A new facility offering mental health treatment has opened in Renton.

On June 28, Aristo Health founder and CEO Charanpreet Gill cut the grand opening ribbon to celebrate the new Aristo Intensive Behavioral Health Treatment Facility, giving citizens who struggle with mental health crises vital access to housing, medicine and treatment plans.

“Today marks a momentous occasion for Aristo,” Gill said. “This is a milestone that represents an unwavering commitment to providing exceptional care and support to individuals struggling with mental health challenges. Our vision is to foster a culture of compassion, understanding and healing.”

The clinic houses 16 beds and is created with the goal of long-term care for patients needing non-intensive mental health aid.

The first patients are scheduled to move in July 8 from Olympic Heritage Behavioral Health in Tukwila. They will receive around-the-clock care to help overcome their battles with mental illness while learning skills to reintroduce them back into society.

“For our patients, we promise to provide a personalized and comprehensive approach to treatment addressing the unique needs and goals of each individual,” Gill said. “Our staff will work tirelessly to ensure that care is tailored to the specific requirements empowering them to achieve lasting wellness and resilience. We recognize the trust placed in us, and pledge to honor the trust with compassion, empathy, and a relentless pursuit of excellence.”

For years, once hospitals deemed citizens to be finished with their battles against intensive mental health problems, hospitals would send patients back into society with no safety nets or reintroduction mechanisms, Gill said. Quite often, this would create a circular pattern where one would have battles with mental illness, temporarily overcome them in a hospital, then immediately be sent back into turbulent society and have the same issues again.

This Aristo Health clinic was designed to solve that key problem, Gill said, by building skills and protection plans for individuals outside of critical care so that they can successfully reintroduce themselves into society.

“Releasing someone to navigate on their own without proper support can feel not only overwhelming, but almost cruel at times,” said Diane Dobson, CEO of the Renton Chamber of Commerce. “Aristo Health fills this critical gap. It is a place where we, as a community, can come together to provide a safe, supportive environment for these individuals. Here patients will find that they are not alone, that there are people who care, and there is a network ready to help them transition back to independent living.”

State Rep. David Hackney (D-11th District) echoed these points with a personal anecdote during the ceremony.

“Aunt Viv, my mother’s younger sister, was diagnosed with mental illnesses in the 1950s, and she did not get the care and respect and services she deserved,” Hackney said. “She was in and out of state hospitals because when she was out, there was not an outpatient center, and there was not the transition services to help her remain healthy.”

Hackney emphasized the growing acceptance of mental illness as a serious problem, and the role the government will play in solving the crisis.

“In the old days, mental health issues were a stigma. My family hid my Aunt Viv’s illness. Today, we no longer see mental health as a stigma. We don’t see it as any more of a stigma than any other physical ailment. Today, we look at it as something were people need our love, need our compassion, need our services,” he said.

Renton’s city officials continue to support organizations fighting against mental diseases and highlight Renton’s community efforts to support one another through hardship.

“The importance of community cannot be overstated. It is through our collective efforts that we can create a nurturing environment where individuals can heal, and they can grow,” Dobson said. “When we link our arms together and wrap our arms around these patients and this facility, we send a powerful message. You can be saved, there are people who care, and we are here to provide the safest and most supportive space available. This collaborative spirit is what makes our Renton community so special and so very strong.”

Ribbon cutting at Aristo Intensive Behavioral Health Treatment Facility, 95 S. Tobin St., Renton. Max Burchi, Sound Publishing