Kitsap County Crisis Triage Center dedication, open house July 24

The public is invited to celebrate completion of the Kitsap County Crisis Triage Center, located at 1975 NE Fuson Road, Bremerton. A dedication and open house begins at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 24.

 

When the doors of the facility open Aug. 1, the triage center, operated by Kitsap Mental Health Services, will offer up to five days of 24/7 intensive support for 16 adults with behavioral health needs referred for short-term crisis services. Based on similar recovery-oriented triage facilities in Washington, the new facility provides diversion options from unnecessary use of hospital emergency departments and jail services for persons in crisis, better served in a behavioral healthcare setting. The facility will also house an additional 16-bed substance-abuse residential treatment program for adults.  

 

 “We are unbelievably excited at finally being able to open a crisis triage center that we know will help fill a longstanding gap in our community’s continuum of services,” said Kitsap Mental Health Services Chief Executive Officer Joe Roszak. “Every day our designated crisis responders evaluate people who do not meet the legal threshold necessary for involuntary admittance to an evaluation and treatment facility, but who need a time and place to stabilize from a crisis. We are working closely with our referral partners so that the crisis triage center can do what it was designed to do –  divert people away from more costly, unnecessary emergency room care and jail stays, and help move them toward recovery.”   

 

Creation of the Kitsap County Crisis Triage Center is the result of more than a decade of collaboration by leadership from law enforcement; mental health and substance use providers; public health; hospital, emergency, and primary care provider organizations; the Kitsap County Department of Human Services; and the Salish Behavioral Health Organization.

 

“We are enormously appreciative of the support for the Kitsap County Crisis Triage Center from community members, service providers, law enforcement, Harrison Medical Center, and county and state leadership. This was a large and lengthy undertaking, and it took the dedicated effort of many people to make it happen,” said Kitsap County Commissioner Robert Gelder. “We are anxious to get the doors open and people inside, where they can begin to alleviate the crises that brought them to the center.”

 

During an initial 2014 behavioral health strategic planning process, the community identified a crisis triage center as its number one priority for funding through the then newly implemented Kitsap County 1/10^th of 1 percent Mental Health, Chemical Dependency and Therapeutic Court Sales Tax Program.  The Kitsap County Board of Commissioners approved a citizen advisory committee’s recommendation for funding construction and operation of a triage center, and the former site of the Kitsap Recovery Center, adjacent to Kitsap Mental Health Services, was selected as the location for the center’s operations.

 

As Kitsap County’s state-designated community mental health agency, KMHS provides treatment for persons with serious mental illnesses and substance-use disorders, offers crisis response services, operates two psychiatric evaluation and treatment units and a 30-day residential treatment facility, and manages housing for individuals with chronic, severe mental illnesses. KMHS also provides outpatient treatment, including several outpatient teams, dedicated to providing intensive services to persons living in the community in need of 24/7 support.  Adult and youth mental health training is also offered to learn more about the signs and symptoms of common mental health problems and how to respond to an individual experiencing a mental health crisis or concern.

 

For more information, contact Rochelle Doan, chief agency advancement officer of Kitsap Mental Health Services at (360) 415-5871 or Doug Washburn, director of Kitsap County Human Services at (360) 337-4526 or go to KMHS’ website, www.kitsapmentalhealth.org.