DEKALB – Dozens of people gathered this week for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the completion of renovations to the Personal Development Association and newly reconfigured office space at 304 N. Sixth St., Unit C in DeKalb.
The event, hosted by the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce, was intended to highlight facility improvements the chamber has been working on over the years, project leaders said.
Dani La Ha, AID’s vice president of behavioral health, said the office space renovation was much needed.
“This will allow us to expand our services,” La Ha said Thursday. “[It’s] A lot of what we were already doing was larger and had private offices. … Now that we have more offices, we can hire more therapists. [and] You can accept more clients.
“But also, the big thing that we’re really looking forward to is expanding into children and youth. We now have some large offices that can be used for family therapy to serve children. Currently we just [serving clients ages] Over 18 years old. “
The renovation added five new offices and one conference room to the building’s layout.
There will also be a waiting room for clients to use, something La Ha said the agency didn’t have before.
“It was just a chair. It wasn’t very comfortable for local residents who came to get services,” La Ha said. “Now they have a space to go while they wait or when their family members are waiting for someone. [It’s] The purpose is to increase comfort and attract more people into the building. ”
While refurbishment works are underway, staff have been advised to work together flexibly around the office space. Some people sometimes work from home.
“The last thing we wanted was to disrupt service for our clients,” La Ha said. “We did a lot of juggling. We did a lot of office sharing. [and] Allocate offices so customers can continue to receive service. ”
La Ha said the waiting list for behavioral health services is growing at AID due to the lack of recently completed renovations.
“This allows us to serve more customers and eliminate the need for waiting lists,” she said.
The cost of renovating the office space was partially covered by a $20,000 grant awarded by the DeKalb County Mental Health Commission, project leaders said.
