Giving people a place to go for help: DuPage County breaks ground on new crisis center

DuPage County officials will break ground Monday on a $25.8 million crisis recovery center. It will act as an emergency room for mental health needs.
Courtesy of DuPage County Health Department

DuPage County officials are breaking new ground to make mental health care services more accessible to residents.

County leaders on Monday will celebrate the start of a $25.8 million project to build the DuPage Crisis Recovery Center. The new 24/7 center will be on the grounds of the DuPage County Health Department and will act as a behavioral health triage center where patients experiencing a mental health or substance abuse crisis can be assessed and provided a plan of action within 24 hours.

Though the center will not provide long-term care, patients, once assessed, will receive referrals to other resources and service providers, including outpatient care or inpatient treatment at a county or private facility.

“I have long believed that we could provide a new gold standard of diagnosis, treatment and help for all our residents,” DuPage County Board Chairwoman Deborah Conroy said, noting that the center will provide care to those with or without insurance and to children. “This crisis recovery center will be the missing piece in our system, keeping people out of emergency rooms and jail. We know it will change lives.”

The future DuPage Crisis Recovery Center in Wheaton will include youth pods. The facility will serve children and adults.
Courtesy of DuPage County Health Department

The center, expected to open in the summer of 2025, has been described as a “transformational project” that will answer the question of “where to go” for those in mental health crisis.

The county already provides “someone to call” through its suicide prevention 988 call center, and it offers “someone to help” through its mobile crisis services.

“We’ve been involved in crisis management since the 1960s, and this is merely another layer to what we currently do,” said county board member Sam Tornatore, who also heads the county’s mental health board.

“Mental health crises are significant not only in DuPage County but across the country,” he added. “We in DuPage County like to think of ourselves as the first responders, in a lot of ways, to be at the forefront of what we need to take care of our constituents and our residents.”

The project has been in the works for years. Conroy, for example, helped secure $5.5 million in state funding during her tenure as a state representative. The county also will use $15.8 million from its American Rescue Plan Act federal funds, $5 million from the DuPage County Health Department and a $1 million federal grant from U.S. Rep. Sean Casten to cover the project costs.

Officials said the center will help reduce emergency room visits and 911 calls. It will be staffed with crisis services counselors, case managers, psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners.