The Lakeshore Mental Health Institute closed Nov. 11, 2011. Twelve years later, Knox County lawmakers are still pushing for a solution to fill the void.

They came together this week to ask the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services to study whether Knox County residents need a new state-run treatment facility.

Lack of mental and substance abuse care is a huge problem that both city and county officials have said needs to be fixed. In August, the Knoxville City Council and Knox County Commission passed identical resolutions urging lawmakers to use their special legislative session to find money for more mental health services.

That didn’t happen, but lawmakers did acknowledge the need on Oct. 18. The pandemic revealed the lack of care for those experiencing mental health issues or substance abuse locally and nationwide.

“We’ve talked about the (need for a for a mental health hospital in East Tennessee),” state Sen. Becky Duncan Massey said. “The question is, ‘What kind of beds do we need? Do we need more urgent care beds, do we need more 3-6 month beds or do we need long-term?”

Massey told Knox News that after talking with her Tennessee House colleagues, she and fellow Republican state Sen. Richard Briggs of Knoxville and state Sen. Randy McNally of Oak Ridge asked for the study because they want to learn what options are available.

An inpatient mental health facility is one of the priorities Knox County commissioners asked lawmakers to dig into this upcoming session in Nashville.

Commissioner Terry Hill told Knox News she’s hopeful since lawmakers themselves have decided to take action on the need. She wants state officials to have buy-in with their own research before they invest in services or a facility.

“I understand the need to have specific demographics and data in place if the state is looking at a major investment,” she said.

Lack of access to care is among the top three concerns listed by local providers and care partners, according to the 2023 Knox County Mental Health Report.

“I remain hopeful that something can happen to take care of our chronically mentally ill patients, and I hope that can happen sooner or later,” Hill said.

She encouraged lawmakers to look at existing facilities in East Tennessee that might be underutilized.

“I think that would be a good starting point, as I have been told by many hospitals that they do have empty beds,” she said.

Massey said there are an “exorbitant amount of beds” statewide but actually staffing them is a big problem.

“We know that that is a challenge statewide,” the lawmakers wrote.

Allie Feinberg reports on politics for Knox News. Email her: [email protected] and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @alliefeinberg.

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