Crisis Recovery Center - Opening in 2025

The Crisis Recovery Center (CRC) is the critical next step in DuPage County Health Department’s decades-long journey to build the infrastructure needed to support a best-in-class behavioral health system and ensures all DuPage County residents will have “someone to call, someone to respond, and somewhere to go” when experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis.

The CRC will help residents de-escalate, stabilize, and connect to community resources catered to their individual mental health and substance use treatment needs. The building design and operations will ensure individuals and their families feel welcome, respected, and secure throughout every step of their care. The CRC serves as an alternative to hospital emergency departments and simplifies access to crisis care for all individuals, families, and first responders.

Family members, first responders, and law enforcement officials will be able to bring individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis to an easily accessible location on the Health Department's Wheaton campus where they can be assessed and cared for by trained medical and mental health professionals and connected with community resources for continued support.

The design and operations are an ongoing collaborative process between the Health Department, municipalities, health systems, community mental health and substance use partners, law enforcement, fire/EMS, and the judicial system.

DCHD has partnered with Wight & Company to provide architectural and construction management services.

Individualized Care & Treatment

Crisis services and stabilizing treatment will be individualized to meet each patient's unique needs.

23-hour treatment and observation stay for those in our recovery center.
Short-term, rapid stabilization treatment in our 12-bed crisis respite unit.
Medication-assisted treatment clinic for individuals with alcohol and opioid use disorders.
Outpatient treatment for adults needing support for mental health and/or substance use disorders.
Linkage to treatment services for substance use disorders.
Linkage to health insurance, food, job placement services, housing, and community resources.

Residents experiencing a mental health and/or substance use disorder crisis will be seen and treated by DCHD's highly trained professional staff, including:

Emergency Services Counselors
Psychiatrists/Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners
Case Managers/Engagement Specialists

"The Crisis Recovery Center will create a new pathway for crisis services and ensure individuals experiencing a mental health and/or substance use crisis receive immediate help and the proper level of support in one location."

Karen Ayala, MPH
Former Executive Director, DuPage County Health Department

Location

The Crisis Recovery Center will be located at 115 County Farm Road in Wheaton on the DuPage County Health Department campus. This location is centrally located within the county and in close proximity to discharge locations (correctional center, crisis residential services, acute hospital needs).

This expansion will allow us to create a crisis services “hub” for:

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
DCHD Crisis Hotline
Crisis residential
Mobile Crisis Response team
Intake and call center

And allow for the service expansion of:

Withdrawal management services
Adult behavioral health services
Youth behavioral health services

Learn More About the Crisis System of Care

DCHD offers a wide range of behavioral health crisis services to meet an individual's needs in a time of crisis:

Crisis phone support
- Available 24/7, 365 days per year.
- Callers can expect staff to provide support and guidance to manage the crisis, explore options and provide other resources that may further assist them in resolving the crisis.
Crisis Residential
- Crisis Residential is a 12-bed unit that provides short-term psychiatric stabilization to DuPage County residents.
- The unit is voluntary and unlocked, and is utilized both as a step-down from inpatient psychiatric care and as an alternative to inpatient hospitalization.
Mobile Crisis Response Team
- Crisis evaluations can be completed in the community when requested by individuals in crisis, family members of those experiencing a crisis, law enforcement, community agencies, or schools.