Heartland Center for Behavioral Change

About Heartland Center for Behavioral Change

Heartland Center for Behavioral Change, serving the Independence, Missouri, area, is a nonprofit substance use disorder treatment and reentry agency that has worked with Missouri residents since 1982. They approach addiction as a progressive disease rather than a moral failing and encourage people to seek professional help as early as possible. Their care spans inpatient withdrawal management at a stand-alone medically monitored facility in Kansas City, intensive outpatient and standard outpatient treatment, and a community residential unit. With support from public funding, including Missouri Medicaid and the Department of Mental Health, services are open to people who might otherwise struggle to afford treatment.

Much of their work is tied to the justice system, including drug court programs in which judges, attorneys, and counselors coordinate each participant’s treatment, along with residential services for clients referred by the Missouri Department of Corrections. They also run the state’s Substance Abuse Traffic Offender Program (SATOP), offering screenings and follow-up interventions for people facing alcohol- or drug-related driving offenses. Medication-assisted treatment is paired with counseling and behavioral therapies, and their programming follows ASAM criteria to move clients through a full continuum of care. For people managing serious chronic health conditions alongside substance use, outreach workers help coordinate medical and psychiatric care and reduce everyday stressors, while case managers and peer support specialists round out the team.