JOPLIN, Mo. – “Breathtaking” was the word heard on more than one occasion from Freeman Health System officials as they toured the expanded Ozark Center New Directions’ new facility at 3220 S. Wisconsin Ave.

An open house, which included a ribbon cutting, was held late Friday afternoon.

Ozark Center’s Chief Administrative Officer, Vicky Mieseler, led a group of Freeman top officials throughout the building, which included Freeman President and Chief Executive Officer Paula Baker and Chief Financial Officer Steve Graddy.

The new location is triple the size of the New Directions building at Virginia Avenue, which will soon become the new Crisis Services location. Overall, this new building has been a project nearly two years in the making. The services and treatments provided by the drug treatment center will be greatly enhanced.

“The new building increases the opportunity for us to provide cutting-edge treatment options in reducing substance use impact in our community,” Mieseler said. With opioid overdose deaths spiking nationwide and rising in the Joplin area, “Ozark Center is staying ahead of this deadly trend.”

During the tour, New Directions staff were posted at strategically placed kiosks throughout the building and each representative discussed key services now being provided to the general public. Medication assisted treatment options include information on buprenorphine, which lowers opioid cravings, as well as Narcan, an opioid overdose medication. Another staffer provided key information about the facility’s Spravato clinic – Spravato is the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved nasal spray to relieve treatment-resistant depression symptoms in adults.

People “may have tried so many other things and they’ve lost hope and this clinic provides them an opportunity to try something else,” said Del Camp, Chief Clinical Officer for Ozark Center.

The new facility also houses the Resident Psychiatrist training facility, which trains and educates psychiatrists to provide excellent care, to increase from 12 to 16 members. A much-needed pharmacy, complete with drive-through window, will soon be up and running to prescribe medications for patients in-house.

“We’re becoming very well known nationally for our trauma-sensitive environments. When people come into this building they should feel warm, they should feel welcome, they should feel comfortable, and we’ve learned a long time ago that people who come into your services act like the building itself looks. We want our patients and our clients to know that when they come in here, this is how much we value them,” Mieseler said.