army barracks at what is now the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.  Fifty years later, the organization has become

Manatee Glens, the area’s oldest and largest provider of mental health and addiction treatment services.

Those three people in the barracks saw a need that few others recognized at the time. Their foresight set the tone for the pioneering organization that now employs over 450 people and serves more than 10,000 Manatee County citizens annually. Its staff includes 10 psychiatrists, a clinical psychologist, 49 licensed therapists and 53 registered nurses.

The phenomenal growth has occurred because of innovative leadership, a supportive community and the dedication of caring employees, according to Mary Ruiz, president and chief executive officer. “Over the past 50 years, we have continued a strong commitment to our community, taking measured risks time and time again to meet the needs of our clients,” she says.  “On many occasions we have found yourselves faced with challenges — situations where we believed we could achieve the best resolution if we instituted courageous action or took untested, visionary steps. We were never reluctant to go with the hard choices, and our actions have often been rewarded with favorable attention — and sometimes funding — from county, state, and national agencies. We have never wavered from our mission: helping families in crisis.”

Manatee Glens is one of only six mental health centers in Florida that also operates a licensed hospital, Ruiz points out. That would be impressive even if they did no more — but in fact, operating from seven facilities, the Manatee Glens of 2005 provides a full range of services. These include in- and out-patient programs for treatment of alcohol and drug abuse and mental illness, behavioral health counseling, rape crisis services, child abuse program and an employee assistance programs.

The nonprofit organization provides about 100 inpatient beds including an adult residential treatment unit and the adolescent recovery center, a unique residential program for teens battling drug and alcohol addictions and behavioral health problems. The only facility in Manatee County that accepts Baker Act (involuntary commitment) patients, Manatee Glens also operates a large outpatient program that includes outpatient detox. Among its specialty services are child and adult psychiatry; child welfare services; and counseling for children, adolescents, adults, families and senior adults; and a supported employment program.

In addition, Manatee Glens provides immediate and continuing assistance to victims of sexual assault through its rape crisis services at 941-782-4100. It also operates a 24-hour rape crisis hotline at 941-708-6059. Further, the Manatee Glens Access Center, at 941-782-4617, is always open to provide crisis assistance for behavioral health emergencies.

While treatment is essential, Manatee Glens is equally committed to prevention and education.  Consequently, counselors deliver programs to students in area schools and provide numerous free screenings and awareness rallies throughout the year.

Among its many accomplishments:

• Manatee Glens joined with five other mental health centers more than a decade ago to collaborate with a managed partner, the Florida Health Partnership, in a national Medicaid demonstration partnership that has received much attention.

• The outpatient detox unit has saved countless lives and become a role model for other programs.

• Through the Safe Children Coalition, Manatee Glens manned the front lines of the movement to privatize child welfare services.

• Through the Florida Assertive Community Treatment Team (FACT), Manatee Glens delivers mental health services through a “hospital without walls,” and into the community.

• A homeless outreach program helps those with mental illness and addictions to link to treatment.

• To assist in ending homelessness in Manatee County in the next ten years, Manatee Glens and the City of Bradenton have partnered on a Shelter Plus Care grant to provide assistance to homeless persons with special needs.

• As a clinical center of excellence, Manatee Glens partners with the University of South Florida, Florida Clinical Research Center and the Lake Erie College of Osteopathy (LECOM).

Despite so much activity on so many fronts, Manatee Glens never loses sight of its reason for existence: the people who seek help. The key question, then, is whether the programs are effective. The best answer comes from their many success stories, including this unsolicited letter from a current client:

An Open Letter to Manatee Glens:

I just wanted to say “thank you” to all the hard-working, wonderful people a Manatee Glens who saved my life from this hideous disease we know as addiction.  Thank you to all the people in the access center. With your patient ears and kind hearts, you give us an arrow and point us in the right direction. Thanks to all the people in detox and all the other units, who get us well enough, feed us, clean for us and

do the paperwork so we are ready to receive the education to understand how to “stay healthy” — all with loving. And a very special “thank you” to all the amazing people in the out-patient department . . . and all the speakers who shared their stories, for your patient humor, tough love leave here we have the “tool chest” and the resources we need to work our programs and stay in recovery. I look forward to working with the aftercare therapist and others at the 6th Avenue Manatee Glens Counseling Center. With all these tools, resources, AA, and God’s love, I believe my recovery plan will be successful. “I believe I can fly.”

Your Grateful Client

D THE RANCH • The Herald Supplement • Wednesday, March 2, 2005

Award-winning writer and playwright Jo Morello has operated Jo Morello, Inc., a public relations firm, in this area since 1986. She numbers Manatee Glens among her select clients and based this article on interviews with officers and other personnel at Manatee Glens.