Administrator named for behavioral health hospital

A health care executive with more than 25 years of experience in the behavioral health field has been named chief executive office and managing director of the new psychiatric hospital slated to open this winter in Cape Girardeau.

Tim Cockrell

The appointment of Tim Cockrell, which became effective Aug. 1, was announced Thursday in a joint news release from SoutheastHEALTH and Universal Health Services. Southeast and UHS have partnered in development of Southeast Behavioral Hospital now under construction at 639 S. Silver Springs Road.

The 102-bed psychiatric facility will feature two adult units, a geriatric wing and a child/adolescent unit, as well as outpatient services. It is expected to accept its first patients in February following six to eight weeks of intensive staff training.

Before accepting the position here, Cockrell served as director of behavioral health services at Appalachian Regional Healthcare in Hazard, Kentucky, where he oversaw all behavioral health units and services throughout the system.

Cockrell has also served as administrator at Crossbridge Behavioral Health in Montgomery, Alabama, a 60-bed free-standing psychiatric hospital and partial hospitalization program. He has also held senior level administrative roles at Physicians Regional Medical Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, Patients’ Choice Medical Center in Mississippi and Central Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi.

He holds a master’s degree in health services administration and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Mississippi College in Clinton. He also has an associate degree in nursing from Meridian Community College in Meridian, Mississippi.

Cockrell holds memberships and has served on several boards in the behavioral health field, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the Mississippi Nurses Association, the American College of Healthcare Executives and the Mental Health America Board of Directors.

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