Dual Diagnosis Treatment Campus Planned in Des Moines, Iowa

Despite the presence of treatment centers, central Iowa has never had a single entry point for folks whose depression arrives wrapped around a drinking problem. A $1 million Polk County grant approved unanimously will help fill that gap. They plan to erect a 74-bed campus with medically monitored detox, residential care, mental health services and outpatient programs.

The grant goes to Fort Dodge-based Community & Family Resources, which is expanding the Grays Woods Recovery Center at 3451 Easton Blvd., near Strasser Woods State Preserve. The total project will cost about $18.5 million from opioid settlement funds, $9.5 million raised from donors and from its own funds. 

It’s expected to open in July 2027 and serve about 1,000 people a year.

Addiction & Mental Illness Rarely Arrive Alone

That gap is the argument for dual diagnosis treatment. The two conditions feed each other, but when each is handled by a different facility in a different part of the region, gaps may open up. That’s why they want one campus, one door, one solution.

The campus will hold 24 residential beds for men, 22 for women, 16 adolescent beds, and 12 medically monitored detox beds. Typical stays run four to six weeks for adults, three to six months for teens, with outpatient programs up to 16 weeks after that.

$18.5 Million Investment

Polk County Board chair Matt McCoy framed the local stakes. The center will let Iowans stay near family and friends instead of leaving the state for care. The county already opened its Life Services Center in 2024 for people with alcohol disorders and mental health conditions. Patients there can be referred onward to Grays Woods.

Working adults can take heart with the outpatient math. Multi-month tracks can wrap around a job in a way a month-long residential stay can’t. This is the difference between someone starting treatment and someone deferring it for another year.

Evaluate a Dual Diagnosis Program

If you’re comparing options, keep some questions in mind. Can the program treat multiple conditions at once? Is there medically monitored detox on site for alcohol or opioids? How does insurance or payment work, and who handles the transition between residential and outpatient levels of care? 

Getting started is made easier via our browsable treatment centers directory. We feature mental health treatment facilities and behavioral treatment centers in all 50 states, including those with co-occurring disorder tracks.

Ready to talk through options? Call 800-908-4823 (Sponsored) and a specialist can walk you through what fits.

Author

Terri Beth Miller, PhD

Author, Award-Winning Post-Secondary Teacher

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Terri Beth received her PhD in English literature from the University of Tennessee Knoxville and is an educator and disability studies scholar. For more than a decade, she has written extensively in the fields of mental health and addiction recovery and fiercely advocates for the destigmatization of mental illness.

Editor

Peter Lee, PhD

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Peter W.Y. Lee is a writer and historian of American history during the Cold War. His primary focus is the relationship between youth and popular culture and its impact on U.S. society during the twentieth century. He has published widely on how the public has used popular culture as a mechanism to address political and social shifts throughout time