Springfield-based Brightli and Nashville-based Centerstone finalized their merger Tuesday morning as the leaders of both signed a master transaction agreement (MTA) at the Brightli administrative camps on W. Battlefield.
The merger of Brightli – the parent company of Burrell Behavioral Health – and Centerstone creates the largest nonprofit behavioral health care provider in the U.S. It’s set to close in November.
The merger will adopt the Centerstone brand and name. When it's complete, the organization will employ more than 10,000 team members with physical operations in nine states. Centerstone will serve nearly a quarter-of-a-million clients annually.
Brightli CEO C.J. Davis said they’ll deliver care that’s more convenient, more accessible and based on research.
"Centerstone has really taken a lead in developing the first research institute," he said, "and so, for the client services that we provide, this clearly is something that Brightli could have achieved over many, many years, but we never would have been able to achieve this on our own."
Centerstone CEO and co-founder David Guth said there are still new treatments to be developed, but a significant amount of infrastructure is needed to partner with the nation’s leading researchers to advance the science behind those treatments.
"We've both been doing the best we can," he said, "but coming together just gives us more capabilities to do that."
Guth said being in nine states allows Centerstone to see the best in practice for a variety of services, from crisis to rehabilitative services for those with chronic and persistent mental illness. They've served as a trusted voice in those states for their funders and regulators, he said.
Davis said, as one organization, not only will they be able to influence public policy, but they'll be able to appeal to people and what they need. Currently, Brightli's subsidiaries go by their own names, like Burrell Behavioral Health and Preferred Family Healthcare, he pointed out, and that will change with the merger.
"With a trusted name like Centerstone," he said, "that's really, really critical."
They'll work to educate everyone about what Centerstone is and what it means for the public and the clients they serve, he said, but in the end, what matters is the care they receive.
"Whether that (name badge) says Centerstone or whether that says Brightli or whether that says Burrell, what is clear to us is that people deserve a higher quality of care and the best services available to them by the best trained clinicians," said Davis. "And regardless of what that name badge says, they'll be receiving that."
In a press release, Davis pointed out that a significant amount of the new organization's operations will be based in Missouri and that their commitment to the state runs deep. He said they will remain "steadfast in providing high-quality mental health care to Missourians now and for generations to come."
One of the speakers at the celebration ahead of the signing of the MTA was Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams, who has been a member of the Brightli Board of Directors for eight years and who has been asked to serve as chairman of the board of the new organization. Williams said the nation is at a tipping point in the delivery of mental health, substance abuse and developmental disability services.
"We have the opportunity to make a transformational change by merging Brightli and Centerstone," he said. "We can address nationwide problems with nationwide resources at a nationwide scale."
Another speaker was Sarah Huggins, a retired criminal defense attorney and secretary of the Centerstone of America Board of Directors. She talked about a family member who was diagnosed with schizophrenia in the 1950s when stigma was pervasive. She said that stigma "was inhibiting and demoralizing to my relative and to my family" and that the few services that available "were few and. most often than not, ineffective."
She said the field of mental health has advanced significantly since then and that the stigma that creates barriers to treatment has been reduced.
"Centerstone is there to give them hope through effective state-of-the-art treatment options so that they have a chance to lead a productive life," she said. "And through this merger, those chances have increased exponentially as Brightli and Centerstone come together and bring together their financial resources and their collective years of experience."
Guth will be the head of the merged organization. Davis will be CEO-elect and will take the helm in January 2027 when Guth retires after 39 years and becomes CEO emeritus.
Brightli’s member organizations will be rebranded over a one to two-year period, according to Davis.