BOARDMAN, Ohio - A new behavioral healthcare facility is open in Boardman. The six-thousand square foot building is located on West Western Reserve Road.

Alta Care Group is in charge of the facility, and says it will increase its capacity to better serve children and families in the area. The expansion is much needed, with healthcare workers noticing an increased need for mental health services since the pandemic.

"You think about children who really lost about a year to two years of development. Social, emotional development," said Joe Shorokey, CEO of Alta Care Group. "So we have far more kids coming in than we've ever had before with depression with anxiety, social, emotional delays, and behavioral problems because they haven't learned how to conduct themselves and manage their own behaviors in a classroom setting."

Alta Care Group services about four-thousand kids a year and also provides counseling.

The new facility offers outpatient services Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and Friday until 5:00 p.m. Alta offers emergency services 24/7 at (330) 793-2487.