Sully District Supervisor Kathy Smith speaks at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Northern Virginia Adolescent Treatment Center in Chantilly (photo by Mary Stachyra Lopez)
Fairfax County officials, Acadia Healthcare employees and community members cut a ribbon to celebrate the launch of the Northern Virginia Adolescent Treatment Center in Chantilly (photo by Mary Stachyra Lopez)
A new center for teens struggling with addiction and their mental health has opened in Chantilly.
Government officials and community members gathered yesterday at the Northern Virginia Adolescent Treatment Center for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The 16-bedroom facility — located 4211 Walney Road, near a county-run detox center that serves adults — will offer residential, medically managed detox services to youth patients from throughout the region beginning next Tuesday (March 24).
“For years, our region has felt the impact of rising youth overdoses and the profound challenges families face when trying to access appropriate treatment,” Sully District Supervisor Kathy Smith said in a speech before the ribbon-cutting. “Too often, young people have had to travel far from home just to receive the services they desperately need. We knew we could do better for our community, and today, we are proving that we can.”
Alcohol is the most commonly used substance by 6th grade and high school-aged youth in the county, according to the results of the most recent Fairfax County Youth Survey. More than 10% of high school seniors report that they have tried marijuana in their lifetime or have drunk in the last month before taking the survey.
Yet in recent years, county teens have also reported generally lower rates of drinking, signs of improvement in their mental health, and an overall decline in substance use.
After years of discussing the need for a crisis center for teens, Fairfax County awarded Northern Virginia Behavioral Health, LLC — an affiliate of Tennessee-based Acadia Healthcare — a $4.5 million contract in April 2025 to run the facility during the first year, followed by $3.8 million in funding during subsequent years.
Acadia will run the facility through March 31, 2030, with the option to renew for another five years.
Its first offering, a residential program, will offer rehab for youth from ages 12 to 17 with addictions to any type of substance, from alcohol to psychedelics. It will also offer treatment for co-occurring mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression.
Additional services are expected to become available as the center obtains licensure.
Community leaders saw the center’s opening as the culmination of years of vigorous advocacy. VOICE, a faith-based group, spent years working with groups like the National Alliance on Mental Illness Virginia (NAMI) and the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police to research viable solutions it could present to elected officials, said the Rev. Rebecca Messman, senior pastor at Burke Presbyterian Church.
“I had heard so many stories … about a youth dying by suicide,” Messman said. “A family where that the teen could not get into any sort of treatment … Going to visit somebody in a treatment facility, and it not being nearly enough for what they needed … And then people who died by opioid addiction, or accidental overdose, which masks some sort of deep pain.”
Too often, families are left to try and figure out how to respond to an addiction on their own, she said. Some took their children directly to the ER. Others tried to get therapy for their children and encountered delays. Some people are even relieved to be in prison because they could, however temporarily, find care there.
Messman said she hopes that the new facility inspires others to keep working toward solutions for these families.
“I think once this [center opens], people can see it, and they can figure out how much it saves, how many lives it saves…it’s a catalyst,” she said. “You start to think…’Let’s keep going with this.’”