Government officials, UNM Hospital unveil new Behavioral Health Crisis Center

The UNM Behavioral Health Crisis Center, a long-awaited crisis triage center, is now ready to serve Albuquerque.

More than 145 people gathered Friday morning to tour the new 49,000-square-foot facility and hear Bernalillo County Manager Julie Morgas Baca and other officials speak about the community’s need and the partnerships that ultimately have led to its planned opening June 25.

“This is a true testament to the power of collaboration,” Morgas Baca said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony. “We do things like this when we work together. This is a safe, welcoming and secure place where people can get help and support.”

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham emphasized the need for the crisis center and how pivotal it would be to the health of New Mexicans statewide, calling it an “effective response to meet this challenge in this moment.”

“New Mexico is one of now 10 pilot states for a certified community behavioral health services,” Lujan Grisham said. “When you don’t have the right view of the whole system in place, we put people at risk and the people around them at risk.”

The crisis center, which is next to UNM Psychiatric Center at 2400 Marble NE, took two years to build after 10 years of planning and tax collecting.

Bernalillo County and the University of New Mexico Hospital each contributed $20 million to the center project. Half the money went for construction and half will be used for operations, officials have said. The county’s portion of the money came from a behavioral health tax that voters approved in 2014 and went into effect in 2015.

Morgas Baca said earlier this year that the goal is for the center to ultimately become self-sufficient through Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.

The facility will be a licensed crisis triage center, a designation overseen by the New Mexico Department of Health. It will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week and always have a psychiatrist available.

The crisis center has 30 rooms separated for both adults and adolescent care. There are also separate waiting rooms for adolescents and adults. The center features a peer living space, meant to be a resource center for those who use the center. Anyone 14 and older can request a variety of services like resume help and referral services in a peer supported, nonclinical setting.

According to Dr. Michael Richards, senior vice president for clinical affairs at University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, over 300,000 adults and 200,000 children in New Mexico need behavioral health care. Currently only 44% of adults and 37% of children are getting these services.

“This is big step towards helping to close the gap,” Richards said.

Dr. Mauricio Tohen, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at health science center, said the crisis center will be a middle ground for patients hoping to receive treatment.

Before the crisis center, people who needed psychological treatment had to go to a hospital. The hospital only offers six rooms for mental health services. The crisis center represents a 500% growth in space for such care, Tohen said.

“We are in an epidemic of visits to psychological spaces. The number of minors needing these services has catapulted and hasn’t plateaued,” Tohen said.

Tohen referred to the behavioral center as an in between service for those who need mental health care, stating there are times when people don’t need hospitalization or jail, but a space focused on mental health treatment. In the center, law enforcement will have a place to bring patients suffering from a mental health crisis.

“Many times they (patients) are brought in by law enforcement,” Tohen said.