Next Tuesday marks a lot of changes for the Keys Outpatient Behavioral Health in New Iberia but some of the most noticeable things will be in its name and eventually new projects the center has planned.

Formerly Keys To Sober Living, the local landmark on St. Peter Street will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. for the community of New Iberia and has been a stable in the Teche Area for over 10 years. Keys Outpatient Behavioral Health specializes in substance abuse and prevention as well as treatment.

Dr. Joseph Wilson and his staff work together on the challenges of addiction and have used their years of experience to dedicate themselves to providing some of the best care in New Iberia, according to new team member Dr. Corrine Stoewsand.

Stoewsand comes to the Teche Area from Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she worked the past 15 years before being recruited to come to New Iberia.

As part of the new changes coming its way at Keys Outpatient Behavioral Health, Stoewsand will help oversee a few projects, including expanding to build an in-patient residential treatment center.

“We’re looking at building transitional housing for people who have recovered and can’t go back to the neighborhoods and houses they’ve lived before,” Stoewsand said.

Stoewsand said the projects she is working on are not quite ready to launch yet, but they are close. She started working in the field of psychology, providing counseling and coaching and working with patients, but wanted to return home to the United States.

Before spending the last 15 years in South America, Stoewsand worked in urban planning while studying at Columbia in New York. She jumped at the opportunity for the project in New Iberia, where she moved here in January.

“I’m working on creating some programs here for people who are treated here for addiction, who have recovered from addiction, for people in the health professions and the general public,” Stoewsand said.

The idea of social work, counseling and psychology, according to Stoewsand, is shifting to see addiction and its treatment as part of behavioral health, and mental health treatment is seen as a behavioral health treatment. Keys Outpatient Behavioral Health also is expanding into recovery enhancement.

“It makes sense for a number of reasons,” Stoewsand said.

That stems from an underlying theme in both New Iberia and overall in the world, Stoewsand said, and she and her team are here to help anyone in need.

“I think addiction is a growing problem,” Stoewsand said. “We know in Lousiana it continues to grow. One of the things we are doing is providing the best treatment possible to as many people as possible.”