The New Jersey Department of Human Services, in partnership with Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, opened the state’s first Crisis Receiving Stabilization Center in Newark.
As part of the 988 continuum of care, the Newark center will offer a no-wrong-door access to crisis stabilization, meaning anyone in distress can go there and receive immediate help, regardless of which department or agency they contact first.
The nonhospital center provides short-term (under 24 hours), community-based support for individuals experiencing suicidal, mental health or substance use crises.
“These centers grow the state’s 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline continuum of crisis services in New Jersey — someone to call, someone to respond and somewhere safe to go,” said Human Services Commissioner Stephen Cha. “This center represents years of dedication and careful planning to create a system that meets people where they are and helps stabilize crises before they escalate.
“The Newark center is the first of five planned locations throughout the state that aims to bring urgent, community-based behavioral health care directly to the people who need it most.”
The center, located in the Behavioral Health Sciences Building at 183 South Orange Ave., will welcome walk-ins, serve as a destination for Mobile Crisis Outreach Response Teams and other behavioral health crisis responders and accept individuals brought in by law enforcement and fire departments.
It will be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week with a prescriber, registered nurse, clinician, behavioral health technician and peer recovery specialist. Services will be available to everyone, regardless of insurance, payer source or ability to pay.
“We believe this new program will enhance access to care, provide a safe and inviting alternative to conventional hospital emergency rooms and effectively help to stabilize individuals experiencing psychiatric crises,” said Rutgers University President William F. Tate IV.
“This more inviting and comfortable setting offers an opportunity to help reduce acute symptoms and enables warm handoffs, allowing for continuity of treatment and a return to more normalized community-based care and services.”
The center, which operates with state and federal funds, will assess individuals 18 years and older who are in a behavioral health crisis associated with either a mental health or substance use issue or both.
Services provided are designed to alleviate the crisis, reduce symptoms, help restore the individual to a previous level of functioning and avoid more restrictive levels of treatment whenever possible.
Center admission will be voluntary and those who enter may leave at any time unless determined to be a danger to self or others. If needed, the local psychiatric emergency screening services will be contacted to evaluate the individual for a higher level of care.
The initiative will produce cost savings by mitigating the use of emergency rooms, as well as reducing police engagement, arrests, incarcerations and 911 calls.
The remaining four centers will be in Morris, Bergen, Monmouth/Middlesex and Camden counties.