Construction at Lakeview Center

New Children’s Center Provides a Therapeutic Environment for Families

Lakeview Center ushered in a new era in children’s services with the recent opening of a state-of-the-art, 48,600 square-foot facility dedicated to helping children and their families.

The three-story Melba B. Meyer Children’s Services Center allows Lakeview to offer all of its outpatient services for children in a single location. More important, however, the newly constructed center provides a more spacious, pleasing and therapeutic environment for children with mental health and behavioral challenges.

Having a child diagnosed with a mental health issue can be traumatizing to a family. It is extremely important that we provide our services in a facility where these families feel supported and welcomed. That starts at the front door.

~ Edna Williams, director of Children’s Behavioral Health Services at Lakeview Center

Located on the corner of “H” Street and Lakeview Avenue, the new center houses Lakeview’s impressive collection of outpatient children’s services as well as a school for children with serious behavioral health issues. An entire floor of the building is devoted to FamiliesFirst Network of Lakeview (FFN) and its partner agencies. Lakeview Center is the lead agency for FFN, which is responsible for the safety and well-being of abused or neglected children throughout Northwest Florida.

Inside the Melba B. Meyer Children’s Services Center

First Floor

• Reception area
• School operated by the Escambia County School District with clinical and therapeutic support from Lakeview Center

Second Floor

• School Day Support
• School Overlay
• Children’s Case Management
• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Child and Adolescent Counseling
• Infant Mental Health
• WRAP Team
• Specialized Foster Care including the CHIPS, CIRCLE and Matrix programs

Third Floor

• FamiliesFirst Network’s Escambia County Service Center
  • Case Management
  • Adoptions
  • Independent Living
  • Placements
• FFN Partner Agencies
  • Children’s Home Society
  • Family Care
  • University of West Florida
  • Escambia County Child Protection Services

The center is named for the late Melba B. Meyer, who left a charitable trust to help fund programs for children. That trust has long provided support for Lakeview’s services for children, making it one of largest donors to the organization.