For more than 40 years, Prestera Center has provided caring, supportive programs of behavioral healthcare for thousands of area residents. Prestera Center provides clients and their families the highest quality of care ranging from outpatient services to 24 hour emergency care and residential substance abuse treatment. This continuum of care allows our experienced clinical staff to offer the very best treatment within a fully integrated system developed to meet the individual needs of each client. Mental health and substance abuse problems affect more Americans today than ever before.

Yet asking for help is often one of life's most difficult tasks. Because emotional stress is a part of every day life, Prestera Center for Mental Health Services is dedicated to helping people face problems with practical, realistic solutions in a confidential, professional manner.

At some point in life, we all have experienced emotional or behavioral difficulties due to physical, psychological, or social stress. However, when these problems begin to affect one's performance or relationship with family, co-workers or others, professional intervention is advised.

Mission Statement

A united effort dedicated to helping people achieve their full potential.

Vision Statement

To be the preferred choice for behavioral health services.

A Brief History

Community mental health services were sparse in West Virginia until development and implementation of a Mental Health Plan which began in the early 1960's. That plan called for the development of regional mental health centers throughout the State -- usually by combining existing local or State-owned mental health clinics and applying for federal staffing grants to initiate comprehensive community mental health centers.

The Community Mental Health Center serving Cabell, Lincoln, Mason, and Wayne Counties was first formed as the Southwestern Comprehensive Mental Health Center, March 28, 1967. The new organization assumed control of the Cabell County Mental Health Clinic and developed contracts with the County Commissions of Cabell, Lincoln, and Wayne Counties to serve the residents of those three counties. The first office of the new Center was located at 821 Sixth Avenue, the same location as the Cabell County Mental Health Clinic. Mason County was added as part of the service area in July, 1968. The Center's name was changed to Community Mental Health Center, Inc., Region II, in August, 1969.

The original incorporators included Michael R. Prestera, Harold A. LaParl, C.T. Mitchell, Milton T. Herndon, Elizabeth Wolfe, Lewis G. Mills, Barney Asbury, and George W. Johnson. Mr. Prestera served as the organization's first president, from its beginning until his death in 1970. Mr. Prestera successfully organized a campaign which moved this catchment area from near the bottom of the State priority list for community mental health services to near the top, in order to obtain a federal construction grant for the Center. The Board of Directors approved an amendment to change the corporate name to Prestera Center for Mental Health Services, Inc. in April of 1981, to honor Mr. Prestera.

Construction for the main offices of the Center began with ground breaking ceremonies June 19, 1968. The building is owned by the State of West Virginia, on land formerly owned by Marshall University. In addition to the federal construction grant, the Switzer Foundation provided $25,000. The Center's Lecture Hall is named after the benefactor of that Foundation. Center staff moved into the new building on October 15, 1969. At the time the Center was incorporated, there were three State hospitals for the mentally ill in the catchment area: Lakin Hospital, Huntington (State) Hospital, and Barboursville Hospital. There were 1,910 patients in those three hospitals. Today, the Barboursville facility serves as a veterans' home and Lakin as a long-term care facility for the elderly. As of March 1, 1986, the population of Huntington (State) was 311 and there were 1,166 patients in all of West Virginia's facilities for the mentally ill.; Prestera Center provided clinical services for 6,794 individual clients during that same year. Today, the former Huntington State Hospital, now Mildred Mitchell Bateman Hospital, has 90 beds and Prestera Center serves approximately 10,000 individual clients annually.

Center funding has always been through a unique blending of Federal, State, and local tax funds; and client and third-party fees for service, though the proportion of that funding has varied throughout the life of the Center. Most of the funding in the early years was through Federal grants. Today, revenue comes from State and Federal grants, contracts, Medicaid and Medicare, with some other third-party providers or private pay.

The first federal grants were called �staffing grants.� Funds were available only for a percentage of staff salaries; the remainder of salary and other operational costs were paid from non-Federal grant resources. The first staffing grant began in 1968 and continued for eight years. The Phase II staffing grant (for expansion) was initiated about fifteen months later and also ran for eight years. Federal grants were a resource for basic programs; they were also helpful in establishing new programs to meet community needs.

An important element of the Center has been its response to community needs. Frequently, this has entailed new Center programs; other times it has resulted in new programs or services being developed by others in the community. The response to the community has come through the Board of Directors and through advisory groups to the Board and staff.

Specific education and treatment programs, consultation to other agencies and support groups, implementation of emergency and community support services, linkages to primary care centers, full time services in rural counties, establishment of a halfway house for substance abusers, and a public inebriate shelter. We also constructed a new facility in Wayne County, financed through local sources which opened in the fall of 1985. In 1992, Evergreen Place, a 20-unit apartment building for adults with serious mental illness, opened. By 1993, Prestera Center operated 24 different sites throughout the region and has grown annually ever since.

May 1st, 2002 marked the addition of four additional counties to Prestera's Catchment area. With the bankruptcy of Shawnee Hills Community Mental Health Center, Prestera Center incorporated Putnam, Kanawha, Boone and Clay counties into its family of services. Today there are over 50 Prestera Center locations scattered throughout the eight county region, making it the largest mental health and addictions services provider in the State of West Virginia. With nearly 700 employees, Prestera Center has ranked annually since 2003 in the top 100 employers in the State of West Virginia.