MOUNT VERNON – Behavioral Healthcare Partners of Central Ohio held a ceremonial groundbreaking Tuesday for a 24-hour mental health and addiction crisis center.
The 8,000-square-foot Knox County Behavioral Health Crisis Center will be located adjacent to BHP’s outpatient center on Blackjack Road. It will provide crisis stabilization for adults and youth ages 12 and older.
“We are committed to providing the right level of care at the right time and in the right place. Neighbours are in need and experiencing a mental health crisis,” said BHP CEO Kate St. James.
“The optimal solution is a place close to home where individuals and families can receive the specialized care they need from experienced mental health staff.”
St. James said the center will provide rapid intervention in a welcoming and engaging environment, offering people in need an alternative to waiting in jail or for a psychiatric bed.
Kay Spergel, executive director of the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Licking and Knox Counties, said a crisis center provides a safe place where people in crisis know they can get help to overcome their crisis.
“For me, this center embodies the idea of hope. It gives hope to someone who has a problem in their life and doesn’t know what to do about it,” she said.
“Hope is the first step to healing, and healing in community is a vital part of helping us all get healthier and healthier together.”
“I believe that by doing this, we are giving people in our community the opportunity to get the care they need in their own community and to be able to get the right level of care in the right place and at the right time.”
Kate St James, CEO of BHP
The center’s staff includes a nurse, a medical director who is also a psychiatrist, counselors and peer support specialists.
St. James expects to be operational in fall 2025.
Financing of the crisis center
The project costs $4.5 million. BHP’s board launched a capital campaign in 2023 and has received $4.2 million to date. The state contributed $3 million through Governor Mike DeWine’s House Bill 45.
Jeff Scott, executive director of the Knox County Foundation, said the foundation had been anticipating the groundbreaking since BHP contacted them several years ago.
“We were very pleased to award a $300,000 grant in January that made today possible,” Scott said.
“We couldn’t be prouder that it is being donated to a project that we believe will have such a huge impact on our community and our residents, not just in the next few years, but for many, many years afterward.”
This is the largest donation in the foundation’s history.
The Ariel Foundation, Energy Co-operative and Kokosing have contributed to the project. BHP’s public campaign will raise the remaining $250,000. The Ariel Foundation will match all campaign donations up to $100,000.
Behavioral Health Crisis Center: Where Healing Begins
In the medical health care model, people have different options depending on the level of care they need:
•Basic care
•Emergency care
•Emergency room
•Hospital stay
The same is true for mental health. The Mental Health Crisis Center operates at the emergency room level.
“If someone is currently experiencing a mental health emergency and is thinking about harming themselves, or if it is an addiction-related emergency, the emergency room is the only place they can go,” St. James said.
However, St. James said national figures show that medical staff assume that someone who goes to the emergency room needs to be referred to a psychiatric hospital.
“By and large, 75% of these people don’t need as high a level of care if we can intervene with them and do it quickly, rather than having them sit in an emergency room and wait to get a bed in a psychiatric hospital,” she said.
“This is not a comment on how well the health care system does this or not. They do their job as well as they can. But they are not designed to take care of mental health.”
BHP’s Crisis Center provides this rapid response in an environment tailored to the individual’s behavioral health needs.
“We are prepared to treat them for mental health or addiction issues and can stabilize them with faster intervention. When you have a center like this, only about 25% of these individuals require more intensive care,” St. James said.
A calming environment
After BHP completes construction, the agency will relocate its emergency care services from South Mulberry Street to Blackjack Road.
The center is open 24 hours a day. When a patient arrives, medical staff assesses their needs and treats them in the emergency room or urgent care center.
The emergency room has two units: one for adolescents aged 12 and over and one for adults. Each unit can accommodate eight to ten people.
The units follow the living room model and are open plan with chairs and loungers.
“It’s meant to be a warm, calming and stimulating environment for people,” St. James said. “The staff are out there; they’re not behind closed doors, they’re not in offices. They’re out on the ward, working with people and helping them to stabilize and get what they need.”
The stay in the emergency room can last up to 24 hours.
“The time from the time they walk in the door to the time they go home is about 12 hours nationwide,” St. James said.
“After about 24 hours, you have a good idea whether you can stabilize the person on the spot or whether you need to take them to a psychiatric hospital.”
(See photos of the groundbreaking ceremony below.)
