LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Seven Counties Services will open a new crisis center in Louisville later this summer, offering evening hours initially and aiming to operate 24 hours a day within its first year.
Officials are hoping the center will open in July, but don’t have an official timeline yet.
When it opens, the center will run from 3-11 p.m., providing immediate support for people experiencing a mental health crisis. Patients will be able to walk in, receive evaluation by trained professionals, receive short-term treatment, and be connected with longer-term care if needed.
“It’s a safe place with trained staff that people can come to in crisis, and the idea is to help stabilize a mental health emergency, not criminalize it,” said Brittany Pape, director of child crisis services for Seven Counties. “… We don’t want it to feel like a hospital, and definitely not a jail.”
The center comes on the heels of two Louisville Metro Police shootings involving people believed to be experiencing mental health crises
In March, Katelyn Hall was shot and killed by officers while holding a jagged piece of porcelain. In May, Martin Nitzken Jr., who was unarmed and naked, was fatally shot by officer Nathan Stotts, who resigned this week amid termination proceedings.
LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey expressed support for collaboration with the center, though it’s unclear what that partnership would look like.
In a statement Friday, the department said “LMPD values its ongoing partnership with Seven Counties and welcomes the expanded collaboration as the new crisis center opens. We look forward to continuing to work together to serve the growing number of individuals experiencing mental health crises.”
Seven Counties said the collaboration with police is “in the works,” but noted the center will work closely with law enforcement to ensure quick transfers of patients.
“We want to make a strong understanding of when the police should refer to us and how we will receive patients. Doing that quick handoff, so they’re not here for very long, and getting people on their way,” Pape said.
Seven Counties and its partners see the center as a key addition to Louisville’s mental health response system, complementing the 988 crisis line and the city’s mobile response team.
“We need a safe place for people to go, and that’s part of our broader crisis continuum: someone to contact, someone to respond and a safe place to be,” Pape said.
In December, plans for a new crisis center became a reality after Metro Council agreed to put $1.15 million towards transforming the space at 914 E. Broadway in downtown Louisville.
Seven Counties officials said the center’s long-term funding will come from a combination of state dollars and Medicaid reimbursement. The organization is a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC), a federal designation that allows qualifying providers to receive enhanced Medicaid funding for behavioral health and crisis services.
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