Behavioral Health Crisis Center set to open in March

The Gibson Center for Behavioral Change will be opening a new Behavioral Health Crisis Center on Wednesday, March 1.

Ryan Essex, the Gibson Center's chief operating officer, said the facility will have four overnight beds plus four medical chairs for short-term stabilization. It will be staffed by 10 full-time nurses and medical assistants, as well as two peer-support specialists.

The center will provide services to those in a mental- or substance-use-related crisis, Essex said. It will also provide options beyond emergency rooms or jails for law enforcement.

The new building will be located on the Gibson Center property at 1112 Linden St. in south Cape Girardeau. Essex said the new Crisis Center will be backed up by all the services provided at the Gibson Center.

"It's going to be a no-wrong-door-style approach," Essex said. "We'll be able to provide beds where people can sleep and, if need be, stay overnight while we're trying to connect them to resources. We can also help those who might be just beginning to get stabilized, so we can get them moved to a lesser intensive level of care, whether that be an outpatient facility or maybe to our detox unit."

The funding for the new Crisis Center came out of a combined effort of the Missouri Department of Mental Health, Missouri Behavioral Health Council and Gov. Mike Parson, who's budget recommendations for fiscal year 2022 included expansion of behavioral health crisis centers.

Essex said the construction of the facility was a joint partnership with Community Counseling Center in Cape Girardeau. He said the Gibson Center and Community Counseling Center are happy they will finally be able to open the Crisis Center's doors after some delays.

"We've run into the same problems as everyone else in the world who's been trying to build anything over the last few years," Essex said. "But it took even longer because this is a facility that is for a very specific purpose, and we had to source materials that were very specialized and safe so individuals couldn't hurt themselves."

The Cape Girardeau Behavioral Health Crisis Center will be the eighth 24-hour facility in the state. Essex said other Missouri facilities were visited during the planning of the Cape Girardeau center.

"It's all theoretical until you open your doors," Essex said. "Being able to go into these facilities and see some of the things that they've gone through was invaluable."

Essex said other communities in Missouri have seen a tremendous impact from the opening of similar crisis centers. He said the Cape Girardeau crisis center will take some of the pressure off law enforcement and emergency rooms.

"Now they can bring that person to our facility at the Crisis Center," Essex said. "We can release those law enforcement officers back out into the community to be able to patrol, and not leave the police department short handed."