DuPage County’s crisis recovery center aims to transform mental health and addiction care
It is 139 on your Tuesday. Next stop. We’re going out to the BBS. We are talking about a new crisis Recovery Center, uh, it’s opening up. It’s going to be 247 and we’re talking. This is going to be helping out people with mental illness with substance abuse issues Right now we’re zooming with chair uh of the DuPage County Board. Deborah Conroy. Deborah, can you hear me? Okay? I can hear you, Yes. Hi. Okay. And you also have a friend. Who’s your friend? I do. Lori Carnahan is here. and she is the director of the new crisis Recovery Center. All right? Lori. thanks for being with us too. we appreciate that. can you? This is, um, we’re we’re we’re we’re fee, We’re opening this right? This is ready to go. right? For the public, we are cutting the ribbon tomorrow. Yeah, it’s great. Can you just tell me what this is all about? So, the crisis Recovery Center is our response to someone to call someone to respond and now somewhere to go. So we have 9888 which is the national hotline for mental health and addiction. Um, folks who are struggling or in a crisis. So our challenge has been we haven’t had anywhere for folks to go. So this is our answer in due Page County for somewhere to go. So the facility will treat Mental Health. um, addiction and detox as well as we’ll have the first in the country to have a hub for children, which is something we’re incredibly proud of. Lori. Where did this Uh, how long is this idea? Been in the works. I have a feeling this was not an overnight thing. yes, it was not an overnight thing. It’s been um years and years and really a true collaboration of all of our Community Partners. So from the County Board and our Board of Health to a hospital system. The local providers, it really has been the community coming together. and answering the call to We, we need something different. We need a whole new system of care to help treat people with mental health. and substance use crisis. in a space. That’s really dedicated for them. I covered. I I’ve been working in this market for about 10 years and um, the heroin epidemic the fentanyl epidemic especially I don’t know. 8 9 years ago really took off. Can you talk about what’s going on out in DuPage County when it comes to substance abuse? So yeah. So I was in The general assembly when that was happening and it was very clear, you know? we went from the opioid crisis into the fentanyl crisis because in the heroin crisis because it was cheaper and easier to get and it was at that point we started to really see kind of the co diagnosis of the 2 mint. in addition. Um, and we were really hearing from families that there was nowhere for families to go. Um, if you had a child, you were concerned about you know, you might decide. Oh, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know who to call. Well, if you did find someone to call, you could have to wait 3 to 4 months, just to see a doctor. right? And for a child or for an adult many times we’ve seen adults, who are in crisis, that really need that care Who would end up in an emergency room and the care that they need is not there a Continuum of Care. Does not exist through the through the, um, the emergency room. So that’s that’s the the piece that we’re trying to fix. We’re trying to make sure that people can come here. It’s a beautiful, therapeutic environment. they can come and they can begin. their journey to Wellness to mental health. and crisis. in um, substance use. Um, Wellness again, I mean, it’s just like any other any other disease, we have to treat it with medical care and with a with a Continuum of Care and and this crisis Recovery Center is that piece of mental health and substance use care that’s missing. So Lori, how does this work? It’s open 24/7. Um so obviously I can walk in the door at any point. um, and get the help I need, is it? should I think of it as like an inpatient? outpatient? um, where I come for therapy? what exactly are you going to be offering people? Yeah, absolutely. So it is a 24/7 facility. so people can walk in or be dropped off 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. And what really makes this unique is there’s going to be 3, distinct areas. in this building. So 1 for adults struggling in a mental health crisis, 1 for youth Um so our kids and teens will now have that place to go as well. and then once we’re adults an area for adults, that is specifically dedicated to sobering and some withdrawal management. So it really allows us to provide intervention stabilization support by um our crisis counselors along with um people with Lived experience. psychiatric nurses. So there’s really a whole dedicated team. of people that are there to help stabilize that crisis. linked to Community Resources and make sure they get on their path to recovery. What are you hearing from the community about this? I just I have a feeling this. It’s, you know. sadly it’s needed, right? Um but it’s needed and now but going to be open and what a great thing for the community. yeah, in the community. Um, you know whether its First Responders or you know folks in education everyone is just so incredibly thrilled and anxious for this facility to open you know, and do Page County, we understand. It’s okay to not be okay. Yeah, but it’s not okay to have nowhere to go and now we have somewhere to go. when I was doing um, when I was really covering the heroin and Fentanyl and opioid epidemic, I heard so much about underinsured or uninsured, right? And you would go to the emergency rooms and you were there for a couple of days and then that was it and then you couldn’t afford to go to these treatment places, whereas this, this is a really good alternative. Um, do you have to live in DuPage County? if I’m up in Kane County, if I’m down, if I’m over in Will County? Can I utilize the service? so the um, building is designed for to Page County residents. However, we know many people visit DuPage County or work in DuPage County. So really, if you are in crisis and DuPage County with a mental health or substance use issue. these services are available to you. and if you don’t live here, then we’re going to go ahead and Link you to your community resource after that Crisis is stabilized. Okay, So the ribbon cutting is tomorrow. I’m sure Um, you guys have put so much hard work into this, Um, it’s such a great facility and I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of other uh, neighboring, counties neighboring, communities, you know, maybe not even neighboring. But, um, Across the Nation. Looking at you guys going to see what they did. We Should do that too. So congrats to you guys on this. Thank you.
DuPage County is taking a step in reimagining how the community responds to mental health and substance use crises.
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