A new mental health crisis center will open this July in Williamson County.
The H-Group Crisis Center will provide 24/7 mental health treatment to medically stable patients. The Carterville based facility will feature an 8-bed residential short-term treatment program as well as other crisis services.
H-Group CEO John Markley says the facility is the first of its kind in southern Illinois. He says the goal is to provide an appropriate facility for people with mental health issues who otherwise wind up in hospital emergency rooms. Markley says last year hospitals in Franklin, Williamson, and Jackson Counties handled more than 26-hundred patients with mental health issues. He says at least 75-percent of those could be handled by the new center. Markley says that would free up area ER's to focus on trauma and other medical services.
A 340-thousand dollar grant will help cover the crisis center's treatment costs during its first year of operation... after that the facility will move to a pay-for-services model. Markley says patients will be able to check themselves into the facility as well as through hospital referrals.
