The Crisis Stabilization Center in Wentzville, one of three that Compass Health Network will operate, opened Monday and accepted its first client Tuesday morning.
A similar center in Jefferson City isn't far behind.
Compass is responsible for operating three such centers in Missouri, with the other two in Jefferson City and Rolla, said Jamie Bartin, who oversees crisis programs for Compass.
Those others are near completion, and Compass expects to open them in the next month, Bartin told participants in a virtual meeting of the local Community Resource Project.
Made up of members of the health care and criminal justice communities -- and other stakeholders concerned with diverting people undergoing crises from emergency rooms and jails -- the Community Resource Project met virtually late Tuesday morning and shared updates on their efforts.
"Jeff City is close," Bartin told dozens of listeners during the online event. "It will be taking referrals in mid-January."
Gov. Mike Parson included $15 million in his budget this year to establish six new crisis stabilization centers and to further support five existing ones (like the Kansas City Assessment and Triage Center, Springfield's Burrell Behavioral Crisis Center, Joplin's Ozark Center and others).
The Jefferson City location occupies only the bottom floor of the Compass Health office at 227 Metro Drive.
Currently, law enforcement in most Central Missouri communities transports someone experiencing a behavioral health crisis to a hospital or jail, particularly during weekends or after hours. Those locations aren't always the best solutions for the person undergoing the crisis, nor are they good solutions for law enforcement and health care.
Patients may be diverted into the new centers where behavioral health clinicians can triage them. Patients may also shower, get something to eat, and get his or her clothes laundered. Patients may receive fresh clothes or hygiene products. Each center will contain "slots" (recliners), where they can sleep. Jefferson City will have four slots. Rolla will have eight.
The centers do not have beds. Patients may stay for only 23 hours.
A goal is to get patients connected to services.
Health specialists (who act as case managers) will be assigned to each patient, and may be the leading points on patients' health care.
Another budgetary step Parson took toward easing the burdens on law enforcement and health care was to set aside $5.3 million this year to hire 50 additional Community Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorder Liaisons. Missouri already had 31, but they were spread thin across the state.
Since passing the budget, the state has hired 47 of the 50. The liaisons are behavioral health professionals who work with clients. They create relationships with clients, and ask that if the client experiences a crisis, they call the liaison.
Meanwhile, law enforcement crisis intervention teams -- whose members have received 40 hours of training to help them manage situations involving people experiencing crises -- team with dispatchers and refer clients to liaisons for support.
In 2014, law enforcement made 7,096 referrals statewide. It made 15,484 in 2020.
Another step may be to create a true "co-responder" model, in which a behavioral health professional responds with law enforcement on every call, or even alone, participants in Tuesday's meeting said.
Jason Klaus, the Missouri Crisis Intervention Team coordinator, said the resources aren't yet available for the co- responder model, but the model isn't not out of the question.
"I truly believe that is where this process is going," Klaus said. "Several agencies have already embedded those (liaisons) with law enforcement."