Decatur mental health crisis unit coming in late 2025

May 11—A residential mental health crisis facility in south Decatur, originally slated to open in late 2023, is now expected to open in late 2025, according to officials.

Part of the delay in beginning construction was due to obtaining title to the state trooper building and surrounding land on U.S. 31 South, said Lisa Coleman, CEO of the Mental Health Center of North Central Alabama.

"There were four state agencies involved in the property, with getting that transferred — the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the armory, the Alabama Department of Mental Health and the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind. So just that took a moment," Coleman said.

Then the project had to go through the design phase, which took more months, she said.

"We are 98% finished with the design development stage," Coleman said.

Chapman Sisson Architects of Huntsville was chosen to design the facility.

"This project is really in their wheelhouse, their expertise," she said. "They have designed other psychiatric facilities and they have done a lot of work for Huntsville Hospital System."

The cost of the project has also gone up. Originally estimated at $5 million to $6 million, Coleman said it will now exceed $6 million.

Construction will begin in the fall, Coleman said.

"The next phase will be putting the project out for bids this summer, choosing a contractor and then starting to build," she said.

Once construction begins, the opening will be about 12 months away, she said.

Kim Boswell, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Mental Health, said the completion date for the facility her department last received was July 2025. That assumes everything goes smoothly and there are no delays due to weather or supply-chain issues.

"We're excited," Coleman said. "We look forward to these added 16 beds."

She said "the unit will help law-enforcement — keep them from having to take patients all the way to Jasper, Cullman or Huntsville and get back."

The unit will be reserved only for those people who have been committed by a probate judge, Coleman said. The average length of stay for a person committed to the facility is four to six weeks, she said, but a probate judge can commit a person for up to 150 days.

"It's varied and very individualized as to treatment and patient needs," Coleman said, adding that the new unit will be next door to the existing mental health center, which has convenient outpatient programs they can use.

"There is a need for more of these residential crisis units around the state," she said.

The facility will be shared with Region 1, which encompasses patients from 18 counties in north Alabama.

"There is a deficit of inpatient beds for those committed to the Alabama Department of Mental Health," Coleman said.

This will be the fifth crisis residential facility in Region 1, which encompasses counties in north and central Alabama stretching from Georgia to Mississippi, down to Guntersville and Jasper. The other four are in Jasper, Cullman, Anniston and Huntsville.

"Right now, when somebody is committed, they have to go to another unit in Jasper, Cullman, Huntsville or Anniston, or a designated mental health facility," Coleman said.

She said when regional mental hospitals like the one in Morgan County were closed years ago, the Alabama Department of Mental Health took those funds to help build and staff these crisis residential units.

The Decatur Planning Commission recently approved a request to consolidate land for the Mental Health Center located at 4110 U.S. 31 S. The request calls for consolidating three parcels on U.S. 31 South into one 6.54-acre plot. This includes the land in and around the old state troopers' post off 31, which is where the proposed residential crisis center will be. The troopers have a new post at 206 Commerce Circle S.W.

Both the Morgan County Commission and the city of Decatur have already set aside $600,000 each for the facility, Coleman said, with additional funds coming from the state.

The Alabama Department of Mental Health has already committed to providing annual operating funds for the center.

Operational costs will be worked into the Mental Health Center contract and the funding they normally receive from the state Department of Mental Health, Boswell said.

Malissa Valdes, public information officer for the Alabama Department of Mental Health, said the crisis unit to be built off U.S. 31 should not be confused with the five, and soon six, other types of crisis centers or diversion centers in the state that treat people on a voluntary, walk-in basis.

"People often confuse the two types of centers available and believe if they come to one of the regular crisis mental health centers (or diversion centers), they will not be free to leave. That is not the case," she said.

"There are five crisis centers in which people can call ahead or voluntarily walk in and get an assessment. They are put on temporary observation and, if deemed medically necessary that they stay, remain for 23 hours or less. They are invited to stay, and can stay if they wish, but no longer than five days."

There will be a sixth such crisis center opening in the Dothan area in early to mid-summer, Valdes said.

"What we're building is different from that," Coleman said. "It is a crisis residential unit. It is a 16-bed locked and secured facility. It is staffed with doctors, psychiatrists, nursing staff, therapist, mental health workers, case managers and peer-support specialists so we can wrap around all the care."

She said they want these patients to "be successful" and get back out to the community.

"We've served thousands of patients and have community treatment," Coleman said. "We go to homes and try to divert them from state institutions or crisis units. Our mission is to keep them from being committed and keep them in the community."

— jean.cole@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2361