NEWS RELEASE
NEW YORK STATE ANNOUNCES NEW SUPPORTIVE CRISIS STABILIZATION CENTER IN UTICA
Upstate Caring Partners’ 24/7 Facility Offers Services for New Yorkers Experiencing a Behavioral Health Crisis
State-Supported Center Provides Alternative to Unnecessary Emergency Room Visits in the Oneida County Area
The New York State Office of Mental Health today announced the opening of a new facility in Utica to provide urgent treatment to New Yorkers experiencing a behavioral health crisis, helping them to avoid unnecessary emergency room visits. Licensed in partnership with the Office of Addiction Services and Supports, the Upstate Caring Partners Supportive Crisis Stabilization Center of the Mohawk Valley provides behavioral health care services to help stabilize individuals and connect them to other community-based supports in the Oneida County area.
“New Yorkers experiencing a behavioral health crisis can utilize Supportive Crisis Stabilization Centers for caring support for up to 24 hours, avoiding trips to often busy hospital emergency rooms,” Office of Mental Health Commissioner Dr. Ann Sullivan said. “The Upstate Caring Partners Supportive Crisis Stabilization Center of the Mohawk Valley will enable individuals and families to access high-quality treatment in a welcoming environment and connect with needed services. With the opening of this latest Crisis Stabilization Center, we continue to implement Governor Hochul’s vision for expanding access to mental health care around the state.”
Upstate Caring Partners was awarded $3.8 million over five years to operate the facility, which provides immediate stabilization services and therapeutic support to individuals experiencing emotional distress, mental health symptoms, substance use challenges, or other acute issues. Located at 1002 Oswego Street and originally opened this winter, the facility became the fifth state-funded Crisis Stabilization Center to become operational.
Supportive Crisis Stabilization Centers offer voluntary, short-term support for up to 24 hours, where patients receive immediate care from mental health professionals, nurses, and peer specialists. These centers are jointly licensed by OMH and OASAS to provide an expertly staffed, effective, and cost-efficient alternative to often-stressful hospital emergency departments.
OASAS Commissioner Dr. Chinazo Cunningham said, “Supportive Crisis Stabilization Centers allow individuals experiencing a substance use or mental health crisis immediate access to help around the clock. Seeking such support is often the first step in recovery. These local centers are already proving to be successful, and we are excited about the positive impacts this facility will have in the Utica area.”
These centers provide voluntary services with an emphasis on peer support that focuses on resilience and recovery. Likewise, the centers help to maintain collaborative relationships within the state’s system of care to ensure individuals can find and access follow-up services.
Upstate Caring Partners Executive Director Geno DeCondo said, “Providing responsive care to community members in crisis remains a critical need, and a particularly challenging one, even as we have improved the scope and scale of mental health and substance use services overall. Too often there are limited resources across our emergency rooms and first responders who already have a wide scope of responsibility. Our Supportive Crisis Stabilization Center offers immediate care in a safe, non-clinical setting focused on stabilization, recovery and connection to ongoing treatment. This strengthens the continuum of care available to those in need in our community and helps relieve pressure on emergency rooms and first responders, ensuring people receive the right support at the right time.”
Utica Mayor Michael Galime said, “This Crisis Stabilization Center solves a problem that the City of Utica and our continuum of care partners run into every day — individuals in need of 24/7 supervision and assessment have nowhere to go, even if they are willing. Upstate Caring Partners understands the real-time needs of our City and its residents both housed and unhoused. I thank New York State for recognizing our needs with state funding that will enable UCP to deliver a service that will provide a necessary tool in our non-stop efforts to assist the unhoused, mentally ill, and those affected by addiction – providing a supportive path of resolution to our community.”
Assemblymember Marianne Buttenschon said, “I want to thank Upstate Caring Partners and the New York State Office of Mental Health for this innovative approach to assisting community members faced with behavioral issues.”
New York State now funds four intensive centers in Syracuse, Plattsburgh, Hicksville, and Buffalo, in addition to supportive centers in Utica and Brooklyn. Additionally, the state jointly licensed intensive centers in Hauppauge and Kingston, along with a supportive center in Poughkeepsie.
Supportive centers differ from intensive centers by providing help and support to individuals experiencing symptoms of behavioral health crisis or challenges in daily life but not at-risk of serious harm. Intensive centers offer urgent treatment to individuals experiencing an acute behavioral health crisis, providing rapid access to necessary services.
In addition to utilizing these centers, New Yorkers experiencing or who know someone experiencing a behavioral health issue may also contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. This service connects them to trained crisis counselors 24/7, who can help anyone thinking about suicide, struggling with substance use, a mental health crisis, or any other kind of emotional distress.
Likewise, New Yorkers struggling with an addiction, or whose loved ones are struggling, can find help and hope by calling the state’s toll-free, 24-hour, 7-day-a-week HOPEline at 1-877-8-HOPENY (1-877-846-7369) or by texting HOPENY (Short Code 467369). Find available addiction treatment including crisis/detox, inpatient, residential, or outpatient care on the OASAS website.
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