Transitional home to open in Devils Lake for people with mental illness

Feb. 09--DEVILS LAKE -- A transitional living home for people with serious mental illness is opening this week in Devils Lake.

An open house at the "Lake Cottage" transitional living facility, located in a former Movie Gallery video store building, will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Operated by Progress Enterprises Inc., a Jamestown-based program, in partnership with Lake Region Human Service Center in Devils Lake, the home will be staffed around the clock and serve up to eight adults at a time.

"This program fills a gap in the area's behavioral health services," said Lake Region Human Service Center Director Kate Kenna. "In the past, some area residents had to leave their families and move to other parts of the state for this level of care. Now they can be served in Devils Lake near their loved ones and natural support systems."

Clients will include men and women who receive services from the human service center's extended care unit who need support and an opportunity to learn skills to live independently in the community.

Client screening began Monday, and clients could begin moving in by Friday.

Adults who qualify for the program may be at the facility from nine to 18 months as they learn and practice new skills and obtain housing in the community, Kenna said.

"It is a group home, but one with a focus on helping people gain skills there to go out on their own," she said.

Progress Enterprises, a longtime partner of LRHSC, manages the center's crisis residential units in Rolla and Devils Lake.

The agency also has managed a similar transitional living facility in Jamestown and operates the Freedom Center in Devils Lake, which provides social activities and peer support for adults with mental illness.

LRHSC serves about 2,400 people per year in the six-county region. Staff members provide behavioral health services and other human services directly or in partnerships with county social services and other agencies.

Information about LRHSC and its programs and services is available online at www.nd.gov/dhs/locations/regionalhsc/lakeregion/index.html or by contacting the center at (701) 665-2200 or at ordhslrhsc@nd.gov.

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