Orange County to increase triage services for people experiencing psychiatric emergencies

Orange County is moving to add another 24-hour crisis stabilization unit to help the mentally ill, another vital piece to a mental health care system it hopes to build over the next few years.

Supervisors on Tuesday authorized a three-year, $13.3 million contract with College Hospital to develop and operate at its Costa Mesa campus the county’s second such mental health emergency center for individuals suffering acute behavioral or psychiatric episodes. Though health care officials could not say exactly when the unit will open, the contract begins in July.

The new crisis stabilization unit — a secured facility that can accept people on involuntary 5150 holds — is expected to serve an average of 18 adults a day. Treatment for any individual will be limited to just shy of 24 hours.

Among the services to be provided: psychiatric assessment, crisis intervention, therapy, medication, physical screening, referral to continuing care and emergency housing, post-discharge planning, and help transferring to an inpatient treatment facility.

The county’s other crisis stabilization unit in Santa Ana has the capacity to serve about 15 people a day. Such services help relieve the burden on local hospital emergency rooms that are often overwhelmed and ill-equipped to provide adequate mental health treatment.

The new unit will accept walk-ins, police escorts and patients referred by hospital emergency rooms.

“Orange County families have few places to go when a family member experiences a mental health crisis,” First District Supervisor Andrew Do said in a press release issued Tuesday. “Crisis stabilization units provide patients with immediate access to life-saving support and vital mental health services.”