Bucks County moves forward with mental health treatment center in Doylestown

A new treatment center for individuals who are facing criminal proceedings while coping with behavioral and mental health needs is set to open next year in Doylestown.

The Bucks County Commissioners on Wednesday approved a series of construction-related contracts for the development of the Diversion, Assessment, Rehabilitation and Treatment Center at 1270 Almshouse Road, totaling about $16.4 million.

The 28-bed center is part of a wider partnership between the county criminal justice and behavioral health systems to divert offenders into court-supervised programs. The new center would function as a re-entry resource for individuals released from the jail or psychiatric hospitals, and county mental health court defendants, to provide community-based services to prevent incarceration.

Traditional court processes and incarceration are shown to be ineffective in changing the outcomes for offenders with serious, persistent and untreated mental illness, mental health experts say. Incarceration exacerbates symptoms, disrupts treatment regimens, and contributes to victimization and suicide, they contend.

The county has been working for years to deal with the underlying mental and behavioral health needs of those involved in the criminals justice system.

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New county center to be open in 2024

The new center will be built on the site of the former Women's Community Corrections Center. Remaining inmates of the WCCC were transferred to the main Bucks County Correctional Facility.

"The asbestos mitigation has been completed, and the demolition has been completed," said Donna Duffy-Bell, administrator of Bucks County's Behavioral Health/Developmental Programs. "In terms of timeline, we are looking at late 2024 for the program to be opened."

The contract approvals all went to Pennsylvania-based companies.

The commissioners approved the $384,000 fire prevention contract with Willow Grove-based Guy M. Cooper, Inc; the $1,073,174 plumbing contract with West Reading-based Vision Mechanical, Inc; the $2,179,900 mechanical engineering contract with Plumsteadville-based Integrity Mechanical, Inc; the $2,495,000 electrical contract with Lilitz-based Farfield Company; and the $10,299,000 general construction contract with Warminster-based Magnum, Inc.

Duffy-Bell said county taxpayers would not bear the weight of financing this $31 million project.

"The construction is largely being funded by what is called heath choice reinvestment monies," Duffy-Bell said. "These are monies that become available through the county's management of the medical assistance health choices contract…those funds can be used for the one-time construction of a facility that will provide services and support to individuals with behavioral health needs."

The project will also be funded through the American Rescue Plan and by grant monies through the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Duffy-Bell said Magellan Behavioral Health will also provide funding for ongoing operations.

Duffy-Bell said the target population will be individuals with mental illness and who also have current interface or involvement with the criminal justice system.

Part of the intent of the center is to divert patients away from incarceration and to eliminate recidivism.

This will be an adult-only facility that treats men and women, Duffy-Bell said.

The 23,000-square-foot center will have a maximum capacity of 28 patients.

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Center's takes a three-level approach to addressing behavioral and mental health

The center, Duffy-Bell said, will work a three-pronged approach to addressing the mental health of its clients.

The first will be a short-term observation unit that will have a capacity of eight people at any given time, and has an effective stay of two weeks.

The second is the restoration to competency unit.

"Sometimes individuals get involved with the criminal justice system but they cannot proceed to trial because they are not deemed legally competent to have access to due process," Duffy-Bell said. "So they need to be restored to competency prior to their case progressing in the criminal justice system."

Lastly, the center will have a residential treatment facility, which will serve up to 16 clients.

"That will be a transitional housing program with treatment and support," Duffy-Bell said. "So individuals may spend nine to 13 months in that unit, regaining the skills and psychiatric stability to have the best chance to continue in the community of succeeding and of being supported in their recovery."

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County moves forward with mental health treatment center in Doylestown