Work on the mental health and addiction facility’s Alexander House will start this week, raising Ashburn’s total bed capacity from 50 to 61.
Nursing and allied health director Monique Lammers said she was excited for the expansion to take place, as it would provide a place for people who were ready to leave hospital but not yet ready to go home.
The focus would be on helping people, she said.
"There will be people with addiction issues or dependence on alcohol and other drugs.
"There’ll be provision for those people, people with struggling with anxiety and depression relationship difficulties — anyone with issues around being able to live well enough on their terms."
The building had not been used as a residential area for at least 10 years, although it had been used for extra space during the Covid-19 pandemic, she said.
Ashburn currently had a "makeshift Alex house" instead, although it did not have as many beds.
Bedrooms had been repainted, bathrooms stripped out and carpets lifted as the overhaul of the building got under way.
Work would begin this week to bring the building up to code, and the main lounge area would also be expanded.
Strategy director David Murray said to get access to hospital level psychiatric services, people had to be very unwell — typically they went through the emergency department.
On the other end of the scale, there was some provision for very mild cases in primary care.
"If you’re struggling, if you’re really struggling, but you’re not acutely unwell, there’s not a lot [to] provide for you."
It was the biggest expansion of residential capacity the clinic had undertaken in a long time — perhaps half a century, he said.
"It’s a big jump."
The redeveloped Alexander House was expected to open in late March.
It would be the base for a new therapeutic day programme, Mr Murray said.
Medical director Dr Megan Bryan said the building would also house Ashburn’s repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation machine, which they had already used on a small number of people, with good results.
It was a way of treating conditions such as depression, and was not commonly used in New Zealand.
The redeveloped building would be especially good for local people, because it would offer help to non-residential patients as well as to those staying there.
