Diversion center to provide clients with multiple mental health strategies
No Wrong Door: Diversion center to provide clients with multiple mental health strategies
Katie Nickas
Funding the Nueces County Commissioners approved in August of 2022 to expand community mental health services will go into effect May 23 when a local behavioral health clinic breaks ground on a diversion center in the city's Six Points Neighborhood.
The Nueces Center for Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities, which operates programs in collaboration with local law enforcement to reduce unnecessary arrests and hospitalizations of justice-involved individuals, is partnering with Nueces County to open the new center at 1630 South Brownlee Boulevard. A groundbreaking ceremony is set for 10 a.m. May 23 at that location along with the contractor, KJM Commercial Inc., doing business as the Victory Building Team and the Levy Dykema architectural firm, both based in Corpus Christi.
Slated to begin construction in 2025, the facility will provide up to 32 beds for clients to access enhanced crisis respite services with integrated on-site primary care and substance use treatment through MHID's crisis services system, serving as a single point of drop-off for law enforcement. The facility will offer 24-hour monitoring, support and engagement, plus access to psychiatric medication management and recovery-oriented programming.
Participants will receive up to 30 days of supervised treatment, 24-hour monitoring and support and engagement, plus access to psychiatric medication management and recovery-oriented programming including supportive housing, rental and utility assistance.
While not an inpatient care facility, the diversion center, funded by the Nueces County Hospital District, will enhance behavioral health programs and build the capacity of the MHIM Crisis Intervention Teams, run in collaboration with the Corpus Christi Police Department, the Nueces County Sheriff's Office and the Nueces County District Attorney's office with the support of the jail, hospitals and courts, to create a community-based entry point for mental health services.
CCD's Crisis Intervention Team, comprised of three full-time officers and 20 assisting officers, works with MHID's Mobile Crisis Response Team to quickly respond to mental health-related calls that come in through 911 and law enforcement, providing a critical way to reroute individuals from arrest and incarceration into respite services through MHID, which connects them to substance use disorder treatment at Cenikor or ongoing outpatient treatment at the point of potential arrest
The new diversion center's in-house facilities will offer its three core programs of Post-Arrest Jail Diversion, Crisis Intervention and Jail-Based Competency Restoration.
The addition of supportive housing could change outcomes for individuals in Nueces County who have committed low-level crimes, including those who are homeless, by providing recovery and treatment services to help them break the cycle of arrest, jail and release back onto the streets.