LADSON, S.C. (WCSC) \u2014 A Lowcountry mental health facility has expanded its capacity to serve residents in crisis, adding 24 new inpatient beds to address ongoing specialist shortages throughout the state.<\/p>\n
HCA Healthcare\u2019s Live Oak Mental Health and Wellness facility in Ladson now operates 84 inpatient beds, providing expanded access for children and adults needing mental health care. The facility is the first of its kind in the Lowcountry in over 30 years.<\/p>\n
The expansion comes as the facility maintains its focus on patient safety. Live Oak has earned the Zero Harm award from the South Carolina Hospital Association for three consecutive years, recognizing its work in suicide prevention and patient education.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really the complete culture here at HCA Healthcare Live Oak,\u201d David Herrington, the CEO of HCA Healthcare Mental Health and Wellness, said. \u201cIt\u2019s embodied by all of our employees which focuses on our patient\u2019s safety. To make sure, if they need an advocate, they have one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Staff members describe their work as more than a job.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that social work as a helping profession is a calling,\u201d Patsy Unger, the outpatient manager at the facility, said.<\/p>\n
Beyond expanding bed capacity, Live Oak is working to address the mental health specialist shortage through its graduate medical education program. The facility trains the next generation of mental health providers, working to increase interest in psychology and psychiatry residencies.<\/p>\n
The facility also partners with other specialists across the area to provide comprehensive care and access, because every patient has different needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is such a wonderful experience to see. We see folks that struggle tremendously and sometimes they feel all alone with their struggle,\u201d Unger said. \u201cAnd here with the group therapy, it\u2019s so nice that everybody can see that they\u2019re not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Group therapy is one of many program options for anyone looking for inpatient help at the facility. Live Oak Mental Health and Wellness also has a therapy dog who visits every day.<\/p>\n
Unger said the facility aims to educate patients and families about mental health symptoms and warning signs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe like to let people know that the struggle is something that we want to be a part of,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want to educate about symptoms because knowledge allows people to understand in a deeper level.\u201d<\/p>\n
The average stay at the facility is between five and seven days, however outpatient care could be more beneficial for some.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, workers want residents to have all the information<\/a> <\/a>they need to know if they need help<\/a> <\/a>and where to get it. <\/p>\n Copyright 2026 WCSC. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LADSON, S.C. (WCSC) \u2014 A Lowcountry mental health facility has expanded its capacity to serve residents in crisis,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[137231,163,85,46,137229,137230,522,51609,523],"class_list":{"0":"post-260281","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-charleston-county","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-ladson","13":"tag-live-oak","14":"tag-mental-health","15":"tag-mental-wellness","16":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}