DuPage County Health Department (DCHD) requests funds to expand mental health and substance use crisis services in DuPage County by developing a behavioral health crisis hub. The second most populous county in Illinois, DuPage County is home to 932,977 people (2020 Decennial Census) and spans 327.5 square miles. DCHD has a long history of providing critical behavioral health services to DuPage County residents and serves as the primary behavioral health provider for uninsured and underinsured residents. In collaboration with community partners such as healthcare systems, law enforcement, and treatment providers, DCHD is building an infrastructure to support key components of an ideal crisis system: someone to call, someone to respond, somewhere to go. DCHD has proposed building a central receiving center (CRC) that will ensure individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis have somewhere to go that is safe, medically appropriate, and always available. It will provide a single point of entry for individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis in DuPage County. It will be easily accessible to law enforcement, emergency personnel, and families and provide rapid assessment and stabilization.
Funding requested for this project will be used to support the planning phase of implementing the CRC model. This includes funding project staff, strategic planning consultants, communications planning, and an external recruiter.