Northeast Park Hill has seen promises broken before. So when Denver’s community mental health center began planning a new clinic at the site of what was, in its heyday, the country’s largest African-American-owned mall, the response was skepticism.

Other efforts over the past decade to rebuild on that block, as well as attempts to bring a grocery store to a neighborhood where residents often shop for food at gas stations, had fallen through.

False rumors swirled that the Mental Health Center of Denver would open a lock-down mental hospital. Local activists said the community deserved more in the place that once was Dahlia Square, a thriving mall with a barbershop, a bowling alley, retail stores and a roller rink. They wanted access to healthy food, a place for community gatherings, a gym.

After more than two years of community meetings, many to seek buy-in from residents, the new Dahlia Campus for Health and Well-Being opens next month. The new center’s model is unique nationally.

It will treat children who have suffered trauma — most often from abuse or neglect — as well as their parents and foster parents. But it will also have a 1-acre farm to grow carrots, potatoes and squash, and a greenhouse to produce greens, tilapia and catfish through aquaponics.

Among about 100 employees will be a farmer and an aquaponics specialist.

“How do I talk to you about dealing with trauma and raising your children if in fact, they are hungry?” said Dr. Lydia Prado, director of children and family services for the Mental Health Center.

Besides the farm, the center also will have a gym where neighborhood residents can work out, a children’s dental clinic, a community space for book clubs and meetings and a training kitchen with an herb garden where residents can take cooking classes. The campus will sell fresh chard and fish then teach people how to cook them.

“It’s all about health and well-being,” Prado said.

About 1,300 people in the neighborhood already are clients at the Mental Health Center of Denver’s other clinics for children and adults, including one in southeast Denver that has run out of space for therapy and classrooms for children who were expelled or were not functioning well in school.

A mental health clinician who works with families in northeast Park Hill reported more than half of the older children she knows are going without eating so that younger siblings will have food, Prado said. And a 3-year-old in the center’s infant mental health program asked, “Where is the face for hungry?” after a therapist showed him several pictures of sad, mad and happy faces and asked him how he was feeling.

The mental health clinic will feel more like a community center, a place for fitness and nutrition. Staff members believe that will diminish the stigma still associated with getting mental health care — people won’t know whether someone is visiting the campus to talk to a psychiatrist or to work out and buy food.

The $15.6 million project is funded in part through donations and the Mental Health Center of Denver, but mostly through tax-exempt bonds secured through the Denver Urban Renewal Authority.

The farm and greenhouse are expected to support themselves by selling a portion of the produce and fish to local restaurants and neighborhood residents. Some food will go to people who can’t afford to buy it.

The Mental Health Center of Denver is the largest of 17 community clinics across Colorado that receive state funding. Many patients visiting the clinics are covered by Medicaid.

The Denver center began looking for a place to build because the need for children’s mental health treatment is increasing. Also, more families are seeking treatment because more people are eligible for government insurance than they were a few years ago. Most patients are referred by schools.

The campus, surrounded by meandering pathways and bridges, was designed to make the most of natural light with skylights and walls of windows. Paint colors are lime green and bluebird blue. A respite area that’s nearly entirely windows will have a rocking chair and a kid-size couch.

The center will have four classrooms for students who don’t attend regular school, plus a 60-kid preschool funded by the city’s preschool program and fees based on a sliding scale.

Kaylene Anderson, who grew up in Park Hill and remembers shopping at Dahlia Square when she was a child, will send her 3-year-old son to preschool on the new campus when it opens next month. She also plans to shop for fresh vegetables and fish at the urban farm, another option for healthy food besides the 10- to 15-minute drive to King Soopers. “This is a big change,” Anderson said. “I think it’s going to be good for the neighborhood.”

The campus sits along Dahlia Street next to an affordable housing complex on one side, and on the other, senior apartments, another project funded by the Denver Urban Renewal Authority.

Jennifer Brown: 303-954-1593, jenbrown@denverpost.com or @jbrowndpost