Ohana’s architecture employs Mother Nature as part of the behavioral health team to treat young patients.

The graceful curves of the new Montage Health Ohana campus have been rising out of the earth among the oak trees along a ridge above Highway 68 in Monterey for the last three years, a harbinger of the healing to come. Monterey County’s first behavioral health inpatient treatment center for youth, combined with outpatient services for children, teens and their families, Ohana – named for the Hawaiian word for “family” – was purposely crafted to incorporate nature as part of the patients’ prescriptions.

It’s finally set to open after a celebration that was scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 29, after the Weekly’s print deadline.

The exterior and interior design of the campus utilize evidence-based design to promote healing and wellness. The interior, with high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over nearby rolling hills, brings nature into the space to give young patients and their families a calm setting to breathe and relax. The exterior offers places to stop and reflect, or engage with nature through recreational activities. It’s all a part of the plan for effectively treating children and teens who are experiencing mental illness, and is meant to be the exact opposite of what people would traditionally think of as a cold, harsh institutional setting.

Ohana’s new 55,600-square-foot campus, made possible by a $105.8 million donation from Roberta “Bertie” Bialek Elliott in 2018 toward launching the program and construction of the new facility, “says to the community that mental health matters, that it’s important,” says Dr. Susan Swick, Ohana’s founding executive director and chief mental health officer for Montage Health. “And the space makes a difference.”

Swick has spent the last five years since she was hired building the Ohana staff and program from scratch, using other offices among Montage’s facilities while waiting for the campus to be completed. Early on, she interacted with nonprofits and school districts, looking for ways to partner and encourage mental health fitness among Monterey County’s students, as well as reduce barriers to children and youth receiving treatment.

“The truth is mental illness is really common and it’s always treatable – and if we catch it early it’s curable,” Swick says.

Features of the facility include an outpatient treatment wing, which will open first, and 16 residential beds, set to open in 2024, which will become Monterey County’s first psychiatric beds specifically for youth. It will include individual, group and family treatment rooms, mediation rooms, quiet spaces and a gym, as well as outdoor recreation. It will also have classrooms and community meeting spaces, a family resource center, an amphitheater and a kitchen and dining area.

Swick says there will be opportunities for youth to engage in cooking, gardening, music and art as part of the healing process. Curated art and murals are being incorporated into the spaces “which have proven to improve health outcomes, reduce lengths-of-stays, support emotional processing and self empowerment, and enhance the patient and family experience,” according to the Ohana website.

Even before it opened, the campus – designed by the Seattle-based firm NBBJ, which uses research to create sustainable facilities that encourage health and wellness – won two architectural awards. In 2022, it won the Healthcare Design Award from the American Institute of Architects for best of healthcare building design, healthcare planning and healthcare design-oriented research. This year the campus was awarded the Structures Awards honor by the Silicon Valley Business Journal for innovative design that promotes healing and wellness.

“The opening of the Ohana campus is a milestone in addressing the youth mental health crisis that affects 1 in 4 families in the United States,” Steven Packer, president and CEO of Montage Health and Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, said in a statement.

“Youth mental health has been characterized as the public health issue of our time. Ohana exemplifies the power of philanthropy, partnerships and medical excellence and innovation to help our youth and their families turn hurt into hope,” he said. “Ohana and Monterey County represent a national model we hope others can learn from and replicate, as we connect with schools, other health care providers, and community partners to address this vital need.”