Community Counseling Center history

In 1970, the center was approached by the Huron Public School District with the idea of starting a pilot program to counsel students in the schools.

Initially, Lawrence found a professional home at Bridge Counseling, founded in Las Vegas in 1971.

In 1972 the Board and staff worked with a group of local citizens interested in starting a group home/treatment center for troubled adolescents.

In November 1976 CCS moved to 1552 Dakota Avenue South with the first purchase of property to house the agency.

Word was received in 1978 that Community Counseling Services was one of 10 centers nationally and one of two rural centers funded to pilot a Community Support Program to assist in deinstitutionalizing state hospital patients.

Lawrence had been active in the Las Vegas gay community since 1979 when he moved from Pittsburgh with his husband, Ernie Egyed.

Community Counseling raised money however it could, hosting pancake breakfasts, auctions, a High Tea in the Liberace Mansion, as well as raffling off a restored 1983 Monte Carlo automobile.

While Bridge's focus at the time was on adolescent drug and alcohol abuse, it did offer a Gay Growth Group briefly in the spring of 1984 open to individuals 16 and older.

In 1986 CCS partnered with Huron Regional Medical Center to establish a crisis room in the hospital for the short-term treatment and stabilization of area residents suffering an acute mental illness episode.

As clinical director for Bridge in 1987, Lawrence created programs for Las Vegas's gay community, including support groups for HIV-positive men and women.

In 1988 the Board of Directors signed an FmHA loan to purchase and rehab the Standard Oil Building, naming it the Bradfield-Leary Center.

In addition, after PFLAG [Parents, Friends & Families of Lesbians and Gays] was re-established in Las Vegas in October 1990, it met at Community Counseling.

The Moody County Commission voted to identify CCS as the mental health and alcohol/drug treatment provider for the county in 1993 and a small clinic building was purchased in Flandreau.

Counseling programs have been an intrinsic component of FGCU’s graduate program since the university opened in 1997.

In 1998 the agency changed its name to Morrow County Behavioral Health to avoid the stigma associated with the term “mental health.”

With $2000 of his own money Lawrence had his non-profit application papers drawn up and presented them to his boss at Bridge--who then gave Lawrence two weeks to vacate his office and take all his clients with him.

Clinical improvements during the past decade have included the start of the IMPACT Program in 2001 to more effectively serve people with histories of frequent hospitalizations.

In 2004 CCS moved its corporate/outpatient offices to 357 Kansas SE placing all mental health services in Huron into close proximity to Huron Regional Medical Center and the medical clinics for greater coordination of services with primary health clinicians.

Previously, the network of these behavioral healthcare providers came together as Maine Mental Health Partners (MMHP) in 2008.

In 2010 CCS opened a secure residential treatment facility in south Morrow County called Lakeview Heights.

In 2011, Community Counseling Services expanded their Flandreau office by remodeling a building at 218 2nd Street in Flandreau.

In 2012 CCS opened Juniper Ridge Acute Care Center to address the significant shortage of adult inpatient beds statewide that has a disproportionate impact on the needs of eastern Oregon residents.

Arlene was honored in 2013 as a pioneer of the Community Counseling Center and annually, the "Arlene B. Chandler" award is presented at the agency’s Lyceum event to an individual demonstrating outstanding mental health leadership and advocacy.

On April 22, 2014 the Board of Directors then appointed Belinda Nelson as Interim Executive Director.