ReDiscover expands to new complex in Lee’s Summit

The play therapy room at ReDiscover’s new location in north Lee’s Summit is only one of the advantages offered by the agency’s new space.

The room, equipped with a Smartboard, crafts materials and a one-way mirror, gives therapists a place to interact with children and observe them, which helps the professionals diagnose the children’s needs.

ReDiscover is a not-for-profit agency that provides mental health and substance abuse treatment.

In June 2013, the agency bought the strip mall called Savannah Square at 1535 N.E. Rice Road, off Missouri 291, for its 40,544 square feet of space. It is gradually shifting offices from other locations as tenants’ leases expire, and soon it will fill all three buildings in the complex.

For several years, ReDiscover had been looking for a Lee’s Summit site to consolidate operations from several buildings, said Alan Flory, president and CEO.

“Having all sorts of offices, it’s not efficient, not good for communicating with our clients,” Flory said.

The agency’s administrative office formerly had been in the 1939 post office in downtown Lee’s Summit that’s being refurbished for a museum.

ReDiscover will keep its building on Independence Avenue in Lee’s Summit, two in Raytown and two in Kansas City, along with residential sites.

It’s relocating a Kansas City office to a refurbished Linwood Presbyterian Church on Linwood Boulevard.

This year, Flory said, about 26,000 people will get treatment, prevention services or crisis intervention from ReDiscover. The caseload has been growing, and the agency anticipates 2,000 new intakes annually.

ReDiscover’s service area is roughly the south half of Jackson County, Flory said.

Flory said most people know someone with a mental illness such as clinical depression, or someone with a substance abuse problem.

Statistics show that one in five adults experiences mental illness each year, he said, and one in 10 struggles with substance abuse.

Although people often tell friends and relatives about the great care they’ve gotten at one of Lee’s Summit’s hospitals, Flory said, they don’t often talk about ReDiscover.

“Somehow with mental health, they just don’t,” he said. “People don’t understand (mental illness). We still have some stigma issues.”

The new Lee’s Summit location is called the Flory Center. It provides room to add more staff, and 120 of the agency’s 400 employees will work there. The agency is adding a pharmacy so clients can easily get prescriptions filled.

The Women’s Giving Circle, a Lee’s Summit organization, made the play therapy room possible through a donation.

Last week, ReDiscover celebrated its move with an open house to let the community learn more about how the agency serves residents.

In the coming year, ReDiscover will be teaching classes in Mental Health First Aid for teachers, firefighters or other people who interact with the public. They will be trained on what to look for as signs of mental illness and how to get people the help they need.

The one-day training sessions will be offered to a couple hundred people through a grant from the Baptist Trinity Foundation that was arranged by the Lee’s Summit Health Advisory Board.

Recently the agency added a full-time counselor who responds to calls with police, and another who works with clients in the mental health court.

Flory said the agency also is starting a program to identify high-risk people and make contact with them to offer services.

He said referrals could come from places like hospitals or schools. A counselor might go to that person’s house or have lunch with the prospective client, to begin the process of creating a relationship so the person will accept treatment.

The agency also helps clients find health care and housing, because people with mental health and substance abuse problems often have chronic health issues and can lack housing as well.

Flory said the newer programs continue a tradition of seeking ways to provide better service to clients.

Fifteen years ago ReDiscover helped the Lee’s Summit Police Department start a Crisis Intervention Team, where police officers get an intensive 40 hours of training on how to deal with and help people with mental health issues.

Flory is the third director in the agency’s 45 years, taking the job 20 years ago.

Shirley Olson, chairman of the volunteer board, described Flory as innovative and highly regarded in his field.

She said he built an agency that is focused on meeting the needs of its clients.

“It’s always amazed me how caring people are at ReDiscover,” Olson said. “I get the feeling they’d do it without pay, they’re so dedicated to helping.”

This story was originally published November 11, 2014 at 5:02 PM with the headline "ReDiscover expands to new complex in Lee’s Summit."