State DOH shuts down two mental health facilities

Hawaii’s Department of Health is consolidating a mental health clinic in Kailua and an Oahu clubhouse for people with mental illnesses and integrating them into other state facilities to eliminate lease rents. The Kailua Counseling Center at 20 Aulike St. closed on July 16 and the Honolulu Clubhouse at 780 S. Beretania St. will close on Aug. 1, according to Adult Mental Health Division officials.

Some 100 Kailua center clients will be referred to Windward Oahu Community Mental Health Center in Kaneohe, six miles away, while about 200 clients helped by the Honolulu Clubhouse are to be served by the Kalihi-Palama Community Mental Health Center.

DOH said budget cuts forced it to look at terminating leases on properties. The lease rent for the Kailua center was about $38,000 a year and the Honolulu Clubhouse rent was about $97,000. Both the Kaneohe center and the Kalihi-Palama Community Mental Health Center are in state-owned buildings.

Closing the Kailua Counseling Center will mean hardship for many clients who will have to take two buses to go to Kaneohe, and "the issue is such a small amount of money," said Marya Grambs, executive director of Mental Health America. She said the Honolulu Clubhouse will have about four-fifths less space at the Kalihi Palama center and no place for members to eat except in an uncovered backyard area.

"It's heartbreaking to see the system chipped away in big chunks and little chunks," she said.