Canyon Creek Behavioral Health now serving Central Texas
By Janna Zepp | Photos by Skeebo and contributed
Access to mental health care just got a lot easier for Central Texans. Canyon Creek Behavioral Health, a new acute inpatient facility at 1201 Canyon Creek Drive in Temple, offers care for people in crisis experiencing depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective, substance abuse/dependence, post-traumatic stress and severe anxiety. Outpatient services will also be available, which include partial hospitalization programming and intensive outpatient programming which CCBH anticipates offering shortly after opening their inpatient programs.
Treatment includes electroconvulsive therapy, commonly used in patients with severe major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. ECT is used when other treatments, including medications and psychotherapy, haven’t worked. It is effective for the relief of depression and other conditions.
The CCBH facility has 102 beds that are a blend of 74 adult (adult and geriatrics) beds and 28 adolescent (ages 12-17) beds. The staff includes 200 licensed psychiatrists and internists, registered nurses, pharmacists, licensed social workers and professional counselors, recreation therapists and yoga instructors.
“Temple was selected as the best location for a new behavioral health facility to address the regional community need for additional mental health programs, treatments and services. It’s a rapidly growing area,” says CCBH’s Chief Executive Officer Robert Lerma, M.S., ACHE. “Planning for CCBH has been going on for five years.”
Lerma says Temple, Bell County and the surrounding communities have historically been underserved with regard to mental health care.
“With rapid population growth occurring over the past few decades and no end in sight, we believe the behavioral health needs will continue to grow as well. Our goal is to deliver quality services to these communities to meet these needs,” he says.
Canyon Creek Behavioral Health plans to work with many Central Texas community agencies in the future. Their most significant partnership will be with Baylor Scott & White Health.
“We will be in-network with many health plans, including, Aetna, Amerigroup, Baylor Scott & White, BCBS, Beacon Health Options, Cigna, Humana, Medicaid, Medicare, PHCS/Multiplan, Superior, TRICARE, UBH/Optum, Value Options and the Veteran’s Administration. This list may adjust in the future, depending on the needs of the community,” Lerma says.
Medicaid will include Texas, Traditional and Managed plans. Medicare will include Traditional and Managed plans.
“The goal of CCBH is to deliver high quality behavioral health services to the Temple community, while providing a safe environment for people during challenging times,” Lerma says. “We value patient safety, service excellence and are committed to providing unsurpassed patient care.”
Universal Health Services is CCBH’s parent company. With more than 400 behavioral health hospitals in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom, UHS employs more than 90,000 people.
To learn more about CCBH, visit canyoncreekbh.com. To learn more about UHS, visit uhsinc.com.
Meet the Canyon Creek Executive Staff
Robert Lerma, M.S., ACHE – Chief Executive Officer
Robert earned a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology from California Lutheran University, and a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from California State University in Northridge. He is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, American Psychological Association, Texas Psychological Association, Capital Area Psychological Association, and Capital of Texas Counseling Association.
Robert served the last four years as CEO for Austin Lakes Hospital, and the three years prior as the director of business development. Before Austin Lakes Hospital, he worked as a clinician for the Travis County Sheriff’s Office; and before that, as a police officer in California. Robert is a committee member of Austin/Travis County Crisis Implementation, Travis County Mental Health Court, Williamson County Crisis Intervention, Williamson County Psych Stakeholders, Burnet County Crisis Intervention, Burnet County Psych Stakeholders, and Hays County Crisis Intervention.
He brings considerable behavioral health executive expertise to the role with more than 15 years of experience.
Shawn Larabie, MSN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC – Chief Nursing Officer
Shawn graduated with an Associate degree in Applied Science – Nursing from North Country Community College in Saranac Lake, N.Y., in 1994. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2007, a Master of Science in Nursing in 2012, and a Master of Business Administration in 2012 from the University of Phoenix. Shawn relocated to the Temple area from San Antonio, where he served as chief nursing officer at San Antonio Behavioral Healthcare Hospital. In that role, he built a nursing team dedicated to high-quality patient care. Shawn developed strategies to assist the hospital in accomplishing long-term goals for growth by ensuring operational efficiency, proper staffing levels, and staff engagement.
Before his role at San Antonio Behavioral, Shawn served as an interim chief nursing officer at Georgetown Behavioral Institute. Throughout his career, Shawn has held several nursing leadership positions, including as a director of behavioral health, an administrative director of emergency services, a patient care director of ER/ICU/Geriatric Behavioral Health, and a nursing supervisor at various hospitals in New York, New Hampshire, and Texas. Shawn also received his Nurse Executive, advanced certification from the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
Heather Hill, MBA, CTRS – Director of Risk Management & Performance Improvement
Heather earned a Bachelor of Science in Recreation Administration from Texas State University in San Marcos, and a Master of Business Administration from Concordia University in Austin.
Heather has more than 15 years of experience in the behavioral health field and has worked for three hospitals within the Universal Health Services network. Most recently, she worked at Austin Lakes Hospital in Austin, where she served as the risk manager and performance improvement director for seven years. In 2018, she earned the annual Worsham Leadership Excellence Award for her exemplary leadership and team-building skills. She has successfully led multiple Joint Commission and state surveys. She has experience improving patient outcomes, patent satisfaction, and overall quality of care.
Heather is a member of the National Council for Therapeutic Recreation. She is also a UHS Service Excellence and Verbal De-Escalation Instructor.
David A. Estringel, LCSW-S, BCD, C-ASWCM, CART – Director of Clinical Services
David earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Texas at Brownsville and a Master of Science in social work from the University of Texas at Austin. He will begin a Master of Business Administration in the Healthcare Administration Program at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio this fall. Before joining Canyon Creek, he worked as a director of clinical services at Palms Behavioral Health in Harlingen and Outcomes Detox and Recovery in Brownsville. He also was a social services manager at Valley Baptist Medical Center–East Campus (an acute inpatient psychiatric hospital) in Brownsville.
While obtaining his Master’s, he interned at St. David’s South Austin Hospital ER, AIDS Services of Austin, and Austin Recovery. David has extensive experience working with multiple client/patient populations, HIV/AIDS case management and program administration, substance abuse, crisis intervention, acute psychiatric care, medical social work, LGBT health and advocacy, and post-secondary education as a clinical assistant professor of social work with Our Lady of the Lake University’s Worden School of Social Services.
