GREENFIELD — Citing changing service needs, Behavioral Health Network’s acute treatment service program (detox) for women has been transferred from its location on Kenwood Street to Carlson Recovery Center in Springfield.

“In the face of shifting needs, BHN is realigning our treatment centers to better meet the needs of the communities throughout the [Pioneer Valley],” BHN President and CEO Steve Winn said in a statement. “At the same time, the high volume of need for acute treatment (detox) in Hampden County, particularly in light of the closing of the MiraVista programs, indicates the need to expand our acute services at Carlson Recovery Center to accommodate men and women. This shift will allow residents of Hampden County to receive the care they need within their home communities.”

According to Katherine Mague, senior vice president at BHN, a majority of detox patients served in Greenfield have been transported to that location from Hampden County. In fact, she said, in fiscal year 2023, 14% of patients admitted for the detox program had addresses listed in Franklin County.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, women received detox services in Greenfield, while men received services in Springfield. This was to accommodate the need for isolation space at each location, according to Mague. Prior to that, both locations offered detox services to both men and women. The women’s program officially transitioned out of Greenfield on Aug. 12.

BHN will continue to maintain residential stabilization and maintenance levels of care in Greenfield, including intensive residential treatment as well as outpatient medication-assisted treatment. These services – which include clinical stabilization services at the Northern Hope Center at 21 Kenwood St.; residential rehabilitation services at Unity Place at 5 Kenwood St.; and jail diversion enhanced residential rehabilitation services through its Connections program – remain in high demand in Franklin County. BHN also provides methadone treatment in Greenfield.

“It was really about utilization patterns and making sure we’re serving the community,” Mague said. “And staffing. We need to make sure we can get the appropriate staffing at the levels they needed to be. Moving [detox services] allows us to have fully staffed programs.”

She explained that with the transition of the women’s detox program, the remaining services at the facility will have the opportunity to expand into the space previously used for detox services. In particular, the beds formerly used for acute treatment services, or detox, will be filled with an expansion of the clinical stabilization program, Northern Hope.

Addressing concerns raised at a recent public meeting in Greenfield that this change may have been influenced by conversations about the environmental cleanup at the site, Mague said this was an isolated decision. She said BHN has done its “due diligence” and the concern appears to be more with the surrounding neighborhood.

“I know it feels to some people like we’re removing services from the region,” Mague said. “That’s not how most folks who are working at the facility and being treated at the facilities are experiencing it.”

Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.