Bemidji’s Hope House Celebrates 45th Anniversary at Newly Renovated Drop-in Center

Hope House in Bemidji provides support services to community members with persistent mental illness, and in 2025, they’re celebrating their 45th year of helping those in need. An anniversary event was held at their newly renovated drop-in center last month.

The conversation surrounding mental health has changed drastically in the last several decades, and Hope House has seen many of those changes.

“Back in those days, people just would continue to go to the hospital over and over,” said Hope House Executive Director Robin Wold. “The purpose of this program was to keep them from having to do that, and to live like anybody else.”

“We serve adults with a serious and persistent mental illness,” explained Hope House Board Chair Jim Aakhus. “In other words, a chronic illness such as schizophrenia, manic depression, also known as bipolar disorder. Chronic illnesses where there’s not a cure, but they’re all treatable illnesses, but there’s not a cure for those yet.”

Along with the anniversary, Hope House is also celebrating the end of construction on the drop-in center.

“It was a cement floor and a garage, and it had a noisy heater, no bathroom in the building,” said Aakhus. “So we received a grant through the county, so it’s more dignified for our clients.”

“We can have more space for people who have anxiety, perhaps, who might struggle to be in a closed-in space,” added Wold. “Perhaps people who are hearing voices might want to sit by themselves, but be in a social group. And this is a safe place to do that.”

After being around for four and a half decades, Hope House says they know how to keep doing what works. But they’re also trying out some new things.

“We have a social robot, and so it can talk, tell, jokes, dance,” said Wold. “And then this summer for seven weeks, we will use it in our drop-in center with the people we serve and test it out there.”

But with or without the robot or their new facility, Hope House’s mission is still the same.

“I’ve talked to people today who used to be in our program who are now doing well. And they said that if they hadn’t had this kind of program, they might not even be here today,” Wold stated. “So I think it has a profound impact on people to provide that support. It’s unconditional acceptance, and it encourages and provides hope that they can get better.”

The social robot is coming from the University of Minnesota Duluth, and its test run will include everything from talking to people and providing entertainment to greeting clients and asking them what they need.