With increasing mental health issues impacting the Lane County community, Lane County Behavioral Health Services has developed a plan to provide mental health aid to those in need.
The Lane County Stabilization Center plan was designed to address the behavioral health crisis and effects of rising homelessness rates in Lane County, which has one of the highest homeless per capita rates in the nation.
“First and foremost, we need the UO community to be aware of the current crisis our community is in when it comes to behavioral health needs and how the stabilization center will help to address at least part of that crisis,” Public Information Officer for Lane County Health and Human Services Jason Davis said.
Davis said Lane County has a severe shortage of behavioral health providers, resulting in a significant barrier to those who need care the most. The stabilization center will fill that gap immediately and provide 24/7 crisis care for anyone in Lane County who is experiencing a behavioral health crisis, he said.
There are concerns drawn from the behavioral health crisis about the public safety of residents and businesses, as well as the stress it places on emergency services in regards to unhoused people. Neither the public nor the emergency services are prepared to provide the support necessary for those who need it, according to the Lane County Stabilization Center team.
The four pillars of the 2022-2024 strategic summary for the LCSC are promote equity and decrease disparity, focus on community health and well-being with a focus on those with the highest needs, strengthen a supportive infrastructure and focus on our people.
The solution presented in the LCBH plan is to build a 24/7 behavioral health stabilization center that would provide an immediate assessment, behavioral health services, connections to specialty, long-term support and aided discharge. Aided discharge offers continued mental support and check-ins to patients re-entering the community.
The entire process would focus on providing person-centered help with dignity, respect, choice, self-determination and a purposeful life according to the LCSC website.
“We will see people who are considering suicide have a place to go anytime of the day or night, and have someone to talk to and to get help from,” Davis said. “We will see people who are forced into living on the street due to a behavioral health issue finally get the help they need for the root cause of their houselessness.”
There would be four main ways to enter the center: referrals from health and social service providers, voluntary walk-ins, mobile crisis drop-offs and law enforcement drop-offs.
The law enforcement drop-offs would be in the place of an arrest and would happen via a separate entrance. A Mobile Crisis Assessment Team, which would respond to emergency calls for those experiencing mental health crises without involving law enforcement, could execute the mobile crisis drop-offs.
The LCSC project vision came together in 2014 and the project progressed through 2020 when Operational Development began. By late 2022 and into early 2023, funding, community engagement, site selection and the development design and began.
“We are looking at a potential opening around winter 2025 and are hopeful that as we pursue this important project, our community joins us in tackling the hurdles that will inevitably be presented,” Davis said.
There hasn’t been a finalized decision on where the center will be built, but one spot that has been mentioned during past meetings was behind the Lane County Behavioral Health Services clinic on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard because of its proximity to other health resources and the fact that the land is already owned by the county.
According to its website, LCSC is projected to have the capacity to serve 42 individuals at a time and projects that over 8,200 individuals would be served annually. There will be 16 adult short-term stabilization beds, 12 youth beds and 14 adult respite beds.
The only other center like this in Oregon is in Bend. The center opened part-time in June 2020, and it served 325 people, with 464 visits within four months.
Twenty percent of clients were diverted from emergency rooms, and another 16% were brought to the center by local law enforcement, according to the plan. The center was then given a $2.4 million state grant to support 24/7 operations. This funding has continued, and the center has increased the amount of people helped, according to statistics provided by the Bend Stabilization Center.
Davis believes that a Lane County center would mean a better quality of life for everyone who lives in Lane County.
