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Progress Report
The official groundbreaking for the SCR took place on April 9. Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, KDADS Secretary Laura Howard, Sedgwick County Commission Chairperson Ryan Baty, and officials with Lange Real Estate Development and Key Construction provided remarks. Stakeholders, providers, legislators, county and state staff from KDADS and the state’s psychiatric hospitals (Larned State Hospital, Osawatomie State Hospital) were there to celebrate this big milestone in the construction of the 104-bed facility.
Another big step for the hospital came with the Governor’s signing of HB 2249. The bill named the hospital officially as the South Central Regional Mental Health Hospital. It also established the catchment area for care and treatment cases that will be served at the facility, including Sedgwick, Butler, Cowley, Harvey, and Sumner counties.
The next steps are already underway to set up the hospital as a state agency, with its budget submission this fall and establishment in the state’s payroll and accounting systems.
Executive Order 23-05 expired on March 31, 2025. This EO created the South Central Regional Psychiatric Hospital Advisory Panel, which met from October 2023 to its final meeting on March 28.
The Hospital Commission is forming a Citizens’ Advisory Board, membership consisting of consumers, family advocates, consumer advocacy organizations, a mental health center representative, a higher education system representative, law enforcement, and the medical community. The Hospital project remains on track for completion by the end of October 2026, with operations beginning in early 2027.
South Central Regional Mental Health Hospital Groundbreaking Event
Updated on 08/19/2025 9:04 AM
South Central Regional Mental Health Hospital Groundbreaking Event
About the Project
The State of Kansas and Sedgwick County are constructing a 104-bed mental health hospital in Sedgwick County. This hospital will be a secure place for adults in a mental health crisis or needing competency services to stand trial.
For more information, visit the South Central Regional Psychiatric Hospital website and Sedgwick County’s website.
Advisory Panel
Governor Laura Kelly signed Executive Order No. 23-05 in August 2023 to "Establish an Advisory Panel for Planning, Design, and Construction of a Regional Psychiatric Hospital in South Central Kansas" as recommended by the 2022 Kansas Legislature's Special Committee on Mental Health Beds directed to:
- Review the need for inpatient psychiatric hospital beds and develop a long-term plan to address mental health needs;
- Review the regional bed expansion plan and how the beds would be constructed;
- Review best practices for providing the operation and oversight of the expanded beds;
- Review the long-term fiscal impact of the additional beds; and
- Study and develop a plan for providing a 50-bed facility with acute inpatient psychiatric beds and adult forensic beds in the Sedgwick County regional area.
Advisory Panel Meeting Dates
- October 9, 2023
- November 6, 2023
- November 17, 2023 (Special)
- December 11, 2023
- December 18, 2023
- January 8, 2024
- February 23, 2024
- March 22, 2024
- May 17, 2024
- June 21, 2024
- August 16, 2024
- September 20, 2024
- October 18, 2024
- December 20, 2024
- January 17, 2025
- February 21, 2025
Advisory Panel Subpanels on Law Enforcement and Workforce Development
- April 12 (both Subpanels)
- April 25 (Law Enforcement)
- April 26 (Workforce Development)
Advisory Panel Reports
Interim Report of The South Central Regional Psychiatric Hospital Advisory Panel
Final Report of The South Central Regional Psychiatric Hospital Advisory Panel
Advisory Panel Meeting Agendas & Video Recordings
The video links will direct you to the KDADS YouTube channel.
Town Hall Meetings in Conjunction with Sedgwick County
These video links will direct you to the KDADS YouTube channel.