CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Local and state leaders are breaking ground on a first-of-its-kind facility in Charlotte. The Katie Blessing Center will be the largest and only pediatric behavioral health care facility in North Carolina.

“We need a place for them to go and start the healing process, and that’s what this facility will be,” said Dr. Michael Estramonte, the founder.

Work is underway, and by this time next year, crews will turn the bare walls and floors into a one-of-a-kind mental health facility designed with children in mind.

“It’s really being called a unicorn, and we didn’t realize we were building a unicorn initially,” he said. Dr. Estramonte is the brains behind the Katie Blessing Center. Named after his mother, the center’s goal is to offer comprehensive care for kids ages 5 to 17 with behavioral health needs. “It can range from everything from serious depression disorders, autism, substance abuse disorders, eating disorders,” said the doctor.

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