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HomeHealthOsage Nation to break ground on new Counseling Center Complex in Pawhuska

News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

Osage Nation to break ground on new Counseling Center Complex in Pawhuska

The groundbreaking commemoration is scheduled for April 4 at 1:30 p.m. at the location site 436 Elks Lodge Rd.

On April 4, the Osage Nation plans to break ground on a new Counseling Center Complex in Pawhuska with transitional living facilities to serve both adolescents and adults for substance use, counseling and mental health treatments.

The groundbreaking commemoration is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the location site, 436 Elks Lodge Rd., where construction will take place. ON government and project officials will be at the event which marks the construction start on the upcoming Counseling Center and PRT facilities.

“Living well requires good health. Next week, on April 4, we will break ground for construction of the much-needed Primary Residential Treatment facility, Transitional Living Center, and related buildings,” Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear said in his 2023 State of the Nation address to the Eighth ON Congress on March 27. “These will greatly step up our capacity to confront the pains of depression, drug addictions, alcoholism, and anxieties. Our existing programs grappling with these serious matters will find the new investment a great assistance to their efforts.”

In 2021, the Seventh ON Congress appropriated $15,399,736 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for land purchase and project costs. ARPA funds are used due to behavioral health needs and public health impacts exacerbated by the pandemic, according to a news release.

According to the Nation, the Counseling Center project includes new access roads with approximately 22,500 square feet of building-related infrastructure with five new facilities:

  • Men’s PRT facility (approximately 4,500 square feet)
  • Women’s PRT facility (approximately 4,000 square feet)
  • Adolescent PRT (approximately 6,000 square feet)
  • Men’s and Women’s Transitional Living (approximately 3,000 square feet)
  • Outpatient Building (approximately 5,000 square feet)

The release also states: “The Osage Nation Counseling Center is comprised of a multidisciplinary team focusing on comprehensive services specific to women, men, children, and adolescents. Counseling services include: mental health, substance use, marriage and family, school-based, and trauma-focused. Peer recovery and case management services include: assistance with legal problems, medical care, social services, financial training, social support, housing assistance, literacy training, and education needs. Residential services include: a 60-day treatment focusing on relapse prevention, anger management, Wellbriety, the 12-steps, and trauma, with an emphasis on cultural connection.”

Outpatient services are available to all members of the community, while residential services are exclusively available to members of any federally recognized Tribe.

For more information about ON Counseling Center services, visit: https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/services/counseling-center

Author

  • Benny Polacca

    Title: Senior Reporter

    Email: bpolacca@osagenation-nsn.gov

    Instagram: @bpolacca

    Topic Expertise: Government, Tribal Government, Community

    Languages spoken: English, basic knowledge of Spanish and French

    Benny Polacca (Hopi/ Havasupai/ Pima/ Tohono O’odham) started working at the Osage News in 2009 as a reporter in Pawhuska, Okla., where he’s covered various stories and events that impact the Osage Nation and Osage people. Those newspaper contributions cover a broad spectrum of topics and issues from tribal government matters to features. As a result, Polacca has gained an immeasurable amount of experience in covering Native American affairs, government issues and features so the Osage readership can be better informed about the tribal current affairs the newspaper covers.

    Polacca is part of the Osage News team that was awarded the Native American Journalists Association's Elias Boudinet Free Press Award in 2014 and has won numerous NAJA media awards, as well as awards from the Oklahoma Press Association and SPJ Oklahoma Pro Chapter, for storytelling coverage and photography.

    Polacca earned his bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and also participated in the former American Indian Journalism Institute at the University of South Dakota where he was introduced to the basics of journalism and worked with seasoned journalists there and later at The Forum daily newspaper covering the Fargo, N.D. area where he worked as the weeknight reporter.

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Benny Polaccahttps://osagenews.org

Title: Senior Reporter

Email: bpolacca@osagenation-nsn.gov

Instagram: @bpolacca

Topic Expertise: Government, Tribal Government, Community

Languages spoken: English, basic knowledge of Spanish and French

Benny Polacca (Hopi/ Havasupai/ Pima/ Tohono O’odham) started working at the Osage News in 2009 as a reporter in Pawhuska, Okla., where he’s covered various stories and events that impact the Osage Nation and Osage people. Those newspaper contributions cover a broad spectrum of topics and issues from tribal government matters to features. As a result, Polacca has gained an immeasurable amount of experience in covering Native American affairs, government issues and features so the Osage readership can be better informed about the tribal current affairs the newspaper covers.

Polacca is part of the Osage News team that was awarded the Native American Journalists Association's Elias Boudinet Free Press Award in 2014 and has won numerous NAJA media awards, as well as awards from the Oklahoma Press Association and SPJ Oklahoma Pro Chapter, for storytelling coverage and photography.

Polacca earned his bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and also participated in the former American Indian Journalism Institute at the University of South Dakota where he was introduced to the basics of journalism and worked with seasoned journalists there and later at The Forum daily newspaper covering the Fargo, N.D. area where he worked as the weeknight reporter.

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