GREENVILLE, N.C. – The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and Trillium Health Resources will award $13.15 million to four providers to open community crisis centers and behavioral health urgent care centers (BHUCs) in Lenoir, New Hanover and Pitt counties. The funding was made possible through a historic $835 million investment in North Carolina’s behavioral health system to ensure people have access to the right mental health services at the right time in their communities.

Community crisis centers (also known as facility-based crisis centers or FBCs) and BHUCs give people experiencing a behavioral health emergency alternatives to emergency departments when seeking the care they need. NCDHHS’ investments in the crisis response system will increase North Carolina’s ability to provide behavioral health urgent care by more than 69% and community crisis stabilization by 32% over the next few years.

“People need safe places to go when they are in crisis,” said Kelly Crosbie, MSW, LCSW, Director of the NCDHHS Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Use Services. “NCDHHS is working hard in partnership with LMEs like Trillium and with crisis service providers to ensure that people have a safe place for help when they are experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis.”

NCDHHS partnered with Trillium to select locations for the new centers based on several criteria, including regional data on the number of individuals waiting for mental health and substance use care in emergency departments and the center’s proximity to other community services. Each new facility will help individuals who receive care successfully return home with wrap-around services. The new centers will open in 2025 and join a network of 24 facility-based crisis centers in 22 other counties across the state.

The chosen providers and locations include:

“Trillium Health Resources is excited to contribute to health equity and access across our counties. These facilities will make it easier for residents to get the care they need when they need it,” shared Joy Futrell, Trillium’s CEO. “Each of these providers are well-respected and recognized in their communities and we are proud to partner with NCDHHS on this project.”

Community crisis centers (FBCs) provide short-term, inpatient mental health stabilization and substance use detox for people in the community who otherwise would need to go to a hospital. Services will increase access to assessments and behavioral health or I/DD treatment. In addition to FBCs, BHUCs are part of a continuum of services that will advance North Carolina’s behavioral health crisis response system by improving options from the moment of crisis to the point of care. These facilities increase the number of spaces where someone can go to get behavioral health care when in crisis. [source]