The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust recently awarded a $100,000 grant to Kitsap Mental Health Services for inpatient facility enhancements at its Residential Treatment Center (RTC) and Adolescent Treatment Unit (ATU).

The grant, which will deliver $35,000 cash up-front for the project, will also challenge others in the Kitsap community to contribute to the capital campaign by offering a dollar-for-dollar match of up to $65,000. With $632,000 raised by KMHS to date, the campaign is nearing its $780,000 goal.

“The capital improvements that we are addressing directly affect KMHS’ ability to serve people at a critical juncture in their treatment,” says KMHS Executive Director Larry Keller. “Kitsap Mental Health Services is focused on improving lives, giving back a quality that has been lost and teaching self-sufficiency. The road to self-sufficiency is a long one which begins for many in KMHS’ ATU and RTC program.”

The facility upgrades which will begin shortly, create a safe waiting and visiting area for the adolescent unit and will encourage family involvement in the treatment process. They will also add a fully accessible shower within the ATU unit to simplify intake, and ready youth to enter the ward; enable intake and assessment functions in both the ATU and RTC to be isolated from the residential areas to improve physical security and privacy for patients and assigned staff; create quiet rooms where patients displaying severe behavioral symptoms will not affect others on the ward; and enhance kitchen and food service designs.

The RTC and ATU programs are a part of KMHS’ hospital diversion challenge. By diverting over 5,000 adult psychiatric bed days from community and state hospitals, KMHS reduces psychiatric inpatient costs for adults by $2 million each year. Likewise, by diverting over 3,000 children’s psychiatric bed days from community and state hospitals, KMHS reduces psychiatric costs for children by approximately $1.3 million each year.

The ATU, a ten-bed short-term psychiatric inpatient facility for patients ages 13-17, and provides stabilization, evaluation and treatment services in a secure setting for youth exhibiting severe emotional, mental or behavioral problems. Its intensive treatment program is designed to stabilize a youth’s immediate crisis and create a discharge plan that will continue in an outpatient setting.

The RTC is a fifteen bed, short-term psychiatric treatment facility that provides similar services to adults in the community.

The M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust was created by the will of the late Melvin J. (Jack) Murdock, who was a co-founder of Tektronix, Inc. of Beaverton Ore. It began operations in 1975 with assets of $91 million and has grown to over $350 million while more than $235 million has been awarded in grants.

Past Bremerton recipients of the Trust include the USS Turner Joy project and The Aurora Valentinetti Puppet Museum and Admiral Theatre renovation.