Mental Health Services Get $5.5 Million Boost
The award will be used to build a Crisis Response Center that will fill a critical gap in mental health services for Planning District 16.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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In 2023 Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed into law a series of bills under the Right Help, Right Now initiative to strengthen the state’s ailing mental health system. A cornerstone of that initiative is to expand the number of Crisis Receiving Centers (CRC).
Today, the governor announced that the Rappahannock Area Community Services Board (RACSB) will receive $5.5 million to build a new crisis receiving center that will serve the city of Fredericksburg and the counties of Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania, and Stafford.
Crisis Receiving Centers are meant to fill a gap in the existing mental health service network by providing locations where people can come for 23-hour observation. Amy Umble of RACSB told the Advance in a phone call that crisis receiving centers act like a “walk-in emergency department for mental health issues.” Anyone can show up and be observed for 23 hours.
Umble said that’s often all that’s needed. If further care is deemed necessary, then the CRC can help find those solutions.
“This is about cutting through red tape and delivering results families can count on,” said State Senator Tara Durant, who has worked closely with the governor on mental health care and carried one of the bills that drive the Right Help, Right Now initiative, in a press release. “When someone is in crisis, they shouldn’t have to wait hours in an ER or rely on law enforcement. These centers will make sure help is available the moment it’s needed.”
More Options to Respond
Currently, the pathway to services at RACSB go through Emergency Service therapists. From there comes a continuum of options: “brief intervention and safety planning, residential crisis stabilization, or hospitalization,” according to Umble.
The award announced today builds on an earlier award announced in March of 2024 and will bring a CRC to the region. The funds will be used to purchase and renovate the 79,420-square-foot building at 4701 Market Street near the newly opened Veterans Affairs outpatient center and a standalone emergency department run by Mary Washington Healthcare.
The build previously belonged to Rappahannock Goodwill Industries. Goodwill is scheduled to stay in part of the building while the renovations take place, according to Umble.
In addition to the new CRC, the funds will also support the relocation and updating of the “long-standing Sunshine Lady House adult [crisis stabilization unit in Fredericksburg,” according to the governor’s press release. The money will also allow for adding “a youth CRC and CSU … significantly increasing the region’s crisis care capacity.”
Umble told the Advance that plans are currently for the new CRC start providing service in April 2027.
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