Arisa Health breaks ground on $9 million clinic in Rogers

The rise in demand for mental health services has led Springdale-based Arisa Health to build a $9.5 million behavioral health services clinic in Rogers. The 34,000-square-foot clinic is expected to be completed in fall 2025.

On Thursday (Aug. 29), Arisa Health officials and area leaders broke ground on the Arisa Health Jane Hunt Clinic at 501 S. 40th St., east of Promenade Boulevard. Hunt is the daughter of Johnelle Hunt and the late J.B. Hunt, co-founders of Lowell-based J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc.

In October 2023, Arisa Health announced it had received a $4 million gift from Jane Hunt to construct a new Benton County facility and launched a capital campaign to support the new behavioral health campus in Benton County. According to a news release, it was one of the state’s largest gifts for mental health services. Arisa Health was formed in 2019 by merging four behavioral health providers throughout Arkansas.

Living in Little Rock, Jane Hunt said she struggled to find her niche but found it in nonprofit work. She was often asked if her parents could support various projects, so she was glad when asked if she could support this project. She’s a strong supporter of mental health services and said she would put her name on the clinic if it would encourage others to get help and alleviate the stigma of seeking behavioral health services.

“I had a psychology teacher that told us … it’s [mental health] just as important as physical health,” she said. “I’ve always believed in that highly. I don’t know how people have gone and done so well in their life without it. I even talked about this to my therapist the other day.”

CHILD SERVICES
Arisa Health CEO Dr. Laura Tyler discussed the rising need for mental health services amid regional and statewide growth. The demand increase led to the need for the new clinic.

“Our school-based services, our outpatient care for children and adults, and our intensive services for those facing serious mental illness have all experienced unprecedented growth,” Tyler said. “This new facility is a testament to our unwavering commitment to meet that demand and provide a safe, supportive space for healing and for hope.”

Tyler also thanked the project supporters, including Jane Hunt, Cathy and Denton Seilhan, and the Schmieding Foundation. The new clinic is expected to consolidate service locations and grow capacity to serve more people.

“It will be a game-changer because it will give us a facility that size to meet the needs of the community,” said Tyler, adding that the money the organization receives when it sells a nearby location will support the new clinic.

The new clinic will employ about 60 staff and offer outpatient services. The organization also provides school-based services, and the staff who work in the schools will also work there. Project designers include Fayetteville-based Fugitt and Associates Architects and Rogers-based Crafton Tull.

As the state’s largest nonprofit behavioral health provider, Arisa Health has 1,100 staff who serve nearly 65,000 Arkansans. The organization provides licensed mental health, medical, certified substance abuse and paraprofessional services in 41 counties across northern Arkansas. Each county has at least one clinic, but some counties have multiple locations. In Northwest Arkansas, the organization has 17 locations.

Tyler said the organization doesn’t have any other clinics in the works, but it has some residential programs underway in North Little Rock and one on the drawing board in Jonesboro. The organization also is renovating its flagship campus in Springdale. She said the Willard & Pat Walker Charitable Foundation and the Shaw family are supporting the renovation work.

MORE MENTAL HEALTH PROVIDERS
Tim Hudson, chief marketing and philanthropy officer for Arisa Health, said it’s received nearly $1.5 million for the renovation work. Hudson said about $1 million is needed to meet the fundraising goal for the new clinic in Rogers. He said about $500,000 of Jane Hunt’s gift will be used to establish an endowment for scholarships.

According to the release, the organization is raising money to recruit and retain mental health providers after the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a shortage of qualified clinical behavioral health providers to meet rising demand. The goal is to offer at least four scholarships annually to its employees statewide seeking advanced degrees or certifications.

“The majority of her gift is going toward the construction of this project of this clinic,” Hudson said. “She’s also designated a portion of it for that educational support of mental health care folks.”

Hudson said it was providing services at the former Elks Lodge building at the site of the new clinic, but the services have since moved to other locations after the building was damaged in the May 26 storms and tornadoes.

‘GOOD JUJU’
In December 2017, Ozark Guidance Center Foundation acquired 20.18 acres at 501 S. 40th St. for $1.2 million. The seller was Rogers Bentonville Elks Lodge 2144. Rogers Mayor Greg Hines said it was one of the only gathering places for families when his grandparents moved here in the 1950s.

“I still hear stories from my father and his five siblings about the joy that they had coming out and sharing with other families at the Elks Lodge,” he said. “So this ground has got some good juju to it, and I believe that it will continue to be a legacy for our community.”

Hines said, for the first time, the number of Northwest Arkansas residents who did not grow up here has exceeded the number of those who did. He said area leaders must “understand that reality and that we meet people where they are.”

“With the statistics showing today that hopelessness is at an all-time high,” Hines said, “46% of the people in our country will suffer from mental health issues at some point at some point in their life. … Of those in the workplace interviewed and questioned, 17% said they would hit a co-worker or cause bodily harm if they thought they could get away with it. So we’re in a time and a reflection point where mental health has never been more important to the overall health of the community. And it’s a serious threat to our quality of life.”