With shovels in hand, Bucks County officials recently broke ground on the area’s first mental health facility designed to keep those with mental health disorders out of the county’s jail.
The $16 million Diversion, Assessment, Rehabilitation and Treatment Center will be built on the site of the former Bucks County Women’s Community Corrections Center in Doylestown Township.
It’s expected to be completed in about 15 months, the county said.
“We are in dire need of more mental health services across the board, but particularly in the criminal justice system,” said Commissioner Vice Chair Diane Ellis- Marseglia, at the July 26 groundbreaking.
“This center will join our successful co-responder program, our CIT training initiative and our drug and mental health courts in not only changing lives for the better, but in bringing real value to taxpayers in channeling county resources into real solutions.”
The 23,000-square-foot center will serve adults suffering from mental illness who have become involved with the criminal justice system. The purpose of the diversion center, as its name suggests, is to keep them from becoming more enmeshed in the court system, whether it’s keeping them out of jail or reducing recidivism. Additionally, they will receive treatment and other support.
The facility will be able to support 28 adults in three units, officials said.
The center will have:
1. A short-term observation unit for assessment and initial access to treatment.
2. A “restoration to competency” unit to assist those the court deems incompetent to become competent and participate in due process legal matters.
3. A residential treatment area offering transitional housing with treatment. Staff will help teach daily living skills and support to transition to community living.
The length of stays will vary from weeks to nine months, depending on the patient’s needs.
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